Sludge Watch ==> Nova Scotia - don't let Lafarge Cement burn tires for fuel

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Lafarge Brookfield is mixing sewage sludge with cement kiln dust...but their 
cement kiln dust is contaminated with thallium, so farmers don't want the 
N-Viro sludge fertilizer.

There were also plans to burn the N-viro sludge/cement kiln dust in the 
Brookfield plant eventually.

Environmentalists are concerned in Nova Scotia and Ontario about Lafarge's 
plans to burn tires, animal rendering waste, and other wastes.
........................................................................


Protesters wear gas masks, urge N.S. to not allow tire burning for fuel
Thu Jan 11, 6:36 PM



By Melanie Patten



HALIFAX (CP) - Demonstrators donned gas masks and stood on the steps of the 
Nova Scotia legislature Thursday to protest a proposal from Lafarge Canada 
Inc. to burn tires at its cement plant in Brookfield.


Environmentalists say incinerating tires in a cement kiln releases dioxins 
that have been linked to cancer. But Lafarge, whose plan to burn tires in 
Ontario has set off a high-profile appeal there, insists it's a safe way to 
create energy.


People who live in and around Brookfield, N.S., a rural community near 
Truro, say economics, not the environment, is fueling the company's plan.


"I am over 70, it doesn't matter for me," said Don Murray of Shortts Lake, 
N.S., one of about two dozen protesters who carried signs featuring images 
of thick, black smoke.


"But I have children and I have grandchildren and I want them to have a 
future."


Lafarge is one of three companies that have submitted proposals to Nova 
Scotia's Resource Recovery Fund Board, which is responsible for solid-waste 
management in the province.


The board said all three proposals involve burning some tires, though not 
necessarily in Nova Scotia.


The province does not currently burn its tires. They are shipped out of the 
province, primarily to Quebec, where they are burned in cement kilns or 
recycled.


Should the Resource Recovery Fund Board award the tender to Lafarge, the 
company's proposal will have to be approved by the Environment Department 
after public consultation and scientific study.


"That process will be tailor-made to make sure all the relevant impacts, 
data, methods of burning, technology would be considered," said Mark Parent, 
the province's environment minister.


He said the province has already commissioned an independent scientific 
study on tire burning from Dalhousie University.


"It has to be safe for Nova Scotians," Parent said.


An official with Lafarge, however, said it would be too expensive to run 
tests at the Brookfield site beforehand as the cost of installing the 
equipment is about $3 million.


"You couldn't do a test up front," said Chris Richards, environment and 
alternate fuels manager with Lafarge. "Most likely (the Environment 
Department) would look at our other facilities."


The company has burned tires at its plant in Saint-Constant, Que., for years 
and environmentalists say emissions from the plant are to blame for a 
significant increase in toxic air pollutants in that province.


But Richards believes more people would support the project if they 
understood the technology.


"Studies have shown in different jurisdictions, in California, in Europe . . 
. that there's no significant difference in emissions in plants using tires 
and fuel," he said.

In Ontario, high-profile environmental groups are hoping to appeal a 
decision by the province last month to allow tire burning at a cement plant 
in Bath, near Kingston.

While the province ruled Lafarge could burn tires, it is only for a two-year 
test period.

The decision has angered residents, environmental groups and Tragically Hip 
singer Gord Downie, who have all requested to appeal the decision.

"They think they're being used as guinea pigs in a very ill-advised 
experiment," Richard Lindgren of the Canadian Environmental Law Association 
said in an interview Thursday.

The association has joined the Sierra Legal Defence Fund and a private 
environmental practitioner in a bid to strike Lafarge's proposal down.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070111/national/ns_tire_burning