The start of the opposition to HAZCO's proposal
How it all started, and some background information on
HAZCO's previous attempts to locate sites for sulphur disposal in the
vicinity of Lamont County
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Ideas on what to do to attract more people that wish to live in Lamont County
The proposed sulphur storage facility envisioned to
be constructed between Bruderheim and Lamont is a bad idea.
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The FlyerThe following contains the text of a flyer that was distributed in the first half of July 2005 by the Friends of Lamont County for Responsible Community & Industrial Development.
A Community Preservation ChallengeWILL OUR QUALITY OF LIFE SURVIVE HAZCO'S SULPHUR STORAGE FACILITY?Hazco (Alberta Sulphur Terminals Ltd.) a corporation specializing in waste management and landfill development, is proposing a massive sulphur storage and handling facility just east of Bruderheim* on a 640 acre site (Section 35-55-20 W4M). We are deeply concerned that this project has potential to hurtle through the government permitting process without fully addressing all potential impacts on the citizen's of Lamont County, Town of Bruderheim and Town of Lamont - property values health & environmental impacts, retarding future industrial growth & job potential, land use vision and legacy.
* (Bruderheim 3.2 km away from site; Lamont 7.2 km as east wind blows. Wind Direction calculations show winds towards Bruderheim 21% of the time; Lamont 35% from NW). These impacts include: - Wasting our prime industrial development area on sulphur storage, transfer and transporting, with limited tax revenue for our municipalities;
- Squandering future tax revenue potential by surrendering all 4 Heart Land quarters to Hazco. Many separate value-added projects could be developed on this amount of land in 4-quarter (160 acre) subdivisions or smaller units;
- Allowing this sulphur storage facility to go ahead will cost high infrastructure additions and maintenance costs;
- With only 8 - 12 jobs created, there will be minimal benefit to the local population to help keep schools open or benefit the municipal tax bases;
- Discourage future industrial developments adjacent this area thus dangerously impacting future community growth, tax base, image and community integrity;
- Potential environmental impacts including, dust, sour gas & sulphur dioxide emissions, light and noise pollution[*], increased truck / rail traffic carrying dangerous commodities via CN & CP rails, Hwy 15/45 & county roads. ;
We are a pro-industrial and pro-development group of local citizens and adjacent land owners deeply concerned that these impacts may not be fully considered. The requirement to find a long term storage location for sulphur produced by entities in Strathcona County, Fort McMurray and other jurisdictions could - if not opposed now - turn Lamont County into a storage / landfill receptacle for waste from other counties and jurisdictions. Hazco's sulphur proposal in 2002 was solidly rejected by Sturgeon County and Thorhild. [See SCREENING REPORT, ALBERTA SULPHUR TERMINALS LTD., PROPOSED SULPHUR MANAGEMENT FACILITY, GIBBONS, ALBERTA; by Alberta Environment, October 10, 2002; http://www3.gov.ab.ca/env/protenf/assessment/pub/Alberta_Sulphur_Terminals.pdf]. Our municipalities deserve better! We need your help and support. We will be circulating petitions against this proposal and hope to gain your help and support. For more information call: (780) 499-7618. We will return all voice mail messages. We are: FRIENDS OF LAMONT COUNTY FOR RESPONSIBLE COMMUNITY &
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT - Call: 499-7618 | ____________________
Information added 2005 11 25 (not part of the original flyer):* See Proposal for Acoustical Consulting Services, Hazco Bruderheim Sulphur Management Facility, Noise Impact Assessment, HFP Proposal 05-C 1780-0 (see also
related comment to FAQ #21) |
Failed attempts to establish Hazco sulphur storage sitesAs the flyer mentions, the sulphur storage proposal was rejected by Sturgeon County and Thorhild. The flyer does not mention that the rejections involved two previously proposed locations. - North of Thorhild (S ½ 8-60-21 W4M), and
- East of Gibbons (NW ¼ 18-56-21 W4M).
Links to more information on Hazco Alberta Sulphur Storage Terminals Ltd. Hazco operates in B.C., tooRichmond toxic waste import stoppedBC is not a toxic dump for US waste, said SPEC president David Cadman on Jan. 24, 2002 after hearing details of a plan by Calgary-based Hazco Ltd. to import 8,600 tonnes of dioxin and PCB (pentachlorophenol) contaminated soil from Portland, Oregon to their Richmond, BC waste disposal site. Hazco obtained permits from WLAP and Environment Canada for the imports.
Dioxin can leach into the aquatic food chain and is classified by the US EPA as a human carcinogen. Lower BC standards encourage US companies ship waste to BC.
Richmond residents didn't want truckloads of contaminated soil rolling through their community. Environmentalists were concerned about leaching into the Fraser River from Hazco's waterfront location. Realtors and property owners want to avoid sliding land values if Richmond is perceived as a "toxic dump."
Richmond Cllr Harold Steves shared his Council's anger at not being consulted by Environment Canada.
Kevin Hudson of the Richmond chapter of the Council of Canadians organized public meetings and worked with SPEC on an information mailout about Hazco's plans.
On March 22, Hazco's Stuart Sommerville met with Cadman and SPEC campaign coordinator Ivan Bulic. Days later Somerville canceled his deal with soil exporter Portland's Time Oil Company and stopped the importation. Source: 2002 Annual Report
Society Promoting Environmental Conversation
http://www.spec.bc.ca/about/downloads/spec_annual_report2002.pdf (1MB PDF file)
Next Page Back to
index page for Hazco sulphur storage site pages
Back to Bruderheim Main Page
Posted July 16, 2005
Updates:
2005 07 22 (added page index,
reference to petition form, and broke page up into three pages)
2006 10 15 (reformated)
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