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For your info, Environmental Defence Canada (former Canadian Environmental Defence Fund) sent a media release last week... I did not see it reported in newspapers but I did hear it on radio news... Denis News For Immediate Release March 28, 2002 Report on Factory Farm Pollution Kept Secret by Government Refuses Access to Information request by national environmental group Sainte-Marie-de-Kent, N.B. – Premier Bernard Lord has refused to release the recommendations made by a government-commissioned committee looking into concerns about a large 10,000-hog farm. The government turned down a Right to Information request made by Environmental Defence Canada, a national organization supporting local citizens concerned about potential environmental impacts of the hog farm owned by Metz Farms Ltd. “This stinks. We trusted the government to hold an open investigation of the group’s concerns,” said Michelle Campbell, Director of Citizen Support, Environmental Defence Canada. “Now, we are forced to go to court to get information which rightfully belongs to the people of this province.” Under the Terms of Reference for the committee studying the issue, it states that the report “will be in both official languages and will be made public.” The committee’s findings have not even been shared with people in Sainte-Marie-de-Kent who first raised concerns about the factory farm. “When Premier Lord commissioned this report, he promised it would be made public and he guaranteed transparency,” said Jerry Cook, spokesperson, Association for the Preservation of the Bouctouche Watershed. “Instead, we get deals made behind closed doors and, once again, the people of this province are ignored.” The government recently announced it would fund a $1.5 million technological fix to cut some of the odour from the hog farm. It’s not clear if the solution addresses citizens’ concerns about the potential for groundwater contamination from the millions of litres of liquid manure produced, stored and spread on farmland surrounding Sainte-Marie-de-Kent. The farm produces 30,000 hogs throughout the year and 24 million litres of manure, the equivalent of 1,200 tanker trucks. The hog farm has been operating since 1999. People living near the farm have been fighting to get it shut down or moved to a new location. …/2 -2- Founded in 1984, Environmental Defence Canada (www.edcanada.org) is a national non-profit organization that gives Canadians the tools and knowledge they need to protect and improve the environment and their health. Environmental Defence Canada was formerly the Canadian Environmental Defence Fund. -30- For more information, please contact: Michelle Campbell or Jennifer Foulds, Environmental Defence Canada, (416) 323-9521 Jerry Cook, Association for the Preservation of the Bouctouche Watershed, (506) 523-5059 -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- SUST-MAR TIP: to leave the list, PLEASE send "unsubscribe sust-mar" (or unsubscribe sust-mar-digest") to majordomo@chebucto.ca -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
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