EA Comment Deadline approaches for Halifax Harbour Clean-Up

Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2003 22:28:49 -0400 (AST)
From: "David M. Wimberly" <ag487@chebucto.ns.ca>
To: Sustainable-Maritimes <sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca>
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PLease post this immediately.  Thanks much.  It was just written today
about a deadline for Monday.

David Wimberly
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A Media Release went out late this afternoon.  We hope to get coverage
starting tomorrow.  It would help for each of you to call radio, TV and
newspapers and ask them when they will be covering this - to encourage
them to cover it.  You could even voice your opinions if you get a
receptive ear.   

The second part of this is a listing of Coalition concerns.  Please use
this as the basis for your submissions, put into your own words as much as
possible.  The more times these points of concern are mentioned in
submissions the more likely it is we will get some response.  Sometimes it
is a tally process rather than a process of governments being convinced by
brilliant reasoning.  So please mention every point you can. And please do
everything you can to distribute this media release and the attached
points of concern to as many people as you can.  Feel free to photocopy
them and hand them out if you can.  The more that respond and the more
that mention these points the more likely we are for this to make a
positive impression.

Please contact me if the material below needs to be in a different form
for you for it to look its best.  The media release and list of concerns
are also here as an attachment in MSWord. Hopefully that will reach you
looking the very best. It formatting will be better that as pasted in
below, but the content is exactly the same.   We know that there are
redundencies in the list of concerns.

This should be up at the web site any minuite now, so direct people to the
site.
Do everything you can to get a buzz going.

Cheers and good luck,
David Wimberly
826-7846

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Media Release:   For Immediate Release:                         9 January
2003
Halifax Dartmouth Citizens Coalition

DEADLINE LOOMS FOR PUBLIC INPUT ON ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSESSMENT OF HALIFAX HARBOUR CLEANUP

(Halifax) - The Halifax Dartmouth Citizens Coalition, a group concerned
with the serious problems with the Harbour Solutions Project, says the
environmental assessment of the project has been a hollow exercise.

The coalition says few people realize that the public's 'window' for
commenting on the Environmental Assessment closes on Monday, January 13 -
after being quietly scheduled to take place over the holiday period. The
public should not miss this final opportunity to voice their concerns.

Don Chard, the Dartmouth representative on the coalition, says "Public
participation has been woefully inadequate in such areas as treatment
technology, site selection and private sector involvement. We are losing
an irreplaceable opportunity to use innovative treatment technology proven
right here in Nova Scotia to provide vastly superior clean-up, while
avoiding the perils of multi-national involvement."

"These so-called public-private partnerships do not work. When one
partner's bottom line is profit then concern for citizens and the
environment takes second place. Promises of government monitoring only
means catching the errors after the fact. No one should forget the record
of multi-nationals in these PPP arrangements around the world, especially
in the areas of drinking water and waste water.  Almost invariably, PPP
arrangements lead to poor service and higher costs. A Director Suez
Lyonnaise and the Mayor of Grenoble went to jail for their collaboration
in turning Grenoble's drinking water over to Suez Lyonnaise," notes Ron
Stockton of Nova Scotia Union of Public Employees.

Ken Saunders, the Halifax representative on the citizen's coalition says,
"You don't have to be an expert to speak about the negative impact of the
Harbour Solutions Project as HRM council has currently designed it. A
simple written message of concern sent to Ian McKay of Public Works Canada
by January 13th is all that is needed.

"The coalition has prepared a brief, point form list of our major concerns
to help all citizens to comment readily and effectively," says Saunders.

What the Citizens Coalition is calling, "The Ghost of Christmas Past Wish
List for Sewage Treatment Improvements" is available from their contacts
listed below and is soon to be posted on a website called "Be The Change"
(http://bethechange.ca/harboursolutions/).

The official Environmental Assessment documents are available at HRM's
website at:
http://www.region.halifax.ns.ca/harboursol/assessment.html.

Comments on the draft report should be returned to: Mr. Ian McKay, Public
Works & Government Services Canada, 496-5465, ian.mckay@pwgsc.gc.ca.


The Citizens Coalition is particularly disturbed to discover that all of
the relevant documents necessary for the Environmental Assessment were not
at many sites as required and as promised.  In particular, background
documents were not available at public libraries.

For information: Don Chard:     463-5810, dfchard@hotmail.com
				Ron Stockton: 422-6055, stockton@smelaw.ca
				Ken Saunders: 453-6392, thumpper9@hotmail.com


				-30-



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		The Ghost of Christmas Past
	Wish List for Sewage Treatment Improvements

The Halifax Dartmouth Coalition, comprised of concerned citizens of both
Halifax and Dartmouth, has been working assiduously to obtain concrete
answers on the viability of The Halifax Harbour Solutions Project. Members
of the coalition have attended meetings of HRM Council, and several public
meetings to have our concerns addressed. Unfortunately the availability of
information to make an informed decision on the project, has been based on
details obtained from HRM council after decisions were made during  In
Camera Sessions. The current situation relevant to the project proceedings
includes an Environmental Assessment to which public submissions must be
submitted by January 13, 2003. The coalition, and members of impacted
government departments attended a symposium on January 6, 2003, led by Ian
MacKay, of Public Works Canada.

The consensus of this meeting is that there remain too many unanswered
questions, and the lack of current, relevant information adversely affect
the Harbour Solutions Project in the foreseeable future, and the estimated
60 year life cycle of the proposed STP's.

The following are the primary concerns of the Halifax Dartmouth Citizens
Coalition:
(Supporting documents available on request.).

The Public Process - From the approval of the March 1998 Advisory
Committee Report by HRM Council in April 1998 to the present, there has
been no real effective public involvement in this project.

Particularly the fact that the Report Recommendation # 4.6 on Site
Selection and WINBY was totally ignored.

The Halifax Dartmouth Citizens Coalition Petition opposing the Canadian
Coast Guard Base was also totally ignored by the Harbour Solutions Project
Team.

The Health Impact of the proposed Sewage Treatment Plant on our Community
and on our Quality of Life still has not been properly addressed.  HRM has
agreed to use the Canadian Handbook of Health Impact Assessment as part of
this EA.  There is no evidence of the use of this Handbook and its
methodology i