Dear Editor,
I’m glad that a dialogue has begun on this issue. It’s all too common, that such discussions are left to the last . . .
minute, just as some big project is already planned, initialized and down payments have been made. Then the governing bodies hold public consultations to present foregone conclusions.
I can see potential benefits from incinerating residual waste rather than trucking it to a landfill site. But I also see potential problems and those were not addressed by Warden Toller’s letter.
1. How would the garbage be brought up to demolition temperatures? You’ve heard the term ‘dumpster fire’? Garbage burning at low temperatures creates terrible pollution. Apparently, Covanta’s operation employs high temperatures but how is that achieved? Now, I’m not plotting to start up my own waste-management plant, so I’m not trying to steal secret technologies but in order to endorse this plan, I have to know that there is a way to achieve the hyper-hot temperatures required to make incineration safe. There simply has to be an investment of energy and not just a little bit.
2. What will such a plant require in terms of steadily delivered quantities of appropriate waste material? Previous plans for incineration fell flat in part, by the inability to deliver the feedstock at just the right time. Stockpiling garbage is not good but some such incinerators require a certain amount and Pontiac may not produce the right balance at the right time. So, other jurisdictions will be sending their garbage here – do we have room for that? Do we want a garbage highway leading to Pontiac?
3. How will the excess energy be utilized? There was mention of steam heating for so many homes. Steam is not easily transportable, so where in Pontiac will you find enough houses close enough to the plant to utilize the heat?
4. Generating electricity with the excess heat is a great idea — but is Hydro Québec down with that idea? In the past, HQ has been intractable in its opposition to alternative electrical sources and Ontario is de-funding renewable electrical projects already in place and producing, daydreaming instead of small nuclear plants. As if we need more nuclear waste.
5. How many jobs? If there are any long term, decent paying jobs for people who actually live in the Valley, that’s a good thing. But please, please, do not promise jobs that do not and will not exist. We’re still smarting from the LiveWell scam with its 500, no make that 300, no, make that 20, no make that 0 jobs.
If good answers to these questions are found, I would be in favour of, and will support the project with whatever persuasive leverage I have. The present system of trucking and dumping cannot stand for long and incineration could be far less-worse.
Finally, no system of waste management will work properly, if people just toss trash instead of sending it through proper channels. I still find cups, cans, plastic trash and bags of dog poop along the streets and the PPJ trail. That’s just poor citizenship, people.
Robert Wills
Shawville and Thorne, Que.
