Carolynn Coburn presented for EH! at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing regarding renewal of the Chalk River Laboratories operating licence to
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL)
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Proceedings can be viewed online here.
Click below for text of Carolynn's remarks
Carolynn Coburn presented for EH! at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing regarding renewal of the Chalk River Laboratories operating licence to
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL)
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Proceedings can be viewed online here.
Click below for text of Carolynn's remarks
| Carolynn Coburn EH 20120616.pdf |
Presentation to Citizen's Inquiry, Peterborough, April 2008
Delivered by Heather Ross on behalf of EH!
Thank you for the opportunity to make this presentation. And congratulations to the organizers of this inquiry. …
Environment Haliburton! is a small non-governmental organization with a focus on protecting and preserving the Haliburton Highlands - that is, Haliburton with one L, as we seldom neglect to point out.
Haliburton County, particularly the Municipality of Highlands East, is currently the site of uranium exploration by a number of companies. One of them, Bancroft Uranium, is drilling as we speak - on crown land, that is, on the people's land. This is not our first experience with uranium mining. Several mines opened and closed in classic boom and bust style in the 1950s and 60s.
When we talk about the land we are also talking about life on the land and this life includes humans. As the human community living on the land, we are responsible for charting the future of our beautiful Haliburton Highlands. Official plans and strategic plans provide us with the chance to create a vision for our future. And we, as a community, have been clear that the future we dream of is one of sustainable development that protects our waters, lands and resources, that protects our future generations, and that is appropriate and appropriately scaled. No one looks toward to a future of open pit mines and tailings ponds that will be dangerous for millennia.
We are tremendously thankful that the government that is closest to the people, the Township of Highlands East, has joined with many other local governments to petition the province to place a moratorium on uranium mineral exploration and mining.
But here's the rub. The current drilling operations are on the people's land not on private land, therefore, the Official Plans, statements of the will of the residents, are not in effect. The Mining Act rules. Companies have no obligation to consult with the community. For all the impact the community vision has, we may as well be a silent as the Green Man.
We understand that the uranium industry claims to offer benefits - 40 jobs, increases to the local tax base.
Environment Haliburton! considers these claims in the light of the recent history of uranium mining in Haliburton County. In the late 50's and early 60's, the Bicroft Mine was open for 80 months and the Dyno mine for 26 months. At its peak, the Bicroft mine
employed 500 people and the Dyno mine 450. It appears that no taxes were paid, as there was a tax holiday on uranium mines. Three communities, Bicroft Heights, Dyno Estates and Cardiff were built to accommodate mine workers. When the mines closed many of the houses were bull dozed, others were sold as retirement homes at prices considerably below construction costs and the province was left on the hook for the costs of infrastructure. Few of the miners actually purchased the homes as they moved to follow mining jobs.
Unhappily for us, the mines were closed at a time when no government took responsibility for rehabilitation. Studies done more than a decade after the mines closed found that:
- Waste rock had been used for roads, driveways and building foundations
- Mine sites were not secured
- Radionuclides were taken up in the trees that grew on the mine sites
Environment Haliburton! is concerned about an open pit uranium mine beside an area designated for residential use. We are concerned about the crushed waste rock that may contaminate groundwater with heavy metals and radionuclides seeping through fissures in the rock. We are concerned about tailings ponds deteriorating and leaking into nearby creeks, or entering the aquifers. We are concerned about radioactive dust taken by the winds and deposited on neighbouring properties. We are concerned about the need to protect the site for thousands of years as most of the radioactivity left in the waste rock and tailings is long-lived.
Environment Haliburton! is also concerned about the use to which the uranium will be put. Nuclear power is neither cheap, nor clean. We have only to look at our power bills and see the monthly payment for the `stranded debt' to feel the cost of nuclear. The plants constructed in the past have all come in over time and over budget The Darlington nuclear plant was an astonishing 270% over budget. Refurbishing existing plants also comes in over budget and over time. When the full uranium cycle is included, nuclear power does produce greenhouse gases. And surely there is no one who does not fear a nuclear holocaust.
The enormous investment proposed by Ontario in new nuclear generation is not in our best interest. Such investment means that funds will not be available for solutions more appropriate for our community. Other environmentally benign sources of power could be generated locally for local distribution. One of the most effective strategies for energy conservation in Haliburton County would be a major investment in home renovations. But enormous public investment in nuclear power will starve cheaper, more sustainable and more appropriate solutions to both the impending energy crisis and the climate crisis.
Environment Haliburton! is concerned about the disposal of nuclear waste. To date no safe storage answer has been found. Spent fuel is accumulating in temporary facilities all over the world! In the absence of an answer, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization proposes a 300-year strategy to implement its plan to store nuclear waste. The hubris of planning for 300 years is mind boggling. The arrogance of assuming that dangerous waste could be protected for hundreds of thousands of years is equally mind-boggling.. To continue to expand nuclear power generation when we don't know how to manage dangerous waste is the antithesis of the precautionary principle and of sustainable development. What are we proposing to leave for future generations?
Environment Haliburton! is concerned that mining activities in the province take place under a Mining Act that has not been substantially changed in well over 100 years.
In particular, the separation of mineral and surface rights is of concern, as is the open access/free entry system of staking. Such a strategy creates conditions for conflict, for exploration booms, for the misuse of the people's resources. Ontario and Haliburton County are nothing like they were a century ago. The Mining Act should reflect current conditions. Environment Haliburton! recommends that the Mining Act be rewritten:
. to respect Aboriginal and Treaty rights not only as codified by the Supreme Court but also as recognized through our systems of natural justice and fair play
. to ensure that the interests of the local community are addressed
. to ensure that a local community can effectively say no to mining in its backyard
. to ensure that there is environmental protection throughout the mining cycle
Environment Haliburton! recommends that uranium stay in the ground, that is, that Ontario institute a moratorium on uranium mining including exploration for uranium.
Environment Haliburton! recommends that Ontario refocus its energy planning to invest in conservation and alternate energy and begin to phase out existing nuclear plants.
Environment Haliburton! recommends that Ontario act upon the proposal by the Ardoch and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nations that a three-person joint panel be convened to investigate exploration and mining issues and to negotiate an interim measures agreement.
Finally as a settler and on behalf of Environment Haliburton! which is an organization of settlers, I apologise to Robert Lovelace, Chief Donny Morris, Deputy Chief Jack McKay, Spokesman Sam McKay, Councillors Cecilia Begg and Darryl Sainnawap and Bruce Sakakeep because our courts have put them in jail for taking action to protect their lands and our futures.
Would that the government of Dalton McGuinty showed such care, concern and love for our lands and our future. Instead, the government of Dalton McGuinty brings shame upon all residents of Ontario and Canada.
We plan, God laughs
Guest speakers share nightmare stories of uranium and radon
Posted By Matt James
May 20, 2008
Haliburton Echo
This is part two of the May 10 information meeting that Environment Haliburton hosted at Sir Sandford Fleming College.
Most people who live in a rural area such as Haliburton County do so by choice; they no longer desire or tolerate the hustle and bustle of city life. Unfortunately for some, the move has been nothing but a nightmare. John Kittle and his wife Sheila bought a two-acre retirement property on the Mississippi River in North Frontenac. Less than a year later they found out that they were 10 km down river from a uranium site.
What’s unique about Kittle is his background — he has degrees in physics and computer science and spent three years in a nuclear physics lab studying radioactive properties of uranium. “The core of my message here today,” said Kittle, “is that something is wrong with democracy in this country. Too much power is concentrated in too few people including provincial and federal politicians and also the mining industries.“These people are making decisions that will affect us for a long time. These decisions will affect our environment, our health, our property values and our rights as citizens and if we want this to change we’re going to have to stand up and demand it.”
Kittle said the Mining Act is archaic, dating back to 1800s and the wild west days. He also showed a slide, which he pulled directly from the website of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. It was a map verifying uranium deposits in Ontario.“This is what Ontario, the province, is advertising to the world,” said Kittle. “Come to Ontario, we’re open.”
Kittle made numerous calls to various provincial ministries and a number of other organizations. “Nobody in government takes any responsibility whatsoever for regulating or even monitoring uranium exploration in the province,” said Kittle. “Mining companies are on the honour system in Ontario.”
It angers him when people say that the mining uranium is Ontario is necessary. “Since the early the 80s Ontario gets all of its uranium from Northern Saskatchewan. No uranium is currently mined in Ontario,” said Kittle. “And over 85 per cent of mined uranium in Northern Saskatchewan is exported, so you can’t tell me we need Ontario uranium to keep the lights on in the province, which is what [Premier Dalton] McGuinty believes.”
He said uranium mines’ track records aren’t very good. In 2005 the auditor general identified of 5,600 dormant mine sites in Ontario; 4,000 were potentially hazardous to public health and safety. Many things about mining in Ontario are wrong: free entry to private property, Ministry of Natural Resources policies for Crown land, citizens’ lack of rights, and government energy policies that are a holiday for mining assessments. “And it’s wrong that the Ontario government treats people who oppose uranium exploitation like enemies of the state,” said Kittle. “Ontario should be ashamed.”
What continues to be the most difficult challenge for those fighting uranium exploration and mining is convincing the general public that it is nothing but bad news. It’s human nature that we have to experience something tragic before we grasp the idea that something needs to change.Three local municipalities and the county have passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on uranium mining in Ontario. Kittle says, “It’s the best one I’ve ever seen. It’s oriented for cottagers, eco-tourism, energy, everything is in there.”
Dangerous stuff and historical wastelands
Linda Harvey is a retired family physician living in the Sharbot Lake area. She also has degrees in physiology and biology with specialties in ecology and field biology.
“I wanted to speak to you today about a whole host of issues pertaining to uranium and the environment but I scraped them all expect one,” said Harvey. “I’m going to speak to you about radioactivity and what it does to the human body and the bodies of the other organisms is gets into.”
The majority of Harvey’s address was quite technical. To paraphrase, she said that once rock formations are broken up radon gas is released. This gas is a product of the radioactive decay of uranium, which leads to a process called ionizing. And Harvey says that, “All ionizing radiation is known to be destructive to biological tissue.” Essentially, she said, it’s like “a wrecking ball in a China shop.”
And this process goes deeper than bones; it can disrupt and rewire DNA cells and can be passed on from generation to generation causing genetic defects. But there were two examples of what Harvey said that put the topic into perspective.
“We haven’t even begun to see what we’ve already done,” she said. “We are poised on the edge of a nuclear renaissance. Why we can even consider this economically I cannot fathom, but biologically it’s pure insanity.”
Harvey spoke about an experience she had in a university chemistry lab. There was a small accident and a flask of concentrated sulfuric acid burst, scattering in all directions. A small portion landed on Harvey’s lab coat, which she took home and laundered thoroughly. There were two small holes in the front that gradually got bigger and by the end of the year she could hardly hang the coat on a hanger.“What was going on in that lab coat is very similar to what excess radioactivity is doing to our bodies,” she said.
Valerie Hunnius is the secretary of the Paudash Lake Conservation Association (PLCA). She gave a little history about the Bicroft, Dyno, and Faraday mines, as well as their environmental impacts and the lack of clean up and responsibility — not by the residents but by the government and mining companies after mining ceased in the early 60s.
“There was no safety net in place when they closed the mines,” said Hunnius. For years the PLCA tried to build good working relationships with the government and mining companies to get someone to take responsibility to safely decommission the mines. But all efforts were in vain.
In 1985 Hunnius and the PLCA contacted the Canadian Institute for Radiation Safety. The institute was asked to do reports on a couple of items; one was on exposure risks to people near the abandoned mine sites.“It was very clear there was a heightened risk of cancers, there was a heightened risk of genetic damage, and there was a heightened risk of birth defects.” Hunnius also talked about the housing sites that were examined in the Bicroft area. “Of the 129 sites that were looked at, 109 were found to need remediation because of the gravel from waste rock,” she said.
The PLCA lobbied the federal and provincial government to clean and safely decommission the mines.
Where do we go from here?
John Hudson is a retired United Church of Canada minister. He lives at Snow Grove Station, a small island on the Mississippi River, approximately five kilometres from the Frontenac Ventures proposed uranium mine site. He is a great supporter of the First Nations — so great that his involvement in a blockade for 108 days landed him a contempt of court charge and a jail sentence of six months.
Commenting on his role in the struggle, he said, “It’s a political problem that needs a political solution — not the courts.” He believes civil disobedience is an important part of democracy.
His very good friend Michael Swinwood has launched a $1.2 class action lawsuit against the province and was a very influential speaker. His message was that as a group, and as a society, we need to come together in great numbers and take a stand.
So where do we go from here?
“Let’s not go away,” said Kittle.
“We need to form coalitions of all groups,” added Hudson.
“Shift happens,” said Swinwood.
“Here, here,” responded one man in the crowd.
May 20, 2008
Haliburton Echo
This is part two of the May 10 information meeting that Environment Haliburton hosted at Sir Sandford Fleming College.
Most people who live in a rural area such as Haliburton County do so by choice; they no longer desire or tolerate the hustle and bustle of city life. Unfortunately for some, the move has been nothing but a nightmare. John Kittle and his wife Sheila bought a two-acre retirement property on the Mississippi River in North Frontenac. Less than a year later they found out that they were 10 km down river from a uranium site.
What’s unique about Kittle is his background — he has degrees in physics and computer science and spent three years in a nuclear physics lab studying radioactive properties of uranium. “The core of my message here today,” said Kittle, “is that something is wrong with democracy in this country. Too much power is concentrated in too few people including provincial and federal politicians and also the mining industries.“These people are making decisions that will affect us for a long time. These decisions will affect our environment, our health, our property values and our rights as citizens and if we want this to change we’re going to have to stand up and demand it.”
Kittle said the Mining Act is archaic, dating back to 1800s and the wild west days. He also showed a slide, which he pulled directly from the website of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. It was a map verifying uranium deposits in Ontario.“This is what Ontario, the province, is advertising to the world,” said Kittle. “Come to Ontario, we’re open.”
Kittle made numerous calls to various provincial ministries and a number of other organizations. “Nobody in government takes any responsibility whatsoever for regulating or even monitoring uranium exploration in the province,” said Kittle. “Mining companies are on the honour system in Ontario.”
It angers him when people say that the mining uranium is Ontario is necessary. “Since the early the 80s Ontario gets all of its uranium from Northern Saskatchewan. No uranium is currently mined in Ontario,” said Kittle. “And over 85 per cent of mined uranium in Northern Saskatchewan is exported, so you can’t tell me we need Ontario uranium to keep the lights on in the province, which is what [Premier Dalton] McGuinty believes.”
He said uranium mines’ track records aren’t very good. In 2005 the auditor general identified of 5,600 dormant mine sites in Ontario; 4,000 were potentially hazardous to public health and safety. Many things about mining in Ontario are wrong: free entry to private property, Ministry of Natural Resources policies for Crown land, citizens’ lack of rights, and government energy policies that are a holiday for mining assessments. “And it’s wrong that the Ontario government treats people who oppose uranium exploitation like enemies of the state,” said Kittle. “Ontario should be ashamed.”
What continues to be the most difficult challenge for those fighting uranium exploration and mining is convincing the general public that it is nothing but bad news. It’s human nature that we have to experience something tragic before we grasp the idea that something needs to change.Three local municipalities and the county have passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on uranium mining in Ontario. Kittle says, “It’s the best one I’ve ever seen. It’s oriented for cottagers, eco-tourism, energy, everything is in there.”
Dangerous stuff and historical wastelands
Linda Harvey is a retired family physician living in the Sharbot Lake area. She also has degrees in physiology and biology with specialties in ecology and field biology.
“I wanted to speak to you today about a whole host of issues pertaining to uranium and the environment but I scraped them all expect one,” said Harvey. “I’m going to speak to you about radioactivity and what it does to the human body and the bodies of the other organisms is gets into.”
The majority of Harvey’s address was quite technical. To paraphrase, she said that once rock formations are broken up radon gas is released. This gas is a product of the radioactive decay of uranium, which leads to a process called ionizing. And Harvey says that, “All ionizing radiation is known to be destructive to biological tissue.” Essentially, she said, it’s like “a wrecking ball in a China shop.”
And this process goes deeper than bones; it can disrupt and rewire DNA cells and can be passed on from generation to generation causing genetic defects. But there were two examples of what Harvey said that put the topic into perspective.
“We haven’t even begun to see what we’ve already done,” she said. “We are poised on the edge of a nuclear renaissance. Why we can even consider this economically I cannot fathom, but biologically it’s pure insanity.”
Harvey spoke about an experience she had in a university chemistry lab. There was a small accident and a flask of concentrated sulfuric acid burst, scattering in all directions. A small portion landed on Harvey’s lab coat, which she took home and laundered thoroughly. There were two small holes in the front that gradually got bigger and by the end of the year she could hardly hang the coat on a hanger.“What was going on in that lab coat is very similar to what excess radioactivity is doing to our bodies,” she said.
Valerie Hunnius is the secretary of the Paudash Lake Conservation Association (PLCA). She gave a little history about the Bicroft, Dyno, and Faraday mines, as well as their environmental impacts and the lack of clean up and responsibility — not by the residents but by the government and mining companies after mining ceased in the early 60s.
“There was no safety net in place when they closed the mines,” said Hunnius. For years the PLCA tried to build good working relationships with the government and mining companies to get someone to take responsibility to safely decommission the mines. But all efforts were in vain.
In 1985 Hunnius and the PLCA contacted the Canadian Institute for Radiation Safety. The institute was asked to do reports on a couple of items; one was on exposure risks to people near the abandoned mine sites.“It was very clear there was a heightened risk of cancers, there was a heightened risk of genetic damage, and there was a heightened risk of birth defects.” Hunnius also talked about the housing sites that were examined in the Bicroft area. “Of the 129 sites that were looked at, 109 were found to need remediation because of the gravel from waste rock,” she said.
The PLCA lobbied the federal and provincial government to clean and safely decommission the mines.
Where do we go from here?
John Hudson is a retired United Church of Canada minister. He lives at Snow Grove Station, a small island on the Mississippi River, approximately five kilometres from the Frontenac Ventures proposed uranium mine site. He is a great supporter of the First Nations — so great that his involvement in a blockade for 108 days landed him a contempt of court charge and a jail sentence of six months.
Commenting on his role in the struggle, he said, “It’s a political problem that needs a political solution — not the courts.” He believes civil disobedience is an important part of democracy.
His very good friend Michael Swinwood has launched a $1.2 class action lawsuit against the province and was a very influential speaker. His message was that as a group, and as a society, we need to come together in great numbers and take a stand.
So where do we go from here?
“Let’s not go away,” said Kittle.
“We need to form coalitions of all groups,” added Hudson.
“Shift happens,” said Swinwood.
“Here, here,” responded one man in the crowd.
County unites in fight against uranium
Environment Haliburton! brings mining opponents together to share ideas and tactics
Haliburton Echo, May13, 2008
Matt James
When Highlands East residents Robin Simpson and Christine Atrill first discovered that their land had been staked for uranium exploration, they felt alone in their fight against the government and the mining companies to save their land.
On May 10 Environment Haliburton! organized an information session at Sir Sandford Fleming College about the impact of uranium in Haliburton County. And there, inside the great hall, it was obvious that Simpson and Atrill were no longer alone.
Not only have four councils (Haliburton County, Dysart et al, Algonquin Highlands and Highlands East) passed a motion for a moratorium on uranium mining, but 12 other municipalities have asked the Ontario government to revamp the Mining Act and give more rights to landowners.
“On the drive here I was thinking about how things have changed over the years,” said Dysart et al Reeve Murray Fearrey, who opened the meeting. “It’s simple to just believe the federal and provincial regulators were all right and if they made a law, we’d accept it and it had to be good for us. That’s just the way we grew up. But recently people are more educated, we’re better informed, and we can make choices now that we couldn’t make before.”
The council of Highlands East, where most of the uranium staking has been taking place, was the first in the county to ask for the moratorium.
Reeve Dave Burton, responding to EH!’s request to explain what he felt were his duties and responsibilities, says his job is to “participate in and foster activities that enhance the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the municipality and its residents.”
“We have to have a vision and a plan for moving forward together,” said the reeve. “At one time mining and lumber were industries that were needed here, but now, 50 years later we have grown into a people business.” Tourism and cottaging are now our two major economic influences.
Burton walked the group through provincial and county policies. The province says that mining will be permitted only if issues of public health, safety and environmental impact are addressed.
The vision of the county’s official plan is to achieve a sustainable, natural environment and a stable, diversified and year-round economy based on clean, small- to medium-sized economic activities.
Highlands East’s official plan strives to maintain or improve the environment and water quality. Council’s priority is to plan and manage change in a manner that will provide the greatest protection of natural features that are so fundamental to the local quality.
Burton was thankful of the aid he received in drafting the resolution for a uranium mining moratorium. He quoted Fearrey who said that the moratorium is the right thing to do because it’s being done for the right reasons.
Burton said, “We need to look beyond short term financial gains and consider what impact the short term will have for future wealth and health for the municipality.”
Burton told the crowd, “You have to communicate with your elected reps. Tell us your concerns and wants and needs. That enables us to make a more informed decision.”
Simpson and Atrill were part of the speakers’ panel representing FUME – Fight Uranium Mining Exploration. The meeting was the kick off for FUME’s letter-writing campaign to pressure the province into calling a moratorium on uranium mining. For a donation of $5 FUME will send five copies of a pre-written letter to the Premier, Minister of Northern Development and Mines, MPP Laurie Scott, John Tory and Howard Hampton.
Simpson also said FUME will be doing another round of water and well testing within the next month. Cottagers or residents in areas of interest can contact FUME for more information. Simpson makes the process very easy and asks only for enough money to cover the cost of the bottles used for the tests.
Atrill had good news about land initially slated for exploration north of an existing mining project called Halo. Atrill said the land is now deemed untouchable for mining. Instead, the government is considering it as a green energy windmill area.
Look for part two of the Environment Haliburton meeting in next week’s Echo. Individuals from outside the county will discuss their battles against uranium mining: John Kittle gives an overview of uranium issues and opposition in eastern Ontario; Linda Harvey, a retired doctor talks about some health issues revolving around uranium mining; John Hudson, a retired United Church minister, discusses the effects of uranium mining on First Nations; Valerie Hunnius of the Paudash Lake Conservation Association gives a brief history of the environmental impacts and clean up of the Bicroft and Dyno mines; and lawyer Michael Swinwood describes his class-action lawsuit and the possibility of one for Haliburton County.
Environment Haliburton! brings mining opponents together to share ideas and tactics
Haliburton Echo, May13, 2008
Matt James
When Highlands East residents Robin Simpson and Christine Atrill first discovered that their land had been staked for uranium exploration, they felt alone in their fight against the government and the mining companies to save their land.
On May 10 Environment Haliburton! organized an information session at Sir Sandford Fleming College about the impact of uranium in Haliburton County. And there, inside the great hall, it was obvious that Simpson and Atrill were no longer alone.
Not only have four councils (Haliburton County, Dysart et al, Algonquin Highlands and Highlands East) passed a motion for a moratorium on uranium mining, but 12 other municipalities have asked the Ontario government to revamp the Mining Act and give more rights to landowners.
“On the drive here I was thinking about how things have changed over the years,” said Dysart et al Reeve Murray Fearrey, who opened the meeting. “It’s simple to just believe the federal and provincial regulators were all right and if they made a law, we’d accept it and it had to be good for us. That’s just the way we grew up. But recently people are more educated, we’re better informed, and we can make choices now that we couldn’t make before.”
The council of Highlands East, where most of the uranium staking has been taking place, was the first in the county to ask for the moratorium.
Reeve Dave Burton, responding to EH!’s request to explain what he felt were his duties and responsibilities, says his job is to “participate in and foster activities that enhance the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the municipality and its residents.”
“We have to have a vision and a plan for moving forward together,” said the reeve. “At one time mining and lumber were industries that were needed here, but now, 50 years later we have grown into a people business.” Tourism and cottaging are now our two major economic influences.
Burton walked the group through provincial and county policies. The province says that mining will be permitted only if issues of public health, safety and environmental impact are addressed.
The vision of the county’s official plan is to achieve a sustainable, natural environment and a stable, diversified and year-round economy based on clean, small- to medium-sized economic activities.
Highlands East’s official plan strives to maintain or improve the environment and water quality. Council’s priority is to plan and manage change in a manner that will provide the greatest protection of natural features that are so fundamental to the local quality.
Burton was thankful of the aid he received in drafting the resolution for a uranium mining moratorium. He quoted Fearrey who said that the moratorium is the right thing to do because it’s being done for the right reasons.
Burton said, “We need to look beyond short term financial gains and consider what impact the short term will have for future wealth and health for the municipality.”
Burton told the crowd, “You have to communicate with your elected reps. Tell us your concerns and wants and needs. That enables us to make a more informed decision.”
Simpson and Atrill were part of the speakers’ panel representing FUME – Fight Uranium Mining Exploration. The meeting was the kick off for FUME’s letter-writing campaign to pressure the province into calling a moratorium on uranium mining. For a donation of $5 FUME will send five copies of a pre-written letter to the Premier, Minister of Northern Development and Mines, MPP Laurie Scott, John Tory and Howard Hampton.
Simpson also said FUME will be doing another round of water and well testing within the next month. Cottagers or residents in areas of interest can contact FUME for more information. Simpson makes the process very easy and asks only for enough money to cover the cost of the bottles used for the tests.
Atrill had good news about land initially slated for exploration north of an existing mining project called Halo. Atrill said the land is now deemed untouchable for mining. Instead, the government is considering it as a green energy windmill area.
Look for part two of the Environment Haliburton meeting in next week’s Echo. Individuals from outside the county will discuss their battles against uranium mining: John Kittle gives an overview of uranium issues and opposition in eastern Ontario; Linda Harvey, a retired doctor talks about some health issues revolving around uranium mining; John Hudson, a retired United Church minister, discusses the effects of uranium mining on First Nations; Valerie Hunnius of the Paudash Lake Conservation Association gives a brief history of the environmental impacts and clean up of the Bicroft and Dyno mines; and lawyer Michael Swinwood describes his class-action lawsuit and the possibility of one for Haliburton County.