Natives want province to halt coal-burning at mill

The Canadian Press
October 1, 2005

CAMPBELL RIVER -- The First Nation on Quadra Island has asked the B.C. government not to approve an application for the Elk Falls pulp and paper mill to burn any more coal until the emissions have been studied.

The 200-member Cape Mudge band is worried about the possible health effects of emissions from the NorskeCanada mill.

An emissions-fallout study commissioned by Norske during the past year showed elevated levels of various toxic compounds around the Cape Mudge lighthouse a few hundred metres south of Cape Mudge village, but mill personnel said the figures were well within safety limits.

Mill vice-president Norm Facey said if the mill waste were causing health problems the group most likely to be affected would be mill employees.

"If that was happening the [Workers Compensation Board] would be all over us," he said.

Government agencies are required to consult with and help protect First Nations from the environmental and health impact of industrial plans.

A Cape Mudge member said new or recurring cases of cancer have been coming in at a rate of at least two a year over the past 10 years or more, about three times the number of cases at the nearby Quinsam Indian reserve, which receives only a fraction of the mill's smoke-stack emissions compared to Cape Mudge.

Cape Mudge band administrator Brian Kelly said the two First Nations communities are an almost exact mirror image of each other demographically, in population, age distribution, dietary habits and lifestyle, such as smoking.

"I don't see there's any reason [the cancer rate] would be different [apart from the mill emissions]," Kelly said.

Cape Mudge band members in their 40s and early 50s have been diagnosed with cancer, he said. "It's not like it's people 75-plus."

The mill is seeking an open-ended amendment to its present temporary permit to burn up to 83 tonnes of coal a day as an auxiliary fuel for its boilers.

The permit expired Friday. The Environment Ministry's waste-protection branch extended it for 30 days and also extended the consultation period until the end of October.

Facey said if the company was not allowed to go on burning coal at the mill, that would have a severe impact on the operation's economics, already hit by several other factors such as the high value of the Canadian dollar.

Facey said the mill was prepared to work with the First Nation to try to get more continuous-monitoring equipment, perhaps for a study over two years.

A letter from the band to the B.C. government called for increased air pollution monitoring.

"Additional contamination from the burning of coal would create further damage to the health, safety and enjoyment of life of this aboriginal community," the letter said.