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INAC Is Gambling With Manitoulin's Life

March 29, 2006

Meeting Held With All Stakeholders Present

http://www.manitoulin.ca/Expositor/old%20files/mar29_2006.htm

Zhiibaahaasing seeks solution to tire stockpile

Sustainability of recycling operation being examined

by Lindsay Kelly

with files from Jim Moodie

ZHIIBAAHAASING-Representatives from local First Nations, municipalities and provincial government agencies gathered in Zhiibaahaasing last week to discuss the potential dangers of the tire stockpile currently sitting on the First Nation. The result is a plan for action, designed to prevent any environmental mishaps from occurring, and to calculate the future sustainability of the tire recycling operation.

The meeting was held to address concerns recently raised by other Island municipalities and First Nations, which cited the possibility of a large-scale fire and the breeding of mosquitoes (which spread West Nile virus) as its primary sources of interest in the matter.

Representatives for the First Nation declined to comment on the meeting's proceedings. On Monday, Deputy Chief Kevin Mossip indicated that a prepared statement would be issued to the press on behalf of Zhiibaahaasing chief and council; however, despite repeated requests, it was not provided.

Algoma-Manitoulin MP Brent St. Denis chaired the meeting at the request of the First Nation's Chief Irene Kells. Mr. St. Denis said his sense was that the meeting went very well, with everyone going away feeling satisfied that the issues had been addressed and the concerns of the other Island communities had been heard.

"The community was very sincere in their efforts to promote economic development in their community," he said of Zhiibaahaasing. "But they were also very sensitive to the concerns of the other communities over what the tire pile means."

The MP noted that, over the course of the meeting, the community representatives had broached the major concerns of Island municipalities and First Nations, and had come to an agreement of what needs to be done to address those concerns over the short term.

The group first looked at ways to keep the fire hazard to a minimum, and Mr. St. Denis noted that a committee had been set up to devise a plan that would ensure that the facility remains under provincial regulations for tire recycling facilities.

In addition, the meeting's attendees agreed to "put pressure on" the major funding agencies to launch a feasibility study that would determine the future sustainability of the tire facility.

Mr. St. Denis commended the community for trying to do something positive to generate economic development on the First Nation.

"I am very impressed with the First Nation's efforts in being open to seeking help and advice from the other communities who are concerned about what's going on in Zhiibaahaasing," he noted.

Peter Hutley, salesperson and public relations officer with Ontario Tire Recovery (OTR), has viewed the current situation at Zhiibaahaasing with great interest.

The company is based in Hagersville, in southern Ontario-same community, unfortunately enough, where a devastating tire fire occurred in February, 1990-and is one of the big players in the tire recovery field, picking up approximately one-third of Ontario's tires, including from depots in Northern Ontario. "We pick up tires all the way from Thunder Bay to Windsor," Mr. Hutley said, estimating the number at 3 to 3.5 million tires per year.

The company doesn't process them; they just deliver them to processing plants, many of which are in Quebec. Some of the tires are used in the cement industry, where they're used as a supplement to coal as a fuel source in kilns, while others are granulated and made into fatigue mats. "One of the companies makes animal mats that line horse barns or cow barns, so you have cows with happy feet," he explained.

The demand for tires, particularly from the cement industry, is such that "we can't get enough tires right now," Mr. Hutley said. "Kilns in Quebec burn 2.5 million tires per year in the cement industry, and we ship 3,000 tires per day to just one kiln."

Zhiibaahaasing strikes him as an inconvenient location for a tire operation because "it's most likely the worst place in Ontario to get to." He said the cost for a company such as his to pick up the tires from the far-flung locale would likely be $2 per tire, "so you're looking at about a $2 million cleanup." He said OTR charges customers in the Toronto area about $1.60 per tire for a pickup. The company doesn't get paid by the processors; in fact, it has to pay a disposal fee of 30 to 80 cents per tire to deposit the tires at the processing plants.

Because tire collection is "a cash business, you see a lot of people come and go," Mr. Hutley noted. "People pay you right up front, so you have cash in your jeans," but this often leads to companies folding quickly or outright scams, he indicated. "We've cleaned up warehouses where people have pocketed money and then left the landlord with the problem."

In general, "Ontario doesn't have a tire problem now, because of Hagersville," he said, noting that in the aftermath of that disaster, the province "clamped down on the maximum number of tires that are allowed at one site." That number, he said, is 4,999 tires per site, unless approval has been granted for more. At Zhiibaahaasing, the number is estimated to be one million. "That's 200 times the allowable," Mr. Hutley said. "You've got yourself a disaster up there."

While he declined to comment further on the situation facing Zhiibaahaasing, Mr. Hutley did say that Ontario Tire Recovery would be interested in becoming involved in a cleanup of the tire stockpile if that becomes an option in the future.

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April 5, 2006

Manitoulin Expositor Releases Column That Startles Manitoulin Residents

http://www.manitoulin.ca/Expositor/old%20files/apr05_2006.htm

Hagersville example lends urgency to local tire cleanup

by Jim Moodie

MANITOULIN-When a massive tire pile near Hagersville was ignited by vandals in February, 1990, the fire smouldered for 15 days, necessitated the evacuation of everyone within a four-mile radius, and drew the attention of media the world over.

While the plume of smoke has long since dissipated, the experience lingers as a figurative black cloud over the Hagersville community, and acts as a continuing reminder of the danger posed by such massive tire heaps.

At the time, 14 million tires had accumulated at the Hagersville site, and when they went up, the smoky blaze represented the largest tire fire in the world. Since then, the province has imposed stricter standards on the storage of scrap tires, limiting the number allowed at a given site as well as mandating better security and fire prevention measures.

But problematic tire piles still exist, with the largest in the province now existing at Zhiibaahaasing First Nation on western Manitoulin, where equipment malfunctions at the community's tire recycling plant are blamed for the accumulation.

It's unclear exactly how many tires have built up at Zhiibaahaasing, but even a conservative estimate is alarming. Tom Brown, district supervisor for the Ministry of the Environment in Sudbury, says, "the estimate I have is 1.4 million, but I've heard everything from 750,000 to 1.5 million."

Let's call it a million. That, by anyone's standard, is a lot.

Zhiibaahaasing is the Island's smallest First Nation community, with an on-reserve population of less than 50 people. Tires, then, outnumber individuals here by 20,000 times.

Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Brent St. Denis, who chaired a recent meeting at the reserve concerning the tire buildup, stresses that the First Nation has not acted with deliberate disregard for the environment. "I think their intentions all along were good. They wanted to create jobs for their community and neighbouring ones, and to be involved in recycling, which is good for the environment. These are all laudable goals," he says. "The problem is the machine broke, and now they find themselves in this quandary."

The First Nation is presently seeking funding to conduct a study on the feasibility of fixing its equipment and continuing the recycling operation. Mr. St. Denis says that an earlier study was completed but "it wasn't done in a comprehensive enough way to satisfy funding agencies."

The First Nation, he notes, has been going it alone so far in its tire endeavour. "There has been no outside funding for this, which was confirmed by Chief Irene Kells at our last meeting." Chief Kells was contacted by the Expositor last week, but the chief wasn't available for comment.

Mr. St. Denis says he doesn't want to speak on the First Nation's behalf, as he is merely trying to facilitate a course of action, but says he personally wants "to see this come to a resolution," and he is confident that the First Nation is equally committed to finding a responsible answer to the problem.

The band is seeking $80,000 to conduct the feasibility study, and is presently requesting the support of municipalities and First Nations across the Island for its application. Presuming the funding comes through, and the study is completed, "I guess there will be one of two outcomes," the MP says. "If the project is deemed feasible, presumably they will go forward and deal with the pile with equipment that they have there to shred them. If it's not feasible, presumably the tires have to be removed-but how, I don't know."

A representative of Ontario's largest tire recovery company has estimated the cost of picking up tires from the Zhiibaahaasing site at $2 million, based on the figure of one million tires and a pickup fee that takes into account current trucking costs. But the First Nation would obviously prefer to revive its recycling plant and reap some revenue by dealing with the scrap rubber on its own, rather than try to come up with the money to pay for the removal of the heap.

Meanwhile, "mitigation efforts are being undertaken and looked at to reduce the potential for a fire hazard," Mr. St. Denis indicates. "A committee has been struck-which will be led by the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin but open to others, including the fire marshal-to put in place a mitigation plan."

Some fire-prevention and containment strategies have already been carried out, such as the construction of a berm and clearing of brush, but "a complete plan will be put in place by the committee," says Mr. St. Denis.

Still, while any effort made to minimize risks is obviously welcomed, many Islanders remain alarmed by the potential for disaster that still exists as long as the pile is there. And according to one First Nations individual whose community has been dealing for years with the fallout of the Hagersville tire fire, it's not an unreasonable concern.

Islanders, says Chief Brian Laforme of the New Credit First Nation, "should be alarmed."

Mr. Laforme's community, a reserve of 700 Mississaugas, is positioned directly next-door to the site where burnt rubber from the Hagersville fire has been stored in a landfill. "The Towhow Landfill Site is adjacent to our First Nation, and this is where they put the remains of the tire fire," he says. "They dug a cell and put a liner in it, and it's monitored, but when you get a lot of rain, you get overspill."

Chief Laforme says that when his community learned of the plan to store the waste near their reserve, "we fought it as long as we could, but unfortunately we weren't successful." The original location of the tires struck the First Nation as a more appropriate place to bury the waste, as "it was out in a field and not adjacent to any population," but "we were told that there was an issue with lack of clay there."

The band was also assured by the Ministry of the Environment that the material "wasn't considered waste, and wasn't hazardous," the chief relates, but the New Credit band was skeptical of this assessment. "We did our own testing, and found all kinds of crazy stuff in there that you can't even pronounce," notes the chief.

The band's concerns were evidently well-founded, as 10 wells in the vicinity of the waste storage site were deemed to have been contaminated and had to be shut down. "Some of the wells we didn't decommission, though, become we want to keep track of it," Chief Laforme notes.

Eventually, the First Nation was awarded funding of $491,000 "to help residents adjacent to the site do renovations to protect their homes from contamination and odour," and resources were also made available to run water lines to many of the community's homes. "Most of our houses were on wells, so we're piping water in now, although that is only 40 percent complete," the chief says.

While the concern about contaminated well water has now been largely addressed, Chief Laforme says his community is still worried about the nearby hazard. "Our concern now is, what happens to the waste when it comes time to close the landfill?" he says.

As for Zhiibaahaasing's tire pile, the chief says he can appreciate that small First Nations like his own need to explore economic development options, but encourages the chief and council to "sit down and talk with other communities about how to deal with this, and what kind of plans are in place in case of an emergency, because you have a potential tire fire there."

Chief Laforme notes that some people are reluctant to ask "what if?," because it's so speculative. "A lot of people will say, 'If a frog had wings, it would fly,'" he notes. But he believes it's important to imagine the worst-case scenario, and prepare for it, because he's lived through a disaster of this type and is still dealing with the regrettable environmental consequences.

"You have to be the devil's advocate, and find out what plans are on paper for an emergency and evacuation," he says, noting that his own community has an emergency evacuation plan that it reviews each year. "You have a potential hazard there, and if something happens, it won't only affect that one community, but surrounding communities too," he warns.

It's a prospect that Jeff Edwards, Northeastern Ontario representative for Emergency Management Ontario, also views with great gravity. His organization has been acting in an advisory capacity as Zhiibaahaasing and other communities across the Island assess local capacity to handle a potential disaster. "You have to gauge the ability of communities on the Island to respond effectively to the tire pile if it ever catches on fire," he counsels.

Mr. Edwards had planned to attend the meeting in Zhiibaahaasing last month, but was unable to be there due to vehicle problems. Still, he's following the situation closely, and, as a resident of Blind River, is also geographically close to the issue, as the town is directly across the North Channel from the small First Nation.

He stresses, however, that Emergency Management Ontario is not an emergency service, per se. "We won't respond ourselves" to a crisis, he says, because it's up to "the community to be the lead. But if a community writes an emergency plan, we help them."

Mr. Edwards says that he doesn't "want to sound alarmist," and hopes the situation "will be resolved before it gets to the point of a fire." But, in the meantime, the Island should "imagine the worst, and prepare for the worst," he recommends.

If the tire pile did catch on fire, "local firefighters would be the first line of attack, but if it spread beyond their control, you can access provincial resources," he notes. "And you need a plan so that you know how to get those provincial resources."

Water bombers could conceivably be accessed, but Mr. Edwards points out that "water bombing hasn't been shown as effective (in combating a tire blaze), so a deployment of water bombers wouldn't be the first choice."

In the case of the Hagersville fire, the pile had to be broken up by equipment on the ground before the blaze was brought under control. "It's pretty much one tire at a time," says Mr. Edwards. "Tires turn to oil when they burn, and we all know that oil and water don't mix. Water just tends to spread the oil around, and you don't want it running into the North Channel."

Should the situation reach such a serious state that Islanders had to be evacuated, Mr. Edwards notes that "the swing bridge in Little Current poses some problems, and would have to be permanently fixed so traffic could get off the Island. You'd also probably increase the ferry schedule and look at the two airports, if it got to that point."

Unlike a forest fire, however, a tire fire "wouldn't be all of a sudden," he notes, so there would presumably be some time to put an evacuation plan into motion, rather than having to act in a rush.

The local police would play a role in any such crisis. Dan Esposto, emergency preparedness officer with the Little Current detachment of the OPP, says his force "would assist in an evacuation." He notes that each community on the Island was mandated by Emergency Measures Ontario to have an emergency plan in place by the end of last year, "and by the end of this year, they are supposed to have them tested."

If a tire fire forced people out of communities close to the site, "there are mutual aid agreements between municipalities, so communities at the east end of the Island would be mobilized to accept west-end people," Constable Esposto points out.

He admits that the police haven't previously put much emphasis on tire fires in their response planning, as the scenario was never seen as a likelihood on the Island. "When developing an OPP response (to potential emergencies), one thing we looked at was what had happened in the past, and we assessed threats based on that," he indicates. "We didn't have any hurricanes or tornados, so the biggest threat was an ice storm or power outage, because we've had those before."

But while there's no precedent for such a catastrophe on Manitoulin, the Hagersville example should act as a wake-up call to anyone who thinks of a tire pile as simply a benign, inert mass.

Robert Hall, the owner/editor of the Hagersville-Cayuga Haldimand Press, has vivid memories of the incident in his community. "There was one hell of a cloud of black smoke for days," he says. "We're six or seven miles from where it happened here in the village of Hagersville, but you could see the smoke, and I remember one night while I was delivering newspapers, I was six miles to the west of it, and I could see the flames."

While the community has largely recovered from the crisis, and the regrettable spotlight that was cast on it at the time, Mr. Hall does concede that the fire had a detrimental impact on the local economy. "It affected us to some extent. I know one couple who had a small business they wanted to sell, and the prospective buyer said, 'isn't this where the fire was?' and backed right out."

He says corn is now flourishing right across the road from where the fire occurred, which suggests to him that the lingering environmental impact has been negligible. But at the time, "there was a lot of contamination in in one creek, because of all the water they used to fight the fire, and with the water taking its natural course, it found its way into Lake Erie," he notes.

With the Zhiibaahaassing site obviously overloaded with tires and located not far from the North Channel, many observers are perplexed as to why the Ministry of the Environment hasn't mandated the removal of most if not all of the scrap heap.

The short answer is: they can't. As Mr. Brown, the MOE's district supervisor, points out, "our ministry has no legal authority on First Nation land; it's the responsibility of the federal agencies." He notes that the province does have a rule prohibiting the storage of over 5,000 tires (or 300 cubic metres) without a certificate of approval-which "gives special criteria concerning site security and the distance between the piles"-and enforces such policies on a regular basis elsewhere in the province.

"If this was not on a First Nation reserve, we would definitely be involved," he says.

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An Editorial Printed On The Same Day

http://www.manitoulin.ca/Expositor/old%20files/apr05_2006.htm

Tires need to go, one way or another

The ongoing challenge of dealing with a million tires piled up on the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation is an ecological disaster waiting to happen, and it would be a better use of taxpayers' dollars to clear the potential disaster out now, than to wait until catastrophe strikes and remedial action is required.

A business case for the project could have been better prepared before embarking on such a project, and, laudable as providing economic development and employment may be, such development must be sustainable and a market exist for the products that will allow the project to move tires through the system in such a way as to remain within safety and environmental guidelines.

If such a business case cannot be made, then the clearing operation should be instituted quickly, without delay-even if it must be funded through a further application of taxpayer dollars. Fretting or agonizing over the matter will not decrease the danger or provide any increase in environmental security any more than increasing acrimony or placing blame.

It is heartening to note that the representatives of Island First Nations and municipalities, along with Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapusaksing MP Brent St. Denis and Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Brown, are working in a co-operative manner to try and find an equitable solution to the dilemma posed by the failure of the tire recycling initiative-but action must quickly follow these noble intentions.

Although work is apparently under way to move the tires into less volatile piles, limiting the danger should any fire break out, efforts must also be made to bring the number of tires being stored into line with provincial legislation. At last report the number of tires currently stored exceeds those standards by a factor of 20,000 times. Clearly this is unsustainable. The provincial legislation was formulated for reasons of public safety, based on very real events, not as an affront to legitimate treaty rights or the division of powers of the various levels of government. The regulations are there to protect all people and they are there for good reason-witness the huge fire which assailed the communities surrounding the Hagersville debacle.

We strongly urge the leadership of Zhiibaahaasing and the federal and provincial governments to quickly bring this issue to a safe and amenable resolution for all our sakes.

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April 12, 2006

This Thing Is Hazardous To Your Health

http://www.manitoulin.ca/Expositor/old%20files/apr12_2006.htm

Tire dump poses health risk

by Jim Moodie

MANITOULIN-Concern over the tire buildup on the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation is mounting as the summer season approaches, and with it the increased risk of fire and mosquitoes, but it appears that no government official is going to step in soon to order that the pile be removed.

"The problem is that it's beyond the scope of the Ministry (of the Environment) to regulate, because it's on a First Nation," said Mike Brown, Algoma-Manitoulin MPP. "In the province's view, it's the responsibility of the owners of the tires."

The province could get involved "if asked to," Mr. Brown said, but added that "you can't just ask for one thing."

He said that the situation would be much different if the accumulation wasn't on a reserve. "If it was private land, they'd be ordered to clean it up and pay for it, and if not, the ministry would do it for them, and then they'd be faced with the bill."

The issue of tire dumps has been "high on the provincial agenda," he said, ever since the Hagersville fire of 1990, which "provided the impetus for making clear who is responsible for a cleanup, and enforcing environmental regulations, so you can't just escape and leave the mess with the landowner."

But because the federal government has jurisdiction over First Nations, "the provincial government does not have a direct interest," Mr. Brown said.

This is not to say that he isn't concerned. "We're following this with interest, because it's clearly not a good situation," he indicated. "I was invited to the meeting (held on March 23 in Zhiibaahaasing), but that was the day of the provincial budget, which is the worst day for any member to be away (from the legislature), but particularly for the speaker." Mr. Brown was named speaker of the legislature last year.

One ministry which does hold some sway over the situation is the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada, but this is mostly in an advisory capacity, said Paul Strohack, regional manager of environmental health with the branch. "We did investigate late last summer, and provided a report to chief and council regarding our concerns, as well as sent them to other agencies like Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC)."

Mr. Strohack said that the type of mosquito that can carry West Nile Virus was found at the site, "but they weren't infected with the virus." That can change, however, he said. "It may come this year, or next year."

The regional manager said "we'll probably do a follow-up investigation this spring and summer, because it is a health issue."

He said that hydrogeologists with Environment Canada are "also working on this file, because they have a concern about water pollution. It's a multi-agency approach."

However, the lead agency is INAC, he said, and it will be essentially up to that department to demand action. On the other hand, if it ever did come to the point where there was "a bonafide West Nile outbreak, the provincial government would have the powers under the provincial health act to do something, if the federal government didn't react," noted Mr. Strohack. "Everybody's learned from SARS that if the issue is serious, you don't have the time for meetings and consensus, and just have to issue orders."

He said his agency's advice is that the First Nation "should remove the dump, even though we can't order the removal. But there's a clear-cut responsibility to either fund the removal or get the recycling plant working. We'll still comment, but the ball lies in the court of the community and INAC."

There is also some federal legislation dealing with fisheries, Mr. Strohack noted, that could be brought to bear on the situation, but unfortunately, these laws "aren't dealing with potential problems, just actual ones."

He said it's a bit frustrating, because "everyone knows what should be done," but are reluctant to impose a course of action because of the sensitive jurisdictional situation. "Everyone seems to go around passing the buck," he said, hastening to add that this is his own personal observation, and not a comment made on behalf of the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch.

The Environment minister could be called on to intervene, he said, if enough people talk to their member of parliament and write letters. "A letter goes a long way, especially with a minority government," said Mr. Strohack.

The Sierra Legal Defence Fund, Canada's foremost non-profit environmental watchdog, is familiar with the Zhiibaahaasing situation, but similarly hesitant to wade into the situation without the co-operation of the chief and council of the reserve. Elaine MacDonald, a scientist with the organization, said that Sierra Legal has grave concerns about both the storage and application of used tires, but is respectful of the autonomy of First Nations, and won't take on this particular battle without consultation with the leadership of the reserve.

The organization is quite active elsewhere on the tire front, however. For instance, Sierra Legal is presently outraged by a proposal that would allow Lafarge Canada-a subsidiary of the world's largest cement producer, as well as one of the Island's largest employers, though its limestone quarry on Western Manitoulin and its Birch Island port-to burn tires, along with other materials (including animal meal and plastics) in a cement kiln it operates in Bath, Ontario.

According to Sierra Legal, Lafarge plans to truck waste (including tires, for which it would receive a fee) from as many as eight Great Lakes states, as well as Ontario and Quebec, for use as fuel in its kiln operation.

"Our concern is related to air pollution," Ms. MacDonald said, pointing out that alarming increases in toxic air emissions have been noted in St. Constant, a community near Montreal, where tires are burned in a cement kiln. "After Lafarge started burning tires in its cement kiln in Quebec, there were dramatic increases in emissions of heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium and lead, (as well as) carcinogens," she communicated.

She believes there are more appropriate and environmentally-benign applications for scrap tires. "I was speaking with a fellow from Owen Sound, a reporter there, whose city also had a tire buildup, and they started to use tires in rubberized asphalt," Ms. MacDonald noted. "There are other ways to reuse tires other than burning them."

Burning tires as a source of fuel can be as bad as having them catch on fire in a field, the Sierra Legal scientist argued. "Research is coming out that suggests that burning tires in an inefficient combustor is pretty well parallel to an open-air tire dump catching on fire."

The environmental organization advocates removing tires from unmanageable dump sites, both because of the fire risk and the threat of West Nile Virus (as mosquitoes tend to breed in the stagnant water trapped by tires), but disapproves of incineration as a disposal option. "Technologies have been developed where you utilize them in a more positive way," Ms. MacDonald pointed out.

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April 19, 2006

Another Week Goes BY With No Solution In Sight

http://www.manitoulin.ca/Expositor/old%20files/apr19_2006.htm

Pressure mounts against Zhiibaahaasing tire dump

Neighbouring municipalities, First Nation, demand quick resolution

by Jim Moodie and Tom Sasvari

MANITOULIN-As Islanders undertake spring cleanups in their homes and along various roadsides, many are also hoping that a massive tire pile on the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation can be tidied up before the full heat of summer hits.

Last week, a half-dozen Island municipalities issued a statement calling for the immediate removal of the hazardous heap, while the chief of the neighbouring Sheshegwaning First Nation also expressed his community's urge to see a speedy resolution to the problem.

Representatives of six municipalities gathered on April 10 to discuss the tire conundrum and figure out ways that action could be precipitated. Apart from representatives of Burpee-Mills Township, which hosted the meeting, municipal leaders were also present from Central Manitoulin, Gordon, Billings, Dawson-Robinson, and Cockburn Island.

"The whole reason for this meeting is that there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of progress or movement being made on this issue," said Burpee-Mills Reeve Ken Noland. "I don't know what we can do, or try to do, but we need to do something."

Mr. Noland added that he wasn't "real pleased" with the outcome of a meeting held at Zhiibaahaasing last month, which was chaired by Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Brent St. Denis and featured representation from various Island municipalities and First Nations, as well as government agencies.

"I felt maybe the whole truth wasn't being told," he said. "We were told the tire recycling plant has been down for nine months, but I understand it has been about four years." Lee Hayden, a Gordon Township councillor, agreed the equipment malfunction had occurred three or four years ago.

Others present wondered why the First Nation continued to accept tires up until last summer, given their inability to recycle them, and to what purpose the revenue would have been put. "If there are one million tires, and money was coming in for them, where has this money gone?" asked Dale Van Every of Dawson. "This is a fair bit of money that could have been used to fix the plant."

Mr. Noland noted that Zhiibaahaasing is presently applying for $80,000 in funding to complete a feasibility study for its stalled recycling operation. On top of that, it is anticipated that "it will be between $600,000 and $800,000 for the equipment needed to process the tires," he said.

Jack McQuarrie, a Cockburn Island councillor, pointed out that his community-also the site of the original Zhiibaahaasing reserve, an island located just west of Manitoulin-is about the same distance from the tire pile as Burpee-Mills Township, and predicted "there would be devastating results if a fire took place; we would all be affected."

The Cockburn Island representative then voiced a sense of impatience that was widely-held within the room. "We need to ask the feds to step in and haul the tires out," he said. "The tires need to be removed."

Leonard Genereux, chief of the Sheshegwaning First Nation, was not present at this latest meeting, but he did attend last month's session hosted by Zhiibaahaasing and shares many of the municipal representatives' concerns.

"I'd like to see something resolved ASAP, myself," he told the Expositor last week, while adding that "there's not much we can do about the whole thing, because it's up to the feds and the province and the community itself."

Chief Genereux expressed confidence in the leadership of Zhiibaahaasing to seek an appropriate course of action. "I believe the people involved are all competent, and I would like to show support," he said.

At the same time, though, he is anxious to see a prompt resolution to the issue, particularly since his community is directly adjacent to Zhiibaahaasing. "They either have to get the business up and going, or pick up all those tires and get them out," he said.

While a few members of the Sheshegwaning reserve have been employed by the recycling company in the past, Chief Genereux said the operation isn't viewed as one that is particularly important to his community's economy. "The tire operation isn't a priority for Sheshegwaning," he said.

The main concern of Sheshegwaning "is safety," said the chief. "We've had assurances from expert staff that there's no way the pile can catch on fire unless lightning strikes nearby or if somebody lit them. But my concern is that, if things aren't being resolved, we'll be at the peak of summer when the heat is coming on. I'd like to see it resolved quickly."

Should Zhiibaahaasing opt to revive its recycling plant, "the feds will have to get involved to get that unit up and going, because everybody's budgets are pretty slim," said Chief Genereux.

He noted that a committee was struck at the March meeting held at Zhiibaahaasing, including representatives of other First Nations, and it will be that group's task to figure out a solution. "I know the entire Island has its attention on this, and are waiting patiently to see what comes from the committee," he said.

But patience is running out for many municipal leaders, who fear a catastrophe at the site would not only have dire consequences for the environment and human safety, but a potentially crippling effect on the Island's tourist economy.

"It would destroy our business and tourism," opined Sharon Alkenbrack at the April 10 meeting.

Reeve Noland said it's imperative that municipalities do as much as they can to lobby for a swift solution to the mess. "If we don't do anything and don't make all the government agencies aware of the problems and concerns, we would be just as responsible as they are if a fire did occur, because nothing was done with the tires," he said.

The municipal leaders present agreed to draft a strongly-worded resolution which will be shared with other townships which weren't able to attend the meeting, as well as be presented to the Manitoulin Municipal Association.

It was agreed that their concerns also be circulated to the various departments and ministries which have jurisdiction over the issue, as well as to Chippewa County in Michigan, because, as Jim McLean of Billings pointed out, "all it would take is the right wind and they would be affected as well."

Mr. McQuarrie suggested that the group's concerns also be communicated directly to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The resolution states that, in light of the health, safety and environmental concerns posed by the tire accumulation, "we demand the immediate removal of all tires from Zhiibaahaasing First Nation, and that legislation be put in place to prevent the stockpiling of tires."

Permanent Link for webmasters

May 3, 2006

MP Brent St. Denis Demonstrates His Lack Of Conviction

http://www.manitoulin.ca/Expositor/old%20files/may03_2006.htm

St. Denis supports interim solution to West End tire dump

by Jim Moodie

MANITOULIN-Municipalities on Manitoulin continue to urge a quick course of action to remedy the tire pileup on the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation, with Gore Bay council calling last week on MP Brent St. Denis to take the lead on this front.

But while Mr. St. Denis agreed to chair a meeting held at the First Nation in March, and is working hard behind the scenes to broker a solution, he remains reluctant to speak for the First Nation, prefacing any remarks on the subject with the disclaimer, "I don't want to put myself out as spokesperson on this."

If a strategy is to be found to reduce the size of the hazardous pile, it will require the blessings of the First Nation itself, as well as the broader First Nations leadership on the Island, the MP maintains.

"I'm sensitive to the feelings of both Zhiibaahaasing and the rest of Manitoulin," Mr. St. Denis indicated. "But it's a file that's definitely on my desk, and I do want to see it resolved. It's getting to the time when some very firm things have to happen."

Sarah Hutchinson, the Green Party candidate who ran against Mr. St. Denis in the recent federal election, is also respectful of the First Nation's right to pursue projects on its own territory, but hopes the community will see the value of voluntarily removing some of the tires.

"One idea I've had is that if they voluntarily agreed to abide by the provincial guidelines, and bring the pile down to the 4,999 tires that are allowed, then this might signal to the federal government that they're willing to be more responsible around the care of the pile," she said.

Presuming the First Nation, along with the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin (UCCM), is in agreement to such a scenario, the speculation is that the federal government might be able to provide the funding necessary to truck the excess tires off the Island. At present, some 1 million tires are estimated to exist at the site, which would make the accumulation 200 times the limit normally imposed by the province.

Mr. St. Denis can't promise that federal dollars would be freed up for such a plan. But he said he would "gladly assist in trying to find the resources to find an interim or temporary solution."

Meanwhile, the First Nation is still hoping its application for $80,000 to conduct a feasibility study of its stalled recycling operation will be approved, although Kevin Mossip, deputy-chief of Zhiibaahaasing, said on Monday that one of the two agencies the community had applied to had turned the application down. "FedNor said 'no,'" he said. "We haven't heard yet from the Aboriginal Business Canada Fund."

Mr. Mossip was reluctant to discuss the tire issue in much detail, except to say that "we're working on it," and that "everything I could say has already been said. As for responding to what some (municipal) council is saying, I'm not going to get into that game."

The idea of parting with the majority, if not all, of the tires at this point would not be in the community's interest unless the First Nation received something in return for the scrap rubber, he suggested. "We'd get rid of them if we can make some money; it has to be a win-win situation," Mr. Mossip said. "We want revenue generated, and the tires gone."

Pat Madahbee, tribal chair of the UCCM, said that the coalition of chiefs "doesn't control the affairs of Zhiibaahaasing, and at the end of the day, we're supporting what Zhiibaahaasing wants, it's as simple as that."

Steps are being taken to reduce the fire hazard at the site, Chief Madahbee stressed, through a fire-prevention committee coordinated by the UCCM. "We've charted a course, and the safety people have met."

The chief said he "shares the concern about an environmental catastrophe happening, but the fire marshal assured us that there are only two ways that the pile could ignite: either someone would have to pour a flammable liquid on it and light them, or a grass fire could start it." But he is confident that measures such as the clearing of shrubbery from around the site, and arranging the heap in smaller piles with a berm around them, will reduce the chances of fire considerably.

Mr. St. Denis elaborated on the fire prevention strategy, noting that "a plan is in place and a submission is about to be made (for funding) for the pumps, hoses, etcetera, needed to do fire mitigation. And regardless what one feels about what needs to be done, that has to be taken care of."

In mid-April, the township of Burpee-Mills, which abuts the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation, hosted a meeting at which a half-dozen representatives of other municipalities were present. Those present drafted a resolution calling for an immediate removal of the tire stockpile, which is now being sent to other municipalities for endorsement, prior to submission to the appropriate agencies.

Last week, the resolution was discussed by members of Gore Bay council, with many calling upon Mr. St. Denis to be at forefront in finding a solution.

The language of the draft resolution, which "demands" the removal of the tire pile, was also debated by Gore Bay council, with Mayor Ruby Croft musing, "I don't know if the word 'demand' is the way to do it."

Mr. St. Denis said he is aware of the resolution that is circulating amongst Island municipalities, and appreciates the level of frustration that neighbours of Zhiibaahaasing might feel, but encourages a co-operative approach rather than a confrontational one.

The MP believes there will be a solution, one way or the other. "They'll either be removed or processed. They're not going to sit there forever," he said.

Chief Madahbee believes "people need to have a bit of patience. Anyone who expects an overnight solution to this is in dreamland."

Permanent Link for webmasters

May 17, 2006

Manitoulins See What The Tire Depot Looks Like

Concerned Islanders continue to lobby for tire removal

by Jim Moodie

MANITOULIN--The buildup of tires on the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation continues to alarm citizens and municipal representatives on the Island, with one individual launching a postcard campaign last week to hasten their removal, and Central Manitoulin Township endorsing a resolution that similarly calls for an immediate cleanup of the tires at the site.

Keith McKeen of Kagawong has designed a postcard depicting a representative heap of tires that was taken at the storage site, and overlaid it with the slogan, "An environmental and economic disaster waiting to happen!" The back of the postcard reads, "I am addressing this card to you because I need help with a problem that threatens my home and livelihood."

The postcards are addressed to federal and provincial officials, and are available at a variety of locations around the Island. "If a person agrees with the postcard, they can sign it and send it in," Mr. McKeen told the Recorder. He stressed that he is not trying to make a political point or bring attention to his graphic design business in distributing the cards, but merely making use of the skills he has to help the community.

Mr. McKeen's campaign echoes an earlier web-based lobbying effort started by local Green Party candidate Sarah Hutchinson. Ms. Hutchinson drafted a template letter calling on the Minister of the Environment to intervene in the situation, and urged concerned citizens to access it by emailing her at tireletter@hotmail.com.

Meanwhile, a resolution drafted by the township of Burpee-Mills has been making the rounds of the various municipalities on Manitoulin for endorsement prior to being submitted to government officials. It demands that "all necessary steps be taken for the immediate removal of all tires from the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation and legislation be put in place to regulate the stockpiling of tires on federally-designated land."

At its last meeting of council, Central Manitoulin township added its name to the resolution, while clarifying that doing so was driven by safety and environmental concerns, and was not an attack on the First Nation's economic development plans. "I agree with the need to get rid of the tires, but I would not like to see us, as the whole Island, make the First Nation think that we are against what they are doing," said Councillor Glen McDougall.

Councillor Steve Orford pointed out that, when municipal representatives were invited to a meeting on the First Nation earlier this spring, "everyone realized the risk that there is with the tires there, but no-one was against Zhiibaahaasing trying to get funding for the feasibility study, and hopefully get the recycling plant in operation again."

The accumulation of tires on the First Nation, estimated to number over one million, is the result of the community continuing to accept tires at its recycling plant after equipment broke down. The band has applied for funding to conduct a feasibility study on the stalled project, and while that application has been denied by FedNor, Zhiibaahaasing remains optimistic that Aboriginal Business Canada may still provide funds to examine the future viability of the operation.

Click for larger image.

If you were putting a bunch of tires together in the bush with a purpose of putting them through a recycling process would you not stack them neatly with proper aisles between them and far away from any grass or trees that might catch fire?

This item not found on the net to link to.

May 23, 2006

Well My Representative In The Ontario Gov't Should Help

The listing from the Manitoulin Expositor gave me the illusion that Mike Brown would be able to help.

When I told Mr. Brown of my displeasure of the tire situation he responded, "What do you think should be done?" and I knew right away that this Speaker of the House was going to be of no value speaking to.
I advised Mr. Brown that tires were still being brought to the tire depot by the operator in spite of the public outcry from Manitoulin residents, a fact that he was unaware of.
I then asked him to look into Ontario getting a court ruling that no further tires should be allowed on the site and I bid him farewell. Mr. Brown took my name and telephone number, but I haven't heard back from him nor do I expect to.

May 24, 2006

Enough Is Enough - I Write The Expositor

An Open Letter To Manitoulin Island Residents

I attended an All Fire Departments meeting the other night and the guest speaker was Clair Rouse, a representative from the Fire Marshall's office, who gave a presentation on the infamous Hagersville Tire Fire of 1990. He also showed a slide presentation of the Manitoulin Island First Nation tire recycling depot at Zhiibaasing.
The above was an eye opener in that it demonstrated to me what could happen here on Manitoulin Island as it happened in Hagersville.
A video of the Hagersville incident revealed that the cost of putting out the fire was $12.2 million dollars. The point was made that prevention measures, if applied, would have been far cheaper. 
To quote the Fire Marshall's web page at http://www.ofm.gov.on.ca/english/publications/guidelines/wasteman/recycle5.asp:
 "To be expected, total costs will fluctuate widely. The unavoidable conclusion, however,    is that the total costs of an environmental disaster will almost always exceed the costs of fire prevention measures. For example, the cost impact of the Hagersville fire was $12,200,000. Preventive measures applied to this site would have cost a fraction of this amount."
The situation at the Manitoulin Tire Depot as I understand it is that a plant was opened to recycle used tires and shortly afterwards the machinery broke down. The equipement was fixed and it broke down again. The plant successfully processed one truckload of material and has been inoperative since the last breakdown. Meanwhile, tires are being brought into the depot on a continuing basis and are being stockpiled. There are now some four million tires on site and no effort is being made to get the tire recycling operation back in business.
Manitoulin Island's population have become aware of this and are concerned about the tires and the impact a fire would have on our environment. Complaints have been made to government representatives at both the federal and provincial levels with no resolve in sight.
The matter of fire prevention in this case is non-existent as the local First Nation community has no fire department. The adjoining First Nation community also has no fire department and the adjoining community of Silverwater, which has a volunteer fire department, has no mutual aid agreement in effect. Thus, there is no local force to combat a tire fire and any response from other communities is not possible as First Nation communities are on federal land and provincial fire departments do not have a mandate to enter into federal jurisdictions.
The above senario is a classic Catch 22 situation. To begin with, the plant should never had been authorized to open without on-site fire prevention facilities. Further, mutual aid agreements with adjoining communities should have been dictated. It would appear that the Federal government is responsible for this happening as well as the band leader that authorized this plant on his reserve. And it would appear from the equipement breakdowns and failure to get the site operational again that the plant operator is playing a game with the Federal government waiting for them to foot the bill for new equipement to get the tire recycling back online. See the Manitoulin Expositor archive at http://www.manitoulin.ca/Expositor/old%20files/aug10_2005.htm

Meanwhile:

So nothing is being done and as every day passes the possibility of a fire starting on this site makes everyone on Manitoulin more and more concerned. A repeat of the Hagersville incident would play havoc on Manitoulin's environment both on land and in the surrounding water, not to mention the air pollution that would spread all across the island.
A tire fire here would play a role in ruining Manitoulin's biggest resource - tourism.

Why This Upsets Me:

I dislike the fact that a single individual is holding the Federal government at ransom trying to force them into putting tax dollars into a private enterprise. I'm upset that the plant was allowed to open in the first place considering the lack of any fire prevention facilities. I'm further upset that I, as a volunteer firefighter, might have to fight a tire fire that will be totally out of control by the time my fire department arrives on site. I'm upset what a fire like that can do to Manitoulin Island. Not only can a tire fire ruin the environment, it is a type of fire that can cause medical problems to people in the area and downwind, not to mention volunteer firefighters that are not equipped with proper breathing apparatus while fighting the fire. I'm also upset that the circumstances of this situation can only create a tension between First Nations folks and the rest of the island.

So Who Is To Blame

Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment  is comprised of environment ministers from the federal, provincial and territorial governments.  These 14 ministers normally meet at least once a year to discuss national environmental priorities and determine work to be carried out under the auspices of CCME.  
Since jurisdiction over the environment in Canada is shared, CCME works to promote effective intergovernmental cooperation and coordinated approaches to interjurisdictional issues such as air pollution and toxic chemicals.  CCME members collectively establish nationally-consistent environmental standards, strategies and objectives so as to achieve a high level of environmental quality across the country. See http://www.ccme.ca/about/index.html.
 
Federal Government's Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (http://www.ceaa.gc.ca/013/index_e.htm) whose Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and regulations are supposed to ensure that the environmental effects of projects are carefully reviewed before federal authorities take action in connection with them so that projects do not cause significant adverse environmental effects. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is an independent federal body, accountable to Parliament through the Minister of the Environment.. The Agency works to provide Canadians with high-quality environmental assessments that contribute to informed decision making, in support of sustainable development.
 
Federal Government's Environment Canada whose Environmental Acts and regulations see - http://www.ec.gc.ca/EnviroRegs/Eng/SearchResults.cfm?intCategory=10 are supposed to protect Canada's environment, not have it blackmailed. See  http://www.ec.gc.ca/envlaw_e.html.  An example of which is the Basel Convention (http://www.ec.gc.ca/international/multilat/tmhw_e.htm) on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.  CEPA is supposed to contribute to sustainable development through pollution prevention and to protect the environment, human life and health from the risks associated with toxic substances. CEPA also recognises the contribution of pollution prevention and the management and control of toxic substances and hazardous waste to reducing threats to Canada's ecosystems and biological diversity. It acknowledges for the first time the need to virtually eliminate the most persistent toxic substances that remain the environment for extended periods of time before breaking down and bioaccumulative toxic substances that accumulate within living organisms. Health Canada works in partnership with Environment Canada to assess potentially toxic substances and to develop.    regulations to control toxic substances. See http://www.ec.gc.ca/EnviroRegs/Eng/SearchDetail.cfm?intAct=1001

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act of 1999 can be read here - http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-15.31/text.html. The Department of the Environment Act which establishes the Minister's responsibilities for all matters relating to the preservation and enhancement of the quality of the natural environment, including water, air and soil quality; renewable resources, including migratory birds and other non-domestic flora and fauna; water; meteorology; the enforcement of rules and regulations arising from the advice of the International Joint Commission relating to boundary waters and questions arising between the United States and Canada in so far as they relate to the preservation and enhancement of environmental quality can be read here - http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/E-10/text.html.

Federal Government's Criminal Code of Canada administered by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Solicitor General of Canada, and the Minister of Agriculture (s.182), provides that any person who commits a nuisance and thereby endangers lives, safety or public health, or who causes physical injury to any person is guilty of an indictable offence. It is also an offence to deposit any offensive volatile substance likely to alarm, inconvenience or discomfort any person, or to cause damage to property. Public mischief is another offence potentially relevant to the control of air or water pollution. Section 745 of the Code provides for recognisance that may include sureties to keep the peace for a period of up to 12 months, a potential means of forestalling activities likely to result in air or water pollution damage. See full text here - http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/text.html.

Federal Government's Environmental Bill of Rights (http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/ebr/english/ebr_info/introduction.htm) which supposedly makes the government accountable for what it does - Well the government is doing nothing at the moment.
 
Federal Government which signed the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, but continues to allow a single individual to hold Manitoulin at ransom. Text can be seen here - http://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1annex1.htm.

Federal Government's Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), an international organization created by Canada, Mexico and the United States under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC). The CEC was established to address regional environmental concerns, help prevent potential trade and environmental conflicts, and to promote the effective enforcement of environmental law. The Agreement complements the environmental provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It's mandate of enforcement of environmental law is not happening here on Manitoulin Island. See - http://www.cec.org/who_we_are/index.cfm?varlan=english.

The First Nations whose  Regional First Nations Environmental Contaminants Program claims to conduct research on environmental contaminants with a focus on exposure, assessment, and diagnostics/risk management (of particular interest is the analysis of risk to social and cultural health from the introduction of contaminant(s) within First Nations' territories), but allowed this tire depot to open for business without proper fire prevention technology in place. See -
http://www.chiefs-of-ontario.org/political_interests/fnecp.html.

The Government of Ontario and specifically the Fire Marshall's Office within the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services which allows itself to be held hostage by a single individual on a First Nations reserve where a fire could occur with tragic results for the people that live and work on Manitoulin Island. The Fire Marshall's Fire Protection and Prevention Act of 1997 (http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/Statutes/English/97f04_e.htm) is made toothless.

Another example of the ineffective nature of Ontario law is the ongoing battle in the courts with a family in Otterville, a community in Southwestern Ontario not far from Hagersville. The story was covered by CBC here - http://www.cbc.ca/disclosure/archives/020319_tires/otterville.html. Otterville is a collection point of used tires and inspite of the lessons learned by the Hagersville fire, the tires remain on a residential property just waiting to catch fire.

And If You Need To Do Some Research

ECOLEX is an information service on environmental law, operated jointly by FAO, IUCN and UNEP.
Its purpose is to build capacity worldwide by providing the most comprehensive possible global source of information on environmental law .
This unique resource, which combines the environmental law information holdings of FAO, IUCN and UNEP , seeks to put this information at the disposal of users world-wide, in an easily accessible service, employing modern technology.
The ECOLEX database (http://www.ecolex.org/index.php) includes information on treaties, international soft-law and other non-binding policy and technical guidance documents, national legislation, judicial decisions, and law and policy literature. Users have direct access to the abstracts and indexing information about each document, as well as to the full text of most of the information provided.

For further background on the scrap tire situation read this material - http://www.cbc.ca/disclosure/archives/020319_tires/resources.html#rules. Of great interest is the report prepared in 1998 by the US Fire Administration Federal Emergency Management Agency. Read it here - http://www.firetactics.com/tirefirerep.pdf.

I have no desire to be seen as being "politically correct" and simply shrugging my shoulders and taking the opinion that what happens on First Nation land is their business. Call me opinionated, but call me someone who uses common sense - this situation on Manitoulin has to be dealt with immediately and not shuffled off to a "things to do list". Hopefully our elected representatives in Toronto and Ottawa will read this and get that message instead of writing commentary on lowering flags to half-mast or other political fluff they feel we expect of them.

Pat Keenan,
Evansville Ontario

This item not found on the net to link to.

Feedback Received

I received a few phone and e-mail messages about the Expositor letter I wrote. One call was from Sarah Hutchison, the Green Party candidate from the last provincial election. I'm glad now that at least one in this household voted for her. Sarah thanked me for my concerns and brought up a very interesting point. She wanted to know of the presence of a permit from Indian & Northern Affairs and to make sure that the permit's conditions were being kept by the tire recycler. Sarah had been unable to contact the Acting Regional Director, a Jennifer Alderson at her office (416 973-3624) so I took it upon myself to send her an e-mail.

Jennifer,
I was given your name by Sarah Hutchison of the Green Party as the person to contact regarding an ongoing situation here on Manitoulin. I refer to the tire recycling plant and its increasing count of tires.
Sarah tells me that a permit should have been issued by INAC for the stockpiling of tires and I would very much like to know if said permit was issued and the contents of the permit. (duration/quantity of tires/any stipulations set out by INAC) Would you send me a copy of this permit?
As a concerned citizen on Manitoulin I am upset that an immediate solution has not been found to this problem and as a volunteer firefighter for my township, I am concerned that Manitoulin would be placed in jeopardy by toxic fumes and runoff from a fire on this site. I would have thought that government, both federal and provincial would have learned from the Hagersville incident!
My house overlooks Highway 540 and I have seen the Recyling truck pass on its way to and from the reservation so I am certain that the tire count increases daily as the problem goes unchecked.
Please refer to a recent article in the Manitoulin Expositor newspaper for what I see as the problem and respond to this address pokokat@vianet.ca or by phone 705 282-2900.
Thank you - I'm hoping that your cooperation in this matter can lead to an immediate solution equitable to all concerned,
Pat Keenan

I received this reply May 26th.

Dear Pat Keenan,
Thank you for contacting the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) Public Enquiries Contact Centre. Your request has been forwarded to Jennifer Alderson, Acting Regional Director INAC, as requested.
Please let us know if you require any further assistance.
Sincerely,
Joan

So another roadblock in trying to get down to the solution to this problem - I'll be looking for the next e-mail from Indian & Northern Affairs with great anticipation!

May 25, 2006

I Can't Just Wait - More Media Coverage Is Needed

This thing is not just a local problem - toxic fumes can sweep all across Ontario and beyond. Something has to be done.
The following was sent to Global and CTV.

The evening news has been covering the ongoing situation in Caledonia and I believe you should be supplementing that item with the following as it pertains to First Nations.
Here on Manitoulin Island the residents have become very concerned about a situation on a First Nations reservation and nothing seems to be happening as far as government intervention.
There is a tire recycling plant at the western end of the island where upwards of four million tires are sitting in a grassy field very close to the treeline and only a kilometre away from the North Channel. The count increases with every load brought in - I've seen two in the last three days.
The reservation has no fire department nor does the neighboring reservation and if lightning strikes or if someone starts a fire, the results will be devastating to the land, to the wildlife, to the North Shore and to the health of the residents of the island, not to mention everyone downwind for miles.
Meeting face to face with the local MPP, Mike Brown, was time wasted - he was not aware of the magnitude of the tire pile and the ongoing tire count and he asked me what I thought should be done as he claimed it was a federal matter. Meeting with the Liberal MP would also be a waste of time as he is for the tire recycling plant as the native vote is one of the things helping him cling to his elected position. His passion now with regard Manitoulin is to criticize anything the Harper government does or does not do. (failure to fly the flag at half-mast seems his big gripe of late) An e-mail to the Acting Regional Director of Indian and Northern Affairs with respect the presence and fullfillment of obligations of a permit to operate the tire plant has gone unanswered.
All of the local municipalities have met and are against the presence of this tire plant and their frustration is as great as mine in trying to resolve this potentially dangerous situation.
The local newspaper, the Manitoulin Expositor, has been covering the story but I feel we need more coverage. It was not that long ago that a fire in Hagersville (1990) created an environmental disaster costing close to thirteen million dollars.
I would hope that your news organization picks up on this story to help force the government and the tire plant operator to come to a resolution.
I have attached a letter that the Expositor printed this week
Pat Keenan,
Manitoulin Island

I await feedback from Global News and CTV.

I Got To Thinking

What if by some miracle the Justice of the Peace was contacted and an information was laid. Actually, this idea came from my wife to be totally honest.

from: http://www.canadianlegal.org/criminal_code.php

PART XI
WILFUL AND FORBIDDEN ACTS IN RESPECT OF CERTAIN PROPERTY
 
 Interpretation
 
Definition of "property" 
 428. In this Part, "property" means real or personal corporeal property.

R.S., c. C-34, s. 385.
 
Wilfully causing event to occur 
 429. (1) Every one who causes the occurrence of an event by doing an act or by omitting to do an act that it is his duty to do, knowing that the act or omission will probably cause the occurrence of the event and being reckless whether the event occurs or not, shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Part, wilfully to have caused the occurrence of the event.
 
Colour of right
 (2) No person shall be convicted of an offence under sections 430 to 446 where he proves that he acted with legal justification or excuse and with colour of right.
 
Interest
 (3) Where it is an offence to destroy or to damage anything,

(a) the fact that a person has a partial interest in what is destroyed or damaged does not prevent him from being guilty of the offence if he caused the destruction or damage; and

(b) the fact that a person has a total interest in what is destroyed or damaged does not prevent him from being guilty of the offence if he caused the destruction or damage with intent to defraud.

R.S., c. C-34, s. 386.
 
 
 Mischief
 
Mischief 
 430. (1) Every one commits mischief who wilfully

(a) destroys or damages property;

(b) renders property dangerous, useless, inoperative or ineffective;

(d) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with any person in the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property.
 
Mischief in relation to data
 (1.1) Every one commits mischief who wilfully

(a) destroys or alters data;

(b) renders data meaningless, useless or ineffective;

(d) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with any person in the lawful use of data or denies access to data to any person who is entitled to access thereto.
 
Punishment
 (2) Every one who commits mischief that causes actual danger to life is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life.
 
Punishment
 (3) Every one who commits mischief in relation to property that is a testamentary instrument or the value of which exceeds five thousand dollars

(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years; or

(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
 
Idem
 (4) Every one who commits mischief in relation to property, other than property described in subsection (3),

(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; or

(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Arson and Other Fires
 
Arson -- disregard for human life 
 433. Every person who intentionally or recklessly causes damage by fire or explosion to property, whether or not that person owns the property, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life where

(a) the person knows that or is reckless with respect to whether the property is inhabited or occupied; or

(b) the fire or explosion causes bodily harm to another person.

R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 433; 1990, c. 15, s. 1.
 
Arson -- damage to property 
 434. Every person who intentionally or recklessly causes damage by fire or explosion to property that is not wholly owned by that person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 434; 1990, c. 15, s. 1.
 
Arson -- own property 
 434.1 Every person who intentionally or recklessly causes damage by fire or explosion to property that is owned, in whole or in part, by that person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years, where the fire or explosion seriously threatens the health, safety or property of another person.

1990, c. 15, s. 1.
 
Arson for fraudulent purpose 
 435. (1) Every person who, with intent to defraud any other person, causes damage by fire or explosion to property, whether or not that person owns, in whole or in part, the property, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.
 
Holder or beneficiary of fire insurance policy
 (2) Where a person is charged with an offence under subsection (1), the fact that the person was the holder of or was named as a beneficiary under a policy of fire insurance relating to the property in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed is a fact from which intent to defraud may be inferred by the court.

R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 435; 1990, c. 15, s. 1.
 
Arson by negligence 
 436. (1) Every person who owns, in whole or in part, or controls property is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years where, as a result of a marked departure from the standard of care that a reasonably prudent person would use to prevent or control the spread of fires or to prevent explosions, that person is a cause of a fire or explosion in that property that causes bodily harm to another person or damage to property.
 
Non-compliance with prevention laws
 (2) Where a person is charged with an offence under subsection (1), the fact that the person has failed to comply with any law respecting the prevention or control of fires or explosions in the property is a fact from which a marked departure from the standard of care referred to in that subsection may be inferred by the court.

R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 436; 1990, c. 15, s. 1.
 
Possession of incendiary material 
 436.1 Every person who possesses any incendiary material, incendiary device or explosive substance for the purpose of committing an offence under any of sections 433 to 436 is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

1990, c. 15, s. 1.

Needless to say I made a quick phone call and brought this to the attention of the Evansville area front-man on this. Of course this twit from Zhiibaahaasing would have his bail posted very quickly by his fellow "recyclers", but hopefully the bail requirements would be set very stringently so he would not be allowed to operate his recycling truck in and out of the reservation.

May 28, 2006

Will Lightning Strike Today ?

Today is a rainy day and the weather forecast for the region indicated the possibility of lightning. I don't have to tell anyone what that could mean to Manitoulin Island.
The image below is updated every day.

Canadian Weather Map

A Message To Mr. Bob Kells:

For the security of all concerned, reconsider your position.

The Federal Government's Responsibility

The Federal Government, specifically the Indian and Northern Affairs Department, has a mandate which I list in part below:

..... to effectively manage and regulate the sustainable developement of the North's natural resources in preparation for devolution to the territorial governments; to preserve, maintain, protect and rehabilitate the northern environment; and to manage ongoing federal interests in the North.

Read the entire document right off their web page.

A Message To Indian & Northern Affairs

The well-being of Manitoulin Island is in jeopardy from your inaction!

Is There A Problem ?

Are you avoiding this issue? Can I ever expect an answer?

Late Entry June 20, 2006
Finally on Tuesday June 20th I received an e-mail from INAC and the reason I finally received it was I sent the Minister, The Honourable Jim Prentice, a followup demanding an answer.

The counter below shows the timeframe involved
in getting a straight answer from INAC

See the June 20th entry below:

May 29, 2006

Why Am I Not Surprised ?

I received no reply today from Indian and Northern Affairs' Acting Regional Director. Why am I not surprised?

Considering I first sent my e-mail May 24th and got an automated reply on May 26th, I would have thought our Federal government provided better feedback.

Maybe if all of the readers of this page sent her an e-mail, she might respond instead of trying to avoid the issue. Copy and paste the following into your e-mail or send your own words.

Jennifer Alderson

Ms. Alderson,
You received the following e-mail to which you have not replied. I feel it imperative that Indian and Northern Affairs deal with this problem and not just sluff it off. Your inaction is being documented at http://www.manitoulinislandindex.com/manitoulinsshame.html.

Your Name Here

I was given your name by Sarah Hutchison of the Green Party as the person to contact regarding an ongoing situation here on Manitoulin. I refer to the tire recycling plant and its increasing count of tires.
Sarah tells me that a permit should have been issued by INAC for the stockpiling of tires and I would very much like to know if said permit was issued and the contents of the permit. (duration/quantity of tires/any stipulations set out by INAC) Would you send me a copy of this permit?
As a concerned citizen on Manitoulin I am upset that an immediate solution has not been found to this problem and as a volunteer firefighter for my township, I am concerned that Manitoulin would be placed in jeopardy by toxic fumes and runoff from a fire on this site. I would have thought that government, both federal and provincial would have learned from the Hagersville incident!
My house overlooks Highway 540 and I have seen the Recyling truck pass on its way to and from the reservation so I am certain that the tire count increases daily as the problem goes unchecked.
Please refer to a recent article in the Manitoulin Expositor newspaper for what I see as the problem and respond to this address pokokat@vianet.ca or by phone 705 282-2900.
Thank you - I'm hoping that your cooperation in this matter can lead to an immediate solution equitable to all concerned,

May 30, 2006

Hagersville Fire Timeline

Picture from CBC Archives

Hagersville Fire

Reprinted from http://neumann.hec.ca/cme/francais/publications/articles_scientifiques/Hagersville.pdf:

A CHRONOLOGICAL ACCOUNT OF THE HAGERSVILLE EMERGENCY

February 12, 1990: The fire bursts out around 1 A.M. in a tire storage depot considered an "environmental threat" by the Canadian authorities. 100local firefighters quickly take action. 600 people are advised to evacuate. February 13-15, 1990: Fumes rise one mile in the air and can be seen from over 60 miles away. The emergency becomes regional. Professional forest firefighters arrive on site. Experts and people worry about contamination of air, water and crops, fueling a media hype about the event. The contaminated oil begins to flow due to water, fire-retardant foam and decomposition of burnt tires. The site is qualified as "hell" by firefighters, including oily mud, wires from radial tires, heavy toxic fumes and high temperatures.

February 16, 1990: The medical authorities stop the operations in order to equip firefighters and vehicle operators with breathing apparatus. Some political confusion occurs about the lead on site (federal vs. provincial). Provincial authority keeps the lead on the emergency. A regional warning is sent to suspend humans and animals from drinking the underground water.

February 17-20, 1990:Toxic compounds are detected in the fumes, including PAH (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons), renowned to be highly carcinogenic. Air and water monitoring continues. The operations are stopped to deal with the massive flow of effluents (more than 50000 gallons of contaminated oil). A Joint Response Team is created to coordinate the emergency response. Facing bitter criticisms from residents, involved ministries start discussions about the issue of used tires.

February 21-28, 1990: Water bombers, heavy-duty vehicles and firefighters are used against the fire. The U.S. embassy starts to worry about the potential trans-border contamination. The operations are regularly interrupted to allow the pumping and treatment of the effluents. Greenpeace qualifies the fire "one of the worst environmental disasters in North American history." Water treatment ponds are built on site.

February 29 - March 1, 1990: The fire is out. Firefighters are looking for fumes and possible hot spots. Constant air, soil and water testing are continued. The site is declared dangerous and is strictly forbidden to the public.

March-April 1990: The Ontario govemment launches a monitoring program for the tire depots all over the province. Treatment of contaminated oil is continued as carcinogenic chemicals are still detected in the environment. Researchers in chemistry and ecotoxicology declare that, on a theoretical basis, the environmental impact will not be as serious as expected. The provincial government declares that the fire is no longer a threat to human health, local fauna and flora. The arsonists are arrested.

July 1990: An article about tire sites is added to the Fire Marshals Act of Ontario. Many lawsuits are launched, abandoned after awhile or still pending, with no real chance of compensation.

1998:On rainy days, oily pools still appear. The site looks like every surrounding field, apart from a small hill of discarded tires buried in slightly contaminated soil. Several families have moved. Access to the site is still forbidden. The risks and consequences associated with the fire are still debated.

The State of Michigan Has a Stake In This

Should a tire fire start on Manitoulin Island there would be a great deal of runoff into the North Shore of Lake Huron creating an environmental disaster to the shoreline, the water quality and the fish.
Recent environmental studies have indicated a decline in the water quality of the Great Lakes (specifically Lake Huron) and the health of its fish and the introduction of tire runoff would only make the situation worse.
The following information is taken from
http://www.great-lakes.net/humanhealth/lake/huron.html and http://www.legislative.noaa.gov/noaainyourstate/michigan.html:

Lake Huron is the third largest of the lakes by volume, with 850 cubic miles of water. Lake Huron is hydrologically inseparable from Lake Michigan, joined by the wide Straits of Mackinac. The Huron lakeshore extends 3,827 miles, and is characterized by shallow, sandy beaches and the rocky shores of Georgian Bay. The lake measures 206 miles across and 183 miles north to south, with an average depth of 195 feet (approximately 750 feet, maximum). Lake Huron's drainage area, which covers parts of Michigan and Ontario, is relatively large compared to the other Great Lakes. It's more than twice the size of Huron's approximately 23,000 square miles of surface water. The Saginaw River basin is intensively farmed and contains the Flint and Saginaw-Bay City metropolitan areas.

Pathogens refer to bacterial organisms (microbes) typically found in the intestinal tracts of mamals, capable of producing disease. Sources of nutrients include municipal wastewater treatment plants, septic systems, and agricultural runoff. Areas of Lake Huron where pathogens are of concern are Saginaw Bay, Severn Sound, and the southeastern shore of the Lake Huron Basin. Effects of pathogens in these regions have included localized beach closings due to e. coli contamination.

In an effort to learn more about microbial contamination and to eliminate sources of pollution, continued monitoring, determination of the source of pathogens, and prevention activities are planned or active around Lake Huron as well as along the tributaries listed above.

Contaminants to Lake Huron originate from a number of sources, including industrial and municipal discharges, spills, landfills, storm sewers, and agricultural runoff. Contaminants enter Lake Huron through a variety of pathways including direct discharges, atmospheric deposition, and tributary discharge. In comparison to Lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario, contaminant concentrations are relatively low in Lake Huron. Nevertheless, public health advisories exist regarding consumption of trout from the open lake and all Areas of Concern (AOCs).

The large surface area of Lake Huron, like the other Great Lakes, has made it particularly vulnerable to atmospheric deposition of contaminants. Lake Huron has a large surface area and relatively few local contaminant point sources. Loadings to Lake Huron from water sources are lowest of all the Great Lakes but air sources are highest.

From the late 1970�s to the early 1990�s, persistent, bioaccumulative substances (such as PCBs, DDT, dieldrin, dioxins, and furans) concentrations declined significantly in Lake Huron lake trout. However, while concentrations of DDT have continued to decline, PCB concentrations have not declined significantly since the mid-1980s. DDE trends in Lake Huron herring gull eggs show a marked decrease in concentration since the mid 1970s. As with other trends, concentrations decreased significantly in the late 1970s but have remained relatively stable since. Continuing sources of contaminants are primarily from sediments contaminated by historic discharges, airborne deposition industrial and municipal discharges and land runoff.

Originally, there were six Great Lakes areas of significant environmental contamination or Areas of Concern (AOCs) on Lake Huron. One of these, Collingwood Harbour, Ontario, was the first and remains the only AOC to be delisted. The St. Marys River is designated as an AOC because of contaminants from sediment, municipal discharges and nonpoint source pollution sources. Control of industrial point sources is progressing and pollution loads are being reduced. The St. Clair River is designated as an AOC because of the pollution problems on the eastern side of the river.

Two other Canadian Areas of Concern, Spanish River and Severn Sound are responding well to remedial actions and showing recovery. The only Area of Concern solely in Michigan, Saginaw River/Saginaw Bay, is designated as an Area of Concern primarily because of contaminated sediments and nonpoint pollution sources.

Historically, phosphorus has been a significant problem in the Great Lakes. To a great extent this has not been the case in Lake Huron, with the exception of Saginaw Bay and the southern Ontario shore. The United States/Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) identified target loads for all lakes to prevent phosphorus-related problems (over enrichment), and Lake Huron has generally maintained loadings below target loads. With the exception of 1982 and 1985, loadings have been below the target since 1981.

The Lake Huron nearshore terrestrial ecosystems sustain an amazing diversity of wildlife that enriches the Lake Huron Basin. The physical structure and living communities of this area are as much a function of the lake's ecosystem as the fish in its depths. The action of waves and wind shape the beaches, dunes, and shore bluffs. These land forms and the local climate effects determine the biological communities. These communities, in turn, sustain the amazing diversity of wildlife.

The shoreline of Lake Huron is the longest of the Great Lakes, its length extended by the shores of its numerous islands and bays. Rocky shores associated with the Precambrian shield cover the northern and eastern shores, limestone dominates the shores of Manitoulin Island and the northern shore of the Bruce Peninsula, and glacial deposits of sand, gravel, and till predominate in the western, southern, and south-eastern portions of the shore. Shoreline and inshore habitats are correspondingly diverse.

Many nearshore areas of Lake Huron have been altered due to human influences. The once natural shorelines offered fish and wildlife significant habitat for all of their life stages. Due to development in coastal areas, many areas now have shoreline protection structures. In many cases, the narrow band of transitional vegetation is now gone. The cumulative impact of these structures throughout the basin is significant and increasing.

In general terms, the state of health for specific nearshore terrestrial habitats in the Lake Huron ecoregions ranges from stable (northern portions of the basin), to moderately degrading (central portions of the basin) to severely degrading (southern portions of the basin). General threats to the nearshore areas include agriculture, shoreline development, and sedimentation.

The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) conducts high-quality research and provides scientific leadership on important issues in both Great Lakes and marine coastal environments leading to new knowledge, tools, approaches, awareness and services. GLERL provides scientific products, expertise, and services required for effective management and protection of Great Lakes and coastal ecosystems. GLERL science provides for protection of life and property, economic well-being, and sustained ecosystem health. With a wide array of scientific disciplines on staff, and an ecosystem-level focus, GLERL contributes unique capabilities in support of intelligent and cost-effective Great Lakes and coastal resource management. For additional information on GLERL, please contact:
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/region/us</small>

Having Said That

It would make sense that the State of Michigan had a vested interest in how the Canadian Federal government was handling the situation on Manitoulin Island.

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Granholm is an honors graduate of both the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard Law School. Elected the 47th governor of the State of Michigan in November 2002. Since taking office, she has successfully resolved over $4 billion dollars in budget deficits, trimming more from state government than any governor in Michigan's history. A fiscal hawk, Granholm has worked to ensure that state government spends every penny efficiently, while aggressively pursuing her top priorities: growing Michigan's economy and maintaining the state's high quality of life.

Contact Governor Granholm

Readers of this web page who are concerned should click the above and fill out the web form as I have done. Hopefully Governor Granholm, having been born in Canada and one who is against the import of Toronto's garbage to Michigan, will see fit to exert some political pressure on the Canadian government.
The form is designed for American viewers so place your city and Canada in the city field and use a zip code of 49855 to denote Michigan.

June 01, 2006

California Knows How To Punish Offenders

CALIFORNIA CODES
PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE

42824. On and after September 1, 1994, it is unlawful to direct or transport waste tires to a major waste tire facility or to accept waste tires at a major waste tire facility unless the operator has obtained a major waste tire facility permit.

42825. (a) Any person who accepts waste tires at a major waste tire facility that has not been issued a permit or an authorization to operate from the board, or who knowingly directs, transports, or abandons waste tires to or at a major waste tire facility that has not been issued a permit or an authorization to operate from the board shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each day of violation, by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(b) For purposes of subdivision (a), "each day of violation" means each day on which a violation continues. In any case where a person has accepted waste tires at a major waste tire facility, or knowingly directed or transported waste tires to a major waste tire facility, that has not been issued a permit, in violation of subdivision (a), each day that the waste tires remain at the facility and the person has knowledge thereof is a separate additional violation, unless the person has filed a report with the board disclosing the violation and is in compliance with any order regarding the waste tires issued by the board, a hearing officer, or a court of competent jurisdiction.

Manitoulin Expositor - Interesting Article

by Jim Moodie 
MANITOULIN--A possible solution to the massive tire pile at the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation could well exist with cement giant Lafarge.
 
Apart from operating a quarry on Western Manitoulin, the company also operates eight cement plants across the continent that utilize tire-derived fuel as an alternative to coal, with a ninth recently approved for this type of burning in New York State and a tenth expected to be functioning in this capacity in Ontario by next summer.
 
Should the Lafarge plant in Bath, near Kingston, get the green light to burn tires in its cement kiln, as the company anticipates will be the case, this will represent the first cement operation in the province to make use of recycled rubber as fuel.  And while there has been some objection to the company's plan from environmental groups, "we're expecting approval by November 10," said Rob Cumming, resource recovery manager with the Bath operation. "We're still in the application process and awaiting the final decision, which should come from the ministry in the next month or two. If approved, we'd be functioning in six months." Mr. Cumming said that the plan is to cut back on the burning of coal at the Bath plant by making use of the scrap tires that exist across the province, which could easily include those at Zhiibaahaasing, presuming the First Nation wants to part with them and funding can be found to cover the shipping costs.
  
Lafarge wouldn't likely take them for free, as it would cost the company to transport the tires to its kiln site, and a small tipping fee must additionally be paid to the province, but Mr. Cumming predicted the amount charged for any such shipment would be much less than the $2 per tire charged by places like Canadian Tire. For Lafarge, the use of tires as fuel is "a no-brainer," he said. "It's used in 20 countries worldwide, and 23 US states have approved its use, as well as provinces like Quebec and BC."
 
At present, "Ontario is shipping all its tires out of the province, to Quebec or the US, and we're importing coal from the US on boats," Mr. Cumming noted. "It doesn't make sense. It's a resource--petroleum--that's just sitting there."
 
As for the opposition from groups like the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, Mr. Cumming feels the concerns about air quality are being overstated. "We already have pretty good emission controls for coal, and with tires, the NOx (nitrous oxide) emissions are actually reduced," he said. "People think of black smoke like you saw with Hagersville (where the infamous tire fire occurred in 1990), but it's not like that at all. The way the process works is that a tire slides through a hatch into the kiln, where it's 1,100 degrees Celsius, and the tire essentially vapourizes. It's not at all like a smoldering stockpile."

Environmental groups would prefer to see all used tires recycled, but "that's just not practical," said Mr. Cumming. "There is a market for 'crumb rubber' (shredded tires) for use as aggregate or playground surfaces, but there's only so much demand for that, which is why we're shipping so many tires out of the province."
 
Moreover, stockpiled tires like the ones at Zhiibaahaasing aren't suitable for such purposes, Mr. Cumming maintained, since "they've been oxidized and are full of rocks, debris and water. With fairly recent tires, you can grind them, but when they sit for that long they're not recyclable."
 
For Lafarge, a few rocks aren't a problem, since "we're making cement, so it's actually part of the process," Mr. Cumming noted. Even the steel belts are useful as iron, which drops to the floor of the kiln as the rubber is burnt. "When we burn tires, there are no byproducts. Only 10 percent of the tire isn't combustible, and that part is turned into cement; the rest is petroleum and rubber. So there's no ash, nothing left over. And we can stop bringing in coal."

Burning tires is smarter than allowing them to accumulate, Mr. Cumming argues. "If they're sitting there, it's a risk. Someone might argue a pile of tires is not harming anything, but we say it's a risk to do nothing. To a mosquito, a pile of tires looks like an incubator. And they can spontaneously ignite in some cases."
 
Pat Keenan, a volunteer firefighter from the Evansville area, isn't convinced that burning tires as fuel is the ideal solution, but he certainly agrees that letting them build up in one spot is a dangerous scenario, particularly if the nearest fire departments aren't equipped to deal with a tire fire.

Mr. Keenan recently attended a meeting of all the Island's fire departments, as a representative of the Burpee-Mills firemen, at which the fire marshal responsible for this area made a presentation about the Hagersville catastrophe and the potential for something similar at Zhiibaahaasing. "There was nothing political about his talk," Mr. Keenan noted. "He was just keeping all the firefighters up to date, and sharing some pictures from the site."

The picture painted by the fire marshal didn't make Mr. Keenan feel very optimistic about the capacity of local firefighters to combat such a blaze.
 
"Let's say a fire happened to start there at 6 am on a Monday morning," he hypothesized. "It's probably 7 am before anyone realizes what's happening, and by the time they realize it's beyond their ability to handle, and call for help, it's 8 am. The fire's well engaged by then, and the first fire department that would respond would be Silver Water, but they don't have a mutual aid agreement. Plus it's federal land, so you have to be invited there."

Even if the most proximate fire departments could be mobilized quickly, "you're looking at volunteer fire departments that are basically set up to fight fires from the outside of burning buildings," noted Mr. Keenan. "Burpee-Mills doesn't even have air packs."
 
He figures four hours would go by before the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) would be called in, and "they're used to fighting forest fires, not tire fires. At Hagersville, the MNR people had to be trained on using air tanks," Mr. Keenan noted.
 
Water bombing, meanwhile, is ineffective in the case of a tire blaze, he pointed out. "The oil just leaches into the ground and spreads it. You have to use foam, and break up the pile. At Hagersville, they fortunately had Stelco nearby, which could provide heavy equipment for that. Here, you'd have farmers on little tractors," he said. "So the fire that started at 6 am would now be well into the afternoon, and all we've done is put water on this thing and created a lot of oil leaking towards the north shore."
 
Mr. Keenan, a retired corrections officer and website designer, has become so alarmed by the potential for disaster at Zhiibaahaasing that, this week, he decided to create a web page specifically addressing the issue.
 
Found at www.manitoulinislandindex.com, by clicking on the button titled "Manitoulin's shame," the site includes a complete archive of Expositor articles on this subject, as well as links to pertinent legislation and other resources that have a bearing on the matter.
 
"I'm not doing this to make money or for any group," Mr. Keenan said. "I'm retired, and this is just a service for the community. It allows me to vent, and get the information out there."

The web designer is just the latest in a series of citizens on Manitoulin who have made the tire issue a priority--adding yet another voice to what is quickly becoming a chorus of concern. Earlier this month, Keith McKeen of Kagawong launched a postcard campaign to lobby for the removal of the tires, while a resolution to the same effect from the Township of Burpee-Mills, drafted the month prior, continues to make the rounds of Island municipalities, gaining endorsements at each turn.
 
The First Nation's stated goal for its tire operation has been to provide local employment while providing a useful environmental role by recycling scrap rubber. Neither has been occurring since the plant's equipment broke down over a year ago, but the community is still hoping that the operation can be revived, and is seeking funding for a feasibility study that it feels will prove the viability of the enterprise.
 Critics, however, feel it's far too late to investigate the feasibility of an operation that they say has patently failed, and high time to simply deal with the hazard.
 
Shipping the tires to a Lafarge cement plant would be one relatively obvious option, and presuming the plant in Bath is given the go ahead soon to utilize this fuel source, the journey wouldn't be a lengthy one.
 
Mr. Cumming, the resource recovery manager at that facility--which stands two stories high and stretches the length of two football fields--wasn't in a position to make any firm predictions or promises regarding an arrangement with the First Nation to take their tires. But he said he was familiar with the situation at Zhiibaahaasing, and assumed something could be worked out, providing the plant gets approved for tire burning and the will exists both within the First Nation and the federal government to truck the tires off-Island. "At least there would be an Ontario option," he pointed out.
 
Some residents of Bath, and other communities along the shore of Lake Ontario (particularly those downwind of the cement plant), would obviously be less willing to welcome a million-plus tires from Manitoulin for use in a kiln.
  
None other than Gord Downie, the lead singer of the Tragically Hip, as well as a trustee for Lake Ontario (through the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper organization), has voiced his opposition to the plan, writing, at the group's website, that "with so many unanswered questions, it would be irresponsible, let alone unrepresentative, of our government to approve this proposal." The Hip frontman/lake trustee strongly urges further study of the proposal, including "a complete and public assessment" before any decision is made. "If tire-burning is not bad for Bath, let's prove it, together," he writes.
 
Barrie Jackson, a professor of Chemical Engineering at Queen's University, is, on the other hand, in favour of the move. Engaged by Lafarge to provide an independent, third-party review of the scrap tire issue, the professor wrote, in an opinion piece for the Kingston Whig-Standard, that the Lafarge proposal "is a question of choices. In Ontario, an estimated 10 to 15 million tires are discarded every year," and "while we would all wish that these tires could be readily recycled, like aluminum beer and pop cans, the reality is that tires, by their very function, have to withstand environmental stresses, and are difficult to recycle."
 
Queen's University has studied various approaches to tire recycling, Mr. Jackson notes, and some can be effectively rendered into rubber mats and rubberized asphalt. But, "because of safety considerations, there is little demand for tire retreading in North America. This leaves us with an ever-increasing pile of scrap tires in legal and illegal tire dumps. So we are left with a dilemma."
 
The professor believes research should still be undertaken to investigate ways to "recover materials of value from scrap tires," but "until these processes are available, we must deal with the mountains of scrap tires that grow larger each year."
 
His estimation is that the Lafarge proposal to burn tires at the Bath site "won't have any perceptible effect on the environment," and is preferable to the alternative of letting tires accumulate.
  
"We have two choices: either continue to pile these tires in ever-growing tire dumps with the potential for tire fires and mosquito-borne disease, or recover the energy in an environmentally acceptable fashion by replacing some of the normal feed to a cement kiln, usually coal," writes the professor.
  
Mr. Jackson concedes that "there is an economic advantage to Lafarge for burning tires." But he argues that "it represents an opportunity to convert the energy content of waste tires into a useful end: Portland cement, a vital commodity in our economy."
 
The decision, he maintains, "is not between burning or not burning a fuel. Rather, the decision is between burning coal, with its own set of contaminants, and burning tires under controlled conditions that will minimize the production of contaminants."

Obviously MP Brent St. Denis subscribes to the Expositor as I got a telephone call from him this afternoon. To my surprise, Mr St. Denis was quite polite and sounding concerned. I admit that my posts about this MP have not been all that positive. Well, he's either very concerned about Manitoulin's future, or he is scrambling to save any First Nation votes he can for his next election, or the voice of the free press has him shaking in trepidation. Pick one or all as you see fit.
I was assured that the government was working furiously behind the scene to bring this environmental issue to a conclusion and while it would not happen tomorrow, it will enfold sooner than later and it will be a conclusion that everyone can live with.
Being the eternal optimist (if you knew me, you would be falling over in laughter), I thanked him for his call and said good-bye.

I will say this much - Mr. St Denis did make the phone call where Indian and Northern Affairs has yet to acknowledge my e-mail. I wonder if Mr St. Denis would do us a favour and drop by Indian and Northern Affairs and see if everybody is at their respective desk working on this problem - it is amazing what a little peer pressure can do to get things done!

Patience Is A Virtue, But .....

June 14, 2006

Time Passes and Nothing Has Been Done

Two weeks have past since I last posted here about the Zhiibaahaasing tire pile. I took a phone call from MP Brent St. Denis to heart when he claimed there would be action taken that would be acceptable to everyone.

Very little has been printed in the local newspaper of late and it seems that this Page 1 News Item is now going to be moved to the back of the paper along with the real estate and classified items - shame on us!

In the June 9th edition of The Manitoulin West Recorder the front page was adorned with a picture of MPP Mike Brown and MPP Rick Bartolucci doing a photo op in front of the waterfront of Gore Bay. The boys came up to the Island from their comfy Toronto digs to announce a $1.5 million (loonies) funding of improvements for Gore Bay's waterfront - the following quote by MP Rick Bartolucci speaks volumes:

"Many residents in communities in the south, east, and west leave their cities to find the natural environment that you in Gore Bay and all of Manitoulin enjoy 52 weeks a year..... "

What a pity that all of this natural environment will be lost
when the Zhiibaahaasing tire pile finally catches fire
and wipes out Manitoulin's hopes and dreams.

Bio and photo from the OPP web page

Gwen M. Boniface began her policing career with the Ontario Provincial Police (O.P.P.) in 1977. In 1998, she was named Commissioner and now leads more than 7,000 O.P.P. uniform and civilian members serving in Ontario. She is responsible for policing services to diverse communities throughout the province, including front-line delivery, administrative support services and highly specialized and multi-jurisdictional investigations.

Commissioner Boniface earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from York University and a Bachelor of Laws degree at Osgoode Hall Law School. She was called to the Bar in Ontario during 1990, and is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. She has served on the Law Commission of Canada. Commissioner Boniface was invested into the Order of Ontario in 2001 for her work with First Nations communities and holds the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, the Order of St. John and is a recipient of the Humber College Alumnus of Distinction Award.

Commissioner Boniface is, by invitation, a member of the First Nations Chiefs of Police. She is the first woman to have held the position of President of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the first Canadian police officer to be elected General Chair of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Division of State and Provincial.

You'll Be Remembered

John Diefenbaker killed the Avro Arrow; Pierre Elliot Trudeau gave us Official Bilingualism; Jean Chretien gave us national pride; and now Gwen Boniface is giving in to blatant criminal acts by native terrorists.

All of Canada salutes you!

June 15, 2006

Lake Ontario WaterKeeper Article July 2005

Tires being stored illegally and unsafely is not something new.
Source: Lake Ontario WaterKeeper

Ontario piling up millions of tires
by David Bruser, Toronto Star July 30, 2005
   
Ontario is a tire graveyard.

We throw out 13 million car and truck tires each year, about one per person, and only half end up at companies that recycle tires. Where are the rest?

The idle rubber poses a fire hazard. If an immense pile burns, the heat is intense, the flames stubborn, the smoke noxious and combustion by-products could leak into groundwater. The 1990 Hagersville tire fire near Hamilton burned for weeks and forced the evacuation of 1,200 people.

Greedy collectors of standing rainwater, the tires also could make an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus.

But it's the spectre of a chemical-spewing conflagration that unnerves residents living near huge tire dumps throughout the province.

A Star investigation found three sites with estimates of 850,000 tires on Manitoulin Island, up to 340,000 in southwest Middlesex near London, and 100,000 more in the bush on Six Nations reserve land south of Brantford. The Star also found some companies marketed themselves as tire recyclers yet mostly stockpiled instead.

While tire disposal is an Ontario-wide problem, the two sites found on reserve land are not governed by provincial laws.

The three dumps represent only a small portion of dumped tires, but environment officials do not know how many or where the rest are.

Unlike all other provinces, Ontario has no tire-disposal program, such as a registry to track collectors and recyclers. And in June, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced the province would not consider a tire "tax" to help pay for recycling and clean-up programs.

The ministry of environment estimates Ontario is home to five million stockpiled tires. Recyclers process about half the 13.6 million tires discarded each year and turn them into rubber used in automotive parts, playground and sports surfaces, shoe soles and other products, the ministry estimates.

The other half is exported for re-use or tire-derived fuel, in illegal dumps, municipal dumps and landfills, says a ministry spokesperson.

But without a way to register and track collectors and recyclers, officials cannot be sure. And none of these figures include the hundreds of thousands of tires dumped on reserve land, where provincial regulations do not apply.

Manitoulin Island, a northern respite for cottagers and locals who want nothing to damage their pristine surroundings, is home to perhaps the biggest dump in the province.

On the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation reserve, Cockburn Island Tire Recycling, an unregulated company, has haphazardly piled an estimated 850,000 tires close to the North Channel near Lake Huron - roughly 19,000 tires for each of the 45 people who live on this reserve's 1,300 acres.

The company, owned and operated by residents of the reserve and paid to dispose of old car and truck tires, is not recycling. It stockpiles tires discarded from across the province into an unorganized heap that is, in some places, metres deep. A small portion of the tires is sent to a one-man operation where they are retreaded.

"I want to get rid of the freakin' tires," said company manager Kevin Mossip, also the acting chief of the reserve where the pile sits. "I know the community don't want `em. We don't want them piled up here like that."

The Manitoulin stockpile would be illegal on provincial land without a certificate of approval, which is required for anyone storing more than the equivalent of 5,000 passenger car tires. That certificate and its conditions, in part inspired into law by Hagersville, requires the operator to meet safety guidelines and make a security deposit so the province can clean up if the operator skips town.

The company has never possessed a provincial or federal permit for any aspect of its business ? hauling, stockpiling or recycling, Mossip said.

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada does not have a permit for Cockburn Recycling on file, but the department said one may be required under the Indian Reserve Waste Disposal Regulations. A spokesperson was unsure when asked yesterday.

While provincial regulations do not apply on reserve land, federal officials with Health Canada, Environment Canada and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada have expressed concern. But other than a workshop on tire disposal for members of the aboriginal community, federal departments have done little else.Cockburn Recycling started collecting tires in 1994 but found no market. So, in 2000, with a lump-sum share of First Nations dividends from Casino Rama, the company invested about $400,000 in rubber shredding machinery.

But thanks to nagging equipment breakdowns, the plant has only been fully operational a total of 10 weeks since 2000. The last time Cockburn Island Tire Recycling actually recycled was the summer of 2003.

But Cockburn Island is applying for federal grants to help buy the $800,000 of machinery that Mossip estimates is necessary for the plant to begin recycling.

While the company waits for a public bailout, its trucks continue to haul used tires from auto shops, tire retailers and municipal dumps across the province, from Longlac to Guelph, making money under the banner of a recycling company.

Dale Jefferies, town foreman for Nairn & Hyman Township north of Manitoulin, has budgeted $3,000 this year for tire removal and he uses Cockburn Recycling.

"(Cockburn's) the only one that (takes) the tires in the area," Jefferies said, while pumping gas into his pick-up at a gas station near Espanola, north of the island. "What he does with them, I have no idea," although due to the company's name, "you automatically assume they're going to do something with the tires."

On Manitoulin, at Island Ford in Gore Bay east of the reserve, parts manager Mark Cooper is just grateful Cockburn takes the junk tires off his hands, never mind the recycling.

"I don't care, as long as they're gone. I don't ask a lot of questions," said Cooper, who estimates that his shop contributes as many as 50 tires to Cockburn's load every three or four months. Jefferies said he pays Cockburn Recycling $2 per car tire, but Cooper could not say exactly how much his employer paid. Charges vary depending on volume of shipment, distance travelled and other factors, but car tires typically draw $1-3 and truck tires $8-10.

Asked if he tells his customers the company is not recycling, Mossip said, "Our customers know us quite well. They know the situation we're in. I think they do. We don't hide that fact. It's publicly known."

But locals and cottagers watch the tire-bearing rigs drive along Highway 540 with concern.

In nearby Silver Water, some talk like they're living next to a time bomb.

Alice Addison, 72, a summer visitor from Mentor, Ohio, drove by the site last year. "And it was disgusting then, and I said if they don't get doing something, it's going to be a health hazard," she said. "If they want to have a business, then make it a business and make it work. Otherwise, it's got to go. It's got to go."

Next door, John Cull, who serves as deputy fire chief in Robinson township, said he worries about the potential pollution. "You'll always wonder if it did go on fire, particularly when they had one down in Hagersville: Where are these people going to go?"

The Hagersville blaze consumed 14 million tires over 17 days, requiring the help of firefighters from 11 volunteer departments across the region.

To such concerns, Mossip responded: "They can have as many concerns as they wish. There's not much that we can really do about it. We're at the point right now where we've spent damn close to $1 million of our own money and we're tapped out.

"I wouldn't say their fears are misplaced. They're legitimate. But I mean we've taken whatever precautions we can to limit. How do you stop someone from going in there and lighting it up themselves?"

Those precautions amount to putting up gates blocking the entrance to the two roads leading to the piles. A kilometre away, the reserve burns its trash in a pit, but Mossip says it's a safe distance from the tires.

But the provincial office of the fire marshal, which recently visited the site, does not approve.Provincial rules govern size of tire piles, the distance between piles, access for incoming water tankers, water supply, and the tires' proximity to dry plants.

On every count, the Manitoulin site fails.

But these rules, or those of other provincial authorities, such as the ministry of environment, do not apply on the First Nations reserve.

Recently, however, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada asked the company for an environmental assessment before considering granting money. The agency says that before it offers support, environmental concerns must be addressed. But it's unclear if INAC can shut down the company.

Health Canada has concerns about tires collecting standing water that breed mosquitoes and could propagate the West Nile virus. Department officials who frequently visit to test water quality have made several recommendations to clean up the pile, but the federal agency cannot enforce their suggestions, said spokesperson Janine Small.

Yet, if a fire ever spread to the tires, water trucks stationed off reserve would be among the first to respond since the Zhiibaahaasing own none.

The prospect worries one public safety official from a nearby township.

"Once we cross the line, our liability is gone. We have no insurance, no nothing. Anything happens to us or the trucks, we're on our own," said the official, who did not want to be named.

"They're only situated about half-a-mile from the water, sloped down all the way to the water," the official added. "If tires get on fire, they just go like liquid and they would flow right into the North Channel. Hopefully, that never happens."Clynt King, environmental manager for the Six Nations southeast of Brantford, knows all too well the frustration of dealing with waste on reserve.

He says he's walked nearly every block and waded into the bush to monitor the 150,000 scrap tires littered across the reserve's lands. About two-thirds of those tires are in one spot, about 200 metres off Fifth Line road, where an estimated 100,000 tires sit in two piles. They've been there for at least eight years, King said.

"I could become a millionaire ... if I wanted to charge even a quarter a tire," he said. "There's nobody that could stop me from putting a few million tires behind my house. There's really no law. Nobody can be ordered to do anything."

Bill Lane has an estimated 340,000 tires illegally piled on three acres of his private property southwest of London and must deal with considerably more oversight.

On July 22, several days after the Star investigation began, the environment ministry slapped a "director's order" on his operation, L.T. Recycling, to prevent any more tires from collecting on the property. The government wants Lane to clean up or apply for a certificate of approval, a document Lane doesn't expect to get unless he reduces his pile considerably. He can appeal the order.

The ministry says that in the late 1990s, Lane was fined a total of $46,100 for failing to comply with clean-up orders and storing tires illegally. Lane couldn't be reached yesterday to comment on the prior fines.

Lane, who collects and processes some of the rubber to make traffic pylons, said he sprays malathion, an insecticide on his tires every 20 days and drills holes in many of them to prevent stagnant water from collecting. He also has five pit bulls roaming at night to ward off trespassers. During the day, the guard dogs sleep in houses made of tires from agricultural equipment.

"I'm working hard. I'm not running away from it," said Lane, who said he's applied for a certificate of approval three times in the past eight years. He said the ministry rejected two of his applications because he could not afford the security deposit. "I'll fix it in a year, if they'll let me do it."

The demand for collection of scrap tires clearly exceeds Lane's ability to process them for traffic pylons and other uses. But he doesn't want to take the tires to other recyclers because of the "tip fee" charged to take the load off Lane' hands.

"I'm not innocent by a long shot ... (but) what's killing everybody, there's no place to take the tires," said Lane, who says his pile is closer to 200,000. He says he earns $100 per tonne but must pay a $66 tip fee, leaving only $34 for labour, fuel and truck maintenance costs. "The tip fee is almost as much as what we're bringing in."

This tip fee is what spurs some tire collectors to find a secluded piece of land and turn it into a dumping ground, said Glenn Maidment, who heads the Rubber Association of Canada and the Ontario Tire Stewardship, an industry board made of tire producers and sellers trying to develop a province-wide tire disposal program.

"(A tire generator) is going to call up two or three haulers and two of the three are more than likely very reputable and they will take those tires and deliver them to a processor and the tires are fully recycled," Maidment said. "If the retailer is going to accept a low-ball bid, he's got to know that those tires are just going to end up on somebody's private property."

The Ontario Tire Stewardship proposes to generate money to help clean up the 5 million stockpiled tires within five years. It also proposes that tire generators use tire collectors that register with a central board and are required to demonstrate their tires go to recyclers.

But the program involves a fee collected from tire retailers that will most likely be passed on to consumers, prompting concern that it amounts to a tire tax. The board could collect the fee and use that money to pay collectors after their loads reach recyclers, theoretically eliminating the incentive to dump. Such a system would promise 80-90 per cent diversion rates. According to OTS 2001 figures, 77 per cent of all scrap tires in North America are diverted.

Though he disagrees with the pay structure in the proposal, tire collector Mike Moffatt of Ontario Tire Recovery Inc. in Hagersville believes some system of tracking tires is needed.

"Because there's no regulations, just go get a pick-up truck and stop at different automotive shops and say, `I'll take your tires for 75 cents,' and he'll probably pay cash," said Moffatt, whose trucks collect and send to recyclers more than 2 million tires per year. "You can just take tires and dump them somewhere and go buy yourself a case of beer or groceries."

Lake Ontario WaterKeeper Article May 2006

Possible Solution To Tire Problem Being Considered
Source: Lake Ontario WaterKeeper

Province ponders plan to burn imported tires in Kingston kiln
by James Wallace , The Whig Standard  May 19, 2006
   
The Ontario government is considering a proposal to give eight U.S. States and Quebec permission to ship millions of used tires into this province to be burned for fuel in a Kingston area cement kiln.

Once that door is open, Canada�s free trade agreement with the U.S. will make it "difficult if not impossible" for the province to stop the flow of scrap tires here, environmentalists told a Queen's Park press conference yesterday.

Christine Elwell, staff lawyer for the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, said her organization will fight the proposal to allow Lafarge Canada to burn tires, municipal waste, plastics and other material in its kiln will have sweeping legal and environmental implications.

"If the province intends to allow Lafarge to import this witches brew of tires, trash and bones from the U.S. to be burned at the expense of the health of Ontario communities, it will have a serious legal battle on its hands," Elwell said.

There are an estimated five to six million scrap tires piled up and warehoused around the province.

Meanwhile, research conducted by the environmental group claims toxic emissions including deadly dioxins and furans from a similar tire-burning kiln near Montreal operated by Lafarge increased by as much as 3,400 per cent during the past five years.

"Our fear is that will occur in this Bath plant as well," said Martin Hauschild, president of Loyalist Environmental Coalition.

"Our community is very concerned about becoming a toxic dumping ground," Hauschild said.

Lafarge Canada has requested approval from the province's environment ministry to burn up to 100 tonnes per day of auto tires, municipal waste, animal bones, plastics and other materials as an alternative fuel to cook cement in their Bath, ON plant.

That's as many as 15 tractor trailer loads according to the province, up to 40 according to the environmentalists.

Elaine MacDonald, senior scientist with the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, said she uncovered evidence Lafarge's Quebec facility, which already burns alternative fuel including tires, is spewing heavy metals and other toxins into the environment in that province.

Citing statistics culled from Environment Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory program, MacDonald said lead emissions increased 144 per cent at the Quebec plant from 2,000 to 2,004, nickel emissions by 1,028 per cent, chromium by 609 per cent, cadmium by 3,064 per cent and copper by 3,441 per cent.

During the same period, the release of known carcinogens including dioxins and furans increased 742 per cent, according to MacDonald.

"Lafarge�s Saint-Constant facility was the second largest source of dioxins and furans in the province with emissions equivalent to the maximum acceptable annual intake of dioxin for a population of three million people," she said.

Lafarge has denied shifting the Bath facility to alternative fuel sources will increase pollution but did not respond yesterday to messages left by Osprey News.

Laurel Broten, the Minister of Environment, said "no decision has been made" on the application from Lafarge and that the province will review the concerns raised by the Sierra Fund and local environmentalists.

Broten added the proposal will have to meet Ontario air standards, which she described as being among the toughest in North America, and said Lafarge actually proposes to reduce emissions.

�The science tells us that Lafarge's proposal will reduce both sulphur dioxide emissions and nitrogen oxide emissions from what they are currently consuming as fuel in this facility,� she said.

Ministry officials told Osprey News a decision on the proposal should be forthcoming within "a couple" of months and Broten told the Legislature her ministry will "use the most up-to-date science, the newest and best emissions modeling data and our new tough air standards" to evaluate the Lafarge proposal.

"That's what�s going to happen with this facility in Bath," Broten said. "That�s my commitment to the people of Bath."

However, Peter Tabuns, the NDP critic, said Bath residents oppose the plan and urged the government to scrap any proposal that includes burning tires.

"They don�t want to breathe in toxin-filled smoke," Tabuns said. "They don�t want the poisons that this kind of burning will pump out of this kiln."

James Wallace is the Queen's Park bureau chief for the Osprey News Network.

Contact the writer at: jwallace@ospreymedialp.com or at www.ospreyblogs.com

Late Entry

The above solution to the environmental disaster waiting to happen may not come to pass!

May 18, 2006
A coalition of concerned groups blasted the Province of Ontario and Lafarge Canada today over the global cement company's controversial proposal to burn massive amounts of tires, trash and animal rendering waste in an antiquated cement kiln in Bath, Ontario. The groups highlighted startling increases in emissions of toxic chemicals from Lafarge's tire-burning cement kiln near Montreal and slammed the company's plans to import millions of tires into Ontario each year from eight US states and Quebec.

At a press conference at Queen's Park today, Sierra Legal Defence Fund, Loyalist Environmental Coalition and Toronto Environmental Alliance released startling data from Lafarge's cement facility in Saint-Constant, Quebec where the company began burning tires in its cement kiln several years ago. Collected and self-reported by Lafarge under Environment Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory program, the data reveals increases of up to 3,400% in airborne releases of heavy metals and other toxic emissions between 2000 and 2004 and directly contradicts the company's categorical denial that burning tires and other wastes has a negative impact on local air quality and the environment.

Read the full story on the Sierra Legal Defence Fund web page.

While LaFarge would be doing Manitoulin a great favour by taking the tires off the Zhiibaahaasing land, there is a certain amount of credence to the controversy being raised in the above web page. To begin with, LaFarge's plant is right on the shore of Lake Ontario so moving the tires there still threatens the Great Lakes; secondly, the kiln that is intended to be used was built in 1974 and one has to wonder if today's technology is possible in a structure that old.

June 16, 2006

Manitoulin Expositor

Federal funds anticipated for tire removal

MANITOULIN--A proposal for the removal of stockpiled tires from the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation has been submitted to Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), with the expectation that the federal department will provide the funds necessary to truck or barge the excess tires off the Island.

"There's progress and I'm confident a solution is forthcoming," said Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Brent St. Denis last Friday. "It's understood that removing tires would satisfy the concerns of the Island community and also relieve a lot of pressure on Zhiibaahaasing."

The First Nation recently met with INAC officials and submitted a plan that examines the costs of "hauling them to another location," deputy chief Kevin Mossip told the Recorder last week. "What we want to see is the creation of economic development for the community, but also to remove the tires." Mr. St. Denis said the First Nation, through a series of unfortunate circumstances, including the breakdown of recycling equipment, ended up with an "unmanageable inventory." Now, he said, Zhiibaahaasing is "co-operating for a good result for all of Manitoulin."

Removing the bulk of the tire accumulation doesn't necessarily mean the First Nation--which has also applied for funding to study the feasibility of continuing its recycling operation--will get out of the tire business altogether. "They don't need to abandon the idea of a feasibility study, because that's a separate issue, unrelated to the excess inventory that's there," said Mr. St. Denis.

FedNor turned down the First Nation's application for funds to explore the viability of reviving the recycling plant, but the community is still hoping that Aboriginal Business Fund Canada will approve the application.  The MP said there are three issues to consider. "The first is to ensure fire protection at that site," he said. "The second is the excess inventory. And the third is the feasibility study."

He expressed confidence that federal funding would be found to cover the expense of removing most of the tires, which are estimated to number over 1 million--over 200 times the allowable limit of 5,000, as dictated by the province. Given that an average rate for transporting tires from more central parts of the province is $2 per tire, the cleanup would likely cost well over $2 million. Mr. Denis stressed that, contrary to some concerns that have been expressed locally, "the federal government didn't fund this project; the decision was a local one."

The MP said he has been pleased to see that "people have remained alert and responsible" regarding the potential hazard represented by the tire pile. "I commend everybody, including the municipal leaders and individual citizens, for expressing their concerns, and also for being respectful to Zhiibaahaasing and not overreacting."

June 20, 2006

Indian and Northern Affairs Heard From

I sent the following to Minister Prentice:

15/06/06
The Honourable Jim Prentice

I sent an e-mail to one of your directors three weeks ago and have not received any reply. This is unacceptable for me and for you as well, I would hope.

http://www.manitoulinislandindex.com/manitoulinsshame.html is a web page I put together in the hope that your department would do something about the tire depot on Manitoulin Island. While I realize your people are working overtime on the native unrest going on province-wide and specifically in Southwestern Ontario, I think three weeks is ample time to respond to a simple e-mail.

I would hope that you go beyond an autoresponse from your e-mail client, else I will be directing my request to Stephen Harper, who probably would not be very pleased to be doing something your department should be taking care of.

Might I add that I think the OPP's failure to act immediately to criminal acts that they personally see at Caledonia or elsewhere is a result of your department's failure to treat a native equally as any other Canadian. And I think that Canadians as a whole are tired of being treated as second-class citizens. I am no better nor worse than a native - it would be appreciated if you treated us all the same. Strangely enough a non-native married to a native, living on a reservation, is making your department look like hell!

POKO

As a result of the above I received the following:

20/06/06
Dear Mr. Keenan:

Thank you for your e-mail dated May 24, 2006 to Jennifer Alderson, Acting Director, Strategic Direction and Policy.  Indian and Northern Affairs Canada appreciates your concerns with the tire stockpile at Zhiibaahaasing First Nation.  No permit under the Indian Reserve Waste Disposal Regulations has been issued to date.
 
Please also be aware that departmental officials have recently had discussions with Zhiibaahaasing First Nation Chief and Council to consider measures to address the size of the tire stockpile as well as to improve fire prevention and suppression measures at the site.  We are optimistic that these efforts will result in a resolution to these concerns.

I regret the delay in getting a response to you.  Should you have any further concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Susan

Susan E. Bertrand
A/Director Media Relations and Operations
Executive Services and Communications
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
100 Anemki Drive - Suite 101
Thunder Bay, Ontario  P7J 1A5
Telephone:  (807) 624-1531
Fax:  (807) 623-8304
bertrandse@inac.gc.ca

July 3, 2006

Ingenious Solution To The Problem

The latest article written in the Expositor describes what could be done:

Zhiibaahaasing Tires Could Be Used To Make Asphalt Mix
by Jim Moodie
 
MANITOULIN--Tires get worn down from repeated pounding on pavement. Pavement gets worn down from the repeated pounding of tires.  
But in a nice twist of irony, worn-out tires can actually be used to make a longer-lasting, less-punishing type of pavement.  
As over a million tires--nearly a quarter of the number estimated to be stockpiled across the province--continue to linger at the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation on western Manitoulin, it bears casting a glance across Georgian Bay to Grey County, where you'd be hard-pressed to find a single used tire lying idly about anywhere. 
Unless, that is, you count the many thousands that are lying beneath your wheels as you whiz across, and idle upon, county roads. 
In 1991, in the immediate aftermath of the Hagersville tire fire, Grey County launched a radical new tire-recycling project that converted 40,000 scrap tires into rubberized asphalt for local highways. It's a program that has only expanded and become more refined in years since, and one that's literally paved the way for similar projects across the world. 
"We now have over 150 kilometres of rubber roads," says Gary Shaw, whose official title with the county is roads department director. It doesn't quite seem to capture the range of his influence. Let's call him the guru of granulated rubber, or better yet, the tsar of alternative tarmac. 
Last year, Mr. Shaw acted as a consultant on similar roads projects in Norway, the Czech Republic and South Africa. Delegations from New Zealand and Australia have come to Grey County to inspect the rubber roads he's laid down. On the day last week when he spoke with the Expositor, he'd just received an email from Beijing. 
Mr. Shaw has won awards from the David Suzuki Foundation, the Recycling Council of Ontario, and the International Tire and Rubber Association. He gets written up regularly in a publication called Scrap Tire News. 
Back in 1991, the roads director and his employer had no previous experience in rubberized asphalt, but a couple of circumstances prompted the consideration. "I got the idea because Hagersville had just happened, and at the same time we had a real problem with scrap tires in the county," notes Mr. Shaw. 
One individual had been "collecting them in Toronto, and getting $3 per tire; then he got a backhoe and dug a hole up by Durham and buried them," he says. Other piles were accumulating in area landfills. "It just seemed such a waste, because this is a valuable resource," says Mr. Shaw. 
And in their form at that time, whether buried or piled above ground, the tires represented an environmental nightmare waiting to happen. As he writes in an overview of the rubberized asphalt program that is posted at the county's website: "Given the severity of the county's scrap tire problem in 1991, it was Grey County council's judgment that the opportunity to help eliminate a serious local environmental threat justified the much smaller risk associated with the evaluation of an alternative paving technology." 
The county received help from the Ministry of the Environment, to the tune of $905,000, for its first experimental project. "That first year, we did 12.5 kilometres of road, and used 40,000 tires," says Mr. Shaw. "Ever since then, we're doing a lot more every year." 
All the tires that are put into roads are ones that are surplus locally; Grey County doesn't invite shipments from elsewhere. "I call it a closed-loop recycling system," says Mr. Shaw. "We take all these tires produced in Grey County and put them back into rubber roads. It's a win-win for us, because we're keeping tires out of the landfill, and reducing the risk of fires or West Nile virus." 
They're also saving money on paving costs, and winding up with longer-lasting asphalt, Mr. Shaw says.  
The county charges $2.50 per tire to pick them up from tire dealers. "People say, 'why don't you take them for free?,' but if we did we'd end up as a dumping ground for the rest of the province, and this money also helps pay for the shredding and crumbing at the recycling facility," he notes. 
A truck and 40-foot trailer are operated by the county to collect tires and deliver them to the recycling plant. Once the tires are chopped up, the granulated rubber is sent to an asphalt producer. Four such operations exist in Grey County, any of which can incorporate rubber into their mix of asphalt. The county tenders out each job, and provides the rubber for free--which in turn saves the county money on their paving bill, "because we're supplying part of the aggregate," points out Mr. Shaw. 
The rendering of rubber into asphalt is a relatively benign process, the roads director maintains. "When we did our first project, we had to prove to the Ministry of the Environment that we weren't causing another type of environmental problem. Emissions testing was done around the stack for a certificate of approval." 
The type of asphalt that results from a rubber component, meanwhile, is an improvement on the conventional type, Mr. Shaw maintains. "The roads last longer, because they're very flexible and you get less fracturing." As well, "they're blacker than normal asphalt, and the roads will be more bare of ice in the winter." 
They certainly get a big 'hooves up' from the horse community. "Some Mennonites were in here last year, and they said they really like the rubber roads. When the horses left the regular pavement and came onto the rubberized sections, they immediately increased their gait, because it's easier on their joints," says Mr. Shaw. 
The rubber road pioneer says he's heard about the surplus tire situation on Manitoulin, having read the front-page story published in the Toronto Star in July of last year, which identified the site as the largest tire dump in the province. "If there was ever a fire there, it would be a nightmare," he says.  His recommendation is that "you should be doing something up there with roads--get a pilot project going." 
Rubberized asphalt has been popular for some time in Europe, in large part because "they like how it's a lot quieter," Mr. Shaw says, and the concept is increasingly catching on in the US. "There's a lot being done down in the states now, in California, Texas." The latest copy of Scrap Tire News, he says, includes a story headlined, "Missouri begins cleanup of million-tire dump." Islanders will no doubt relate to the phrase 'million-tire dump.' It's the "begins cleanup" part many are waiting to read in a headline. 
They may have to wait a bit longer. While MP Brent St. Denis has expressed optimism that a solution is in sight, a spokesperson for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), when contacted last week, provided no concrete details of a plan to remove the tires, or any timetable associated with such a strategy. "We are continuing to work with the First Nation and the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin towards a remedy," said Peter Sero, communications officer with INAC. "Negotiations and discussions are taking place, but out of respect for the integrity of the negotiations, we'd rather defer comments about the details until an agreement with the First Nation is reached." 
Meanwhile, the First Nation is still waiting to hear whether Aboriginal Business Canada will help fund a study to determine the feasibility of reviving its stalled recycling operation. "We're waiting to hear something, hopefully by the end of this month," said Chief Irene Kells last week. 
Asked what market the First Nation envisioned for the scrap rubber, Chief Kells said that the original idea was "that the shredded tires were going to go to another company for use as rubber rocks, that you would put in a garden or for landscaping." That never materialized, however, as the First Nation's recycling machine broke down, and the company backed off. 
Chief Kells couldn't say whether the rubber might be used as aggregate for asphalt, but didn't rule it out. "That's what the study is all about--to find out where the rubber could be sold and if we can make anything on selling it." In the meantime, however, the massive pile of tires isn't getting smaller. That worries many Islanders, and some also question whether the First Nation is even licensed to store such an accumulation on its land. 
Last week it was learned that Zhiibaahaasing has not had a permit from INAC for the storage of waste. Local Green Party representative Sarah Hutchinson had looked into this matter earlier this spring, on the assumption that "if they are storing tires without a permit, INAC should be able to lay charges or remove the waste." 
Her enquiries to the federal department were not answered, although provincial Environment Minister Laurel Broten confirmed, in a letter to Ms. Hutchinson, that "the federal government has in place regulations under the Indian Act (the Indian Reserve Waste Disposal Regulations) requiring the issuing of a permit where any land on a reserve is used for the disposal or storage of waste." Pat Keenan, an Evansville resident and volunteer firefighter who is concerned about the tire buildup (enough so that he's created a website devoted to the issue) also pestered the department with repeated inquiries on this front, and last week finally received a response. 
"No permit under the Indian Reserve Waste Disposal Regulations has been issued to date," wrote Susan Bertrand, director of media relations and operations for INAC. She stressed, however, that "departmental officials have recently had discussions with Zhiibaahaasing First Nation chief and council to consider measures to address the size of the tire stockpile as well as to improve fire prevention and suppression measures at the site." 
Ms. Hutchinson cautions that it remains unclear at this point whether or not the lack of a permit gives the federal department the clout to intervene. "I don't know if the permit just sets out guidelines or if it's legally enforceable," she says. "But if it is legislation, then INAC would technically be responsible for managing the situation." 
The Green Party representative would like to see the environmental debacle at Zhiibaahaasing rectified as soon as possible, which is why she's investigated the pertinent legislation and jurisdictional issues pertaining to the matter. But she also feels the First Nation deserves credit for confronting the issue on their own. 
"The Toronto Star article came out a year ago. It wasn't until the band came forward and held a meeting (in March of this year) to address the problem that it really came into the public consciousness," she notes. "The band should be supported, and credited for trying to do something." 
Ms. Hutchinson feels that a key issue in preventing further problems like this one rests in tightening the currently lax rules regarding the pickup of tires and their destinations. At the moment, she says, "anybody can pick up tires because highways are a federal jurisdiction--but the province could regulate the initial collection." 
Ontario Tire Stewardship, an industry board consisting of tire producers and sellers, has been attempting to develop a province-wide tire disposal program which would provide some controls on this front. Rather than allow the possibility of tires being picked up by anyone who happens to have a truck, and dumped on any piece of land, the group is advocating a registry be developed of certified, reliable haulers, who can demonstrate that their cargo is being delivered to legitimate recyclers. 
"It means quite a bit of government intervention," notes Ms. Hutchinson, "but it would be one facet that would help, because you would have approved trucking companies bringing tires to a reliable site. I don't think the system is set up yet, but essentially that's what really needs to happen." 
That, or other forward-thinking communities, like Grey County, devising creative ways to confront their own messes, and make them into successes--ones that become a template for tire-beleaguered jurisdictions the world over.

The above approach to solving the tire problem on Manitoulin Island is something worth investigating, but Manitoulin residents are more concerned about ridding the island of an environmental disaster from happening in the short term.
Too many weeks have passed already - the Federal Gov't's Indian and Northern Affairs Department has delayed much too long in tossing ideas back and forth across the discussion table.
The Zhiibaahaasing agenda must take second place to our environmental concern and the tires must be removed immediately.

In order that you might understand INAC's resolve it is interesting to note that an e-mail sent Friday evening to Susan E. Bertrand (Acting Director Media Relations and Operations Executive Services and Communications) resulted in an autoresponse stating that she would be out of the office until Wednesday, July 5, 2006. One wonders if INAC staff are extending their long weekend or travelling to Caledonia or other hot spots to deal with First Nations problems.

July 9, 2006

Lightning Strikes Manitoulin

The Burpee Mills Fire Dept responded to a local farm today and put out a small fire. There was nothing special or unusual about this fire. Lightning had struck a roll of hay in a farmer's field. Fortunately this happened in the middle of the field, not at the farmer's barn and not just a few miles away at the Zhiibaahaasing tire depot.

We Were Lucky This Time

Hopefully INAC Will Take Action

Before Our Luck Changes!

July 14, 2006

Manitoulin Expositor Continues To Hammer Away

The Manitoulin Expositor continues to hammer away away at the Zhiibaahaasing tire depot. It is hoped that they will continue to do so until Indian and Northern Affairs Canada finally shuts down the tire depot. When I say "shut down" I mean remove all the offending tires, put a padlock on the gate and forbid the importing of any further tires to the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation.

The July 12th issue of the Expositor ran this item:

Zhiibaahaasing tire hazard outrages rubber industry's stewardship group

by Jim Moodie

"It makes me angry when I think about it," says Glenn Maidment, chairman of http://ontariotirestewardship.org/ Ontario Tire Stewardship (OTS), an industry board whose mission is to clean up the scrap tire confusion in the province and create a regulated system that will prevent such stockpiles from occurring. "It's very unfortunate what has transpired there, and that it was allowed to continue for so long." 
    
The Zhiibaahaasing First Nation presently has over one million tires stockpiled on its territory - more than exist at any other single site in the province - as a result of continuing to collect tires after the breakdown of equipment at its recycling plant. Some steps have been taken to mitigate the fire risks at the site, and discussions continue with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) regarding a strategy for reducing the size of the hazardous heap (or "excess inventory," as Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MPP Brent St. Denis prefers to call it), but as of Monday there had still not been any clear solution proposed.

Zhiibaahaasing Chief Irene Kells indicated last month that the community still wants to explore the potential of reviving its recycling facility, as well as determine whether there is a market for the old rubber. Deputy-Chief Kevin Mossip has similarly told the Expositor that, while the First Nation is agreeable to having the tires removed, it wants to reap some revenue from the material.
   
Mr. Maidment's response to that is blunt: "They already have reaped revenue! Not only that, they were undercutting others in the business."

The way the scrap tire business works, Mr. Maidment explains, is that a tire retailer will charge an individual a fee (somewhere around $3) to take an old tire off their hands. Retailers then pay tire haulers in the neighbourhood of $1.50 to $2 per tire to truck them away. The haulers, in turn, pay a processor 75 cents to $1 per tire when they deposit their truckloads at the processing plant.

"So, in the end, everybody has made a little bit of money," says Mr. Maidment. "But what happens up in your neck of the woods is that they can charge less per tire because they're not paying a fee to any processor. So a hauler might arrive at Joe's tire shop, only to be told they just missed out, because a guy from the First Nation came by and only wanted 50 cents per tire."

Mr. Maidment said most retailers prefer to develop relationships with established tire-hauling companies, but he can understand why some may opt to do business with outfits that charge less. "From a retailer's point of view, they just want to get rid of the tires, and the lowest tipping fee tends to be with First Nations."

The problem in Ontario, Mr. Maidment says, is that "there's nobody policing or monitoring the collection of tires right now, which is how you get illegal dumping." Ontario, in fact, is the only province that doesn't have a managed scrap tire program, he notes.

It was that very deficiency that prompted the province to create the Ontario Tire Stewardship board. "It was created a couple of years ago under the Waste Diversion Act," Mr. Maidment relates. "The Environment minister at the time (Chris Stockwell) issued a request letter to Waste Diversion Ontario to create a scrap tire program, and they came to the industry and said the government required us to take responsibility and put in place a stewardship plan."

Among the measures that OTS is advocating to regulate and harmonize the way tires are collected in Ontario is what Mr. Maidment terms a 'manifest system,' where "haulers and retailers have to fill out paperwork that documents where the tires are picked up, and more importantly, which processors they are going to. I don't want to slam the retailers, but for some, all they care about is getting the damn things off their property."

A tracking system, he says, would ensure that the tires are being delivered to legitimate processing plants, and not ending up in problematic heaps. "The whole impetus for this board," Mr. Maidment points out, "was that some municipalities were complaining about illegal dumping."

The Zhiibaahaasing tire dump would certainly qualify as illegal under the terms of the provincial legislation that restricts the size of tire stockpiles to 5,000 at any one site, but since First Nations fall under federal jurisdiction, that rule apparently can't be enforced. The First Nation also appears, however, to be in violation of a federal policy, since it never received a permit for the storage of waste from Indian and Northern Affairs.

But regardless of the legal and jurisdictional grey areas, Mr. Maidment believes something has to be done, simply from an environmental point of view, to rectify the situation on Manitoulin. "A lot of people are nervous about that situation, and somebody's going to have to come up the money to deal with it," he says.

Tire processors aren't apt to collect the tires free of charge, he says, particularly since the value of the material decreases over time in such conditions. "We've always said that tires in stockpiles tend not to be desirable for processing, because they will oxidize and lose elasticity," Mr. Maidment points out. "Those tires have been there for a long time, and that makes them less suitable for processors, who prefer fresh take-offs."

Tires can be turned into crumb rubber, which has a variety of applications, including as aggregate in asphalt, but if the tires sit for too long, "it comes out more like sand than an elastic product" after being run through a machine, Mr. 
Maidment says. "And the other issue," he adds, "is the dirt and rocks that get inside, which are hard on the equipment when you go to chop them up. Rocks and knives don't go together."

This doesn't mean the tires couldn't be put to some purpose, he hastens to add. "I don't want to say they couldn't be processed, just that it would be more expensive to do so. Probably the easiest, and just as viable use, would be to take them to a cement kiln for tire-derived fuel."

But again, even though a few super-scuttle-loads of scrap tires would cut down significantly on a cement company's coal costs, there would still, Mr. Maidment warns, be a price tag for sending the tires off to such a destination.

"This has always been the problem with scrap tires," he says. "They still have a negative value, because it does cost something to get them to legitimate processors. There's just not enough value in the scrap rubber material itself to sustain itself without some additional fees to encourage people to take them."

Mr. Maidment concedes that this situation is gradually changing, noting that "some operations in the US are now paying a modest amount for tires because it reduces their overall costs, but generally, a tire still has a negative value."

Partly that's because tires are, by their very nature, designed to be extremely durable, so any processing plant that is set up to shred, crumb, or otherwise tear them apart, needs to invest in costly, heavy-duty equipment to accomplish the task.

To truck a raw tire from any depot in Ontario to a place that converts it to another purpose (be it a cement kiln, or a plant that manufactures blasting or fatigue mats, or one that shreds the rubber for use as a gravel replacement in landfill leachate systems) will cost about "$2 per tire, minimum," Mr. Maidment indicates. "And with that," he qualifies, "we're just talking about once the tire is on the truck and going somewhere. If there's a lot of work involved in handling the tire and getting it on the truck to begin with, it would be more like $3 to $4 per tire all in."

The mandate of the Ontario Tire Stewardship board is to maximize the number of tires processed in the province, with a goal of 90 percent diversion from landfills and depots by the year 2008. The tracking program it is proposing would, according to the organization's website, provide "accountability through a regular reporting and audit process (and) ensure that stockpiles are completely eliminated and that no new stockpiles are created."

Unfortunately, that tracking process is not yet in place, and may not be implemented for some time yet. Mr. Maidment notes that current Environment Minister Lauren Broten "has put the tire program in limbo, saying she wishes it to be deferred."

Deferring - also defined as delaying, postponing, and putting off until some other time - is a concept that Islanders with concerns about the Zhiibaahaasing tire pile are well acquainted with by this point. Last month, Peter Sero, a spokesperson for INAC, assured that negotiations to deal with the issue are taking place, while adding that, "out of respect for the integrity of the negotiations, we'd rather defer comments about the details until an agreement with the 
First Nation is reached."

The Zhiibaahaasing tire depot, or dump as it is referred to as by the Ontario Tire Stewardship, received further press this week in the Manitoulin West Recorder. Kevin Mossip, the Deputy Chief of Zhiibaahaasing is quoted as saying the recent oil spill of June 14th should have caused more of a stir than it did. His tire depot was being blasphemed as being an environmental problem "so why didn't the oil spill receive equal attention"!

Mr. Mossip went on to comment on this website being established that brought the tire depot to the attention of Islanders and everyone else with a computer. "I wonder if someone has dedicated a website to informing the people of Manitoulin Island about fuel being hauled on Highway 540?"

I've never met this individual and I cannot attest to his grip on reality. I'm sure his teachers taught him the difference between apples and oranges, but who knows...

The Recorder article went on to say:

...as for the tires being stored in Zhiibaahaasing, Mr. Mossip said, "We are doing the best we can with the tires. We are working with Indian Affairs as to hopefully getting the tires cleaned up."

Not Trying To Be Politically Correct The Above Might Translate To:

I spent considerable time writing and then deleting what I really thought about this whole business as a lot of folks just can't handle the truth and insist on burying their heads in the sand. I'm already on record as saying these Zhiibaahaasing Rascals are playing the government for all they are worth so there is no sense going there again.

Mr. Mossip - if you really feel strongly about those fuel trucks using Highway 540 put your gripe together and I'll put it up on the web for you. But we might have to stop the home oil delivery trucks too 'cause they might blow up or somethin'. I'd do this for you but I'm really having second thoughts as I put $75 worth of gas in my pickup today and God only knows that might spring a leak all over the highway.

July 23, 2006

Manitoulin Suffers At The Hands Of Mother Nature

Manitoulin has been recovering from two tornadoes that hit unexpectedly and caused a lot of damage.

Five poles lie across the road while some hung suspended above Harbour Vue Road in Little Current. The devastation in the industrial park was extreme, with boats tossed from their berths and warehouse shorn of their roofs.
photo by Michael Erskine

Tornado cuts swath the length of Manitoulin
Untold hydro poles down,trees, buildings damaged

by Michael Erskine

"The devastation has been massive and the damage at this point is incalculable," said Community Services Officer Al Boyd as he joined the rest of the Manitoulin OPP detachment on the road. "We have all of our forces on the job."

As of press time, the OPP had confirmed that at least two twisters had touched down in the region.

Trees and power lines lay strewn across roadways from Meldrum Bay to Little Current, although according to Dave Ham, much of Manitowaning seemed to have escaped the worst of the storm. Northeast Town workers suggested that the Rockville area may be weeks getting back to a semblance of normality.

Municipal crews and hydro workers worked feverishly to clear main roads of downed trees and to secure power lines.

Best case scenerio, according to the OPP, would have had the power returning within 24 hours, but other estimates were that power might be days in returning to many areas.

Rockville electrician Brad Parkinson thought it was possible that power would be restored to the Little Current area by Tuesday, but the extent of the damage to power lines across Manitoulin likely means that much of the Island could be days without power.

Although some relatively minor injuries were reported, as of press time the OPP were unaware of any fatalities directly resulting from the storm.

Denis Riche and his family were in their camper at Green Acres when the full fury of the storm hit the area, toppling trees and sending one hurtling into the side of their camper.

"I grabbed the kids and went down to the water," he said. "It was the only place I could think of where we might be safe. There was stuff flying all around us."

Full grown mature trees lay strewn about the park and numerous camper trailers were crushed. "I couldn't get out," said one man. "The trees had totalled my car on the one side of the trailer and another had crushed my boat."

Hydro workers indicated that power to the entire Island was out, with all of the feeder lines down. Hydro One workers on the Island for vacation reported for work and were being pressed into service.

Christine Cosby was securing a tarp over the family boat when the full fury of the storm hit. She was still shaking hours after a tree smashed into the ramp leading into her home, with her disabled child inside.

"Thank God his worker was inside working on his legs," she said. "I was going out of my mind." The huge tree which smashed the wheelchair ramp had barely missed smashing into the house proper.

The path of the twister could easily be seen travelling down Wilson Street and onto Harbour Vue Road, where several hydro poles were snapped and transformers and lines sent hurtling into the street.

A Snappy's Furniture warehouse on Harbour Vue had its roof stripped off and one end of the building was sent flying into the bush like a crumpled piece of tinfoil. Other two-storey buildings in the area were also demolished, along with a number of barns.

Harbor Vue Marina owner Stan Ferguson and his crews were busily tying down docks and securing the area, but the devastation at his marina had him visibly shaken. Huge boats were toppled from their moorings in the shipyard and damage could not even begun to be tallied.

At the midway, which had begun setting up in front of the Northeast Town recreation centre, one young man was hit by flying debris. breaking his glasses rendering him unconscious. Although damage at the midway seemed relatively minor in scale to much of the destruction around it, the week's stay was canceled and crews were packing up to leave.

At the west end of the Island, Gore Bay was also hit heavily. "It was the most damage we've seen in a while. It seemed to take a path, and my father's house happened to be in the middle of it," said Matt Bayer. "We just finished cutting up the downed trees. All of the trees on his lot are down and his roof was damaged. Art Madore's house has a maple tree poking through it."

Mr. Steele added that there were five hydro poles out by Floyd Walker's corner and that he had heard there were two barns in Gordon down. "There was lots of property damage," he added, "but the marina was fine."

Anchor Inn co-owner Rob Norris of Little Current told the Expositor that he had been in Spring Bay when the storm hit Monday afternoon. He and his party took refuge in his car outside Sheila's Antiques where they witnessed a tree narrowly miss both the store and his vehicle.

Jane Hubbard, an Expositor staffer from Kagawong, noted that there was a window out in the upper floors of Edward's Studio which appeared to have damaged the Billings Town office. "There is police tape around the building and it looks like it is cordoned off."

The marina in Kagawong seems to have escaped serious damage, although both sides of the bay have extensive damage. "We did see three mangled trampolines in Kagawong," she said.

Ms. Hubbard, her husband Steve Radulovich and their daughter took refuge, along with a friend and their family dogs, in the basement of their house when they saw the storm approaching.

In Green Bay, local farmers took it upon themselves to help clean up he brush that had fallen on the roads. Matt Bayer told the Expositor that farmers like his dad Roy Bayer, Greg Pyette and others had gotten out with chainsaws and tractors to move debris off the roads and to help anyone else around.

"It was neat that the community got together to help," he said.

Several barns in the Green Bay area were destroyed, or seriously damaged. John Skippen lost one of his barns, but his neighbours helped him to get the cattle out. Ernie Kerhls lost his barn and Greg Pyette's barn was half blown down. No homes were damaged in the Green Bay area, as far as Mr. Bayer knew.

While the power may be out, the new generators at the Mindemoya and Little Current sites of the Manitoulin Health Centre are running well and are designed to power every aspect of each hospitals' requirements.

The generators were a priority with hospital CEO Jim Van Camp, who actively and successfully sought funding for the generator upgrades following the massive power outage in late August 2003.

The work was completed last fall, according to local electrical contractor Brad Parkinson, who was actively involved in the upgrades.

The Expositor crew worked through the night, their computers powered by a large generator. Both Jeff Crowell of Annette's Automotive and electrician Carmen Ferguson of Little Current came through in a pinch after the power draw blew out the Expositor generator's fuses, bringing the necessary equipment down to the offices to get the system back up and running.

Little Current entrepreneur Bruce O'Hare was quick to adapt to the situation, hauling out his hot dog cart and ice-chilled beverages to keep patrons fed and happy.

In Little Current, as darkness fell, the only lights visible were those on the Little Current Swing Bridge, which uses its own generator. Thanks to the generator, the bridge continues to swing uninterrupted during power outages like this one.

Nearing midnight, power was being restored to parts of Little Current intermittently, but only half of Water Street was alight as of writing.

Native legend has it that the Great God Manitoulin created Manitoulin Island and judging by the recent events the ire of Manitoulin has been somewhat elevated. Maybe He's upset with the Zhiibaahaasing Rascals for littering His land with so much debris.
One can only hope the Zhiibaahaasing Rascals had sufficient generators to keep their freezers and beer fridges running.

Meanwhile

I am in receipt of a response to my latest e-mail to Indian and Northern Affairs:

The Honourable Jim Prentice,
I thank you for being responsible in having my previous e-mail to your department answered. Should you take the time to look at the web page I started up about the environmental problem on Manitoulin Island http://www.manitoulinislandindex.com/manitoulinsshame.html you will note that your department is failing in the eyes of Manitoulin residents.
INAC's mandate to protect 'The North' is not being followed and there is no valid reason why the tire depot situation has been allowed to go unanswered for so many weeks.
Your department has made it clear that no permit has been issued and that these individuals at this tire depot are not in possession of the necessary papers to operate such a venture.
My question to you Mr. Minister is this: "Why do you continue to allow this situation to continue knowing that lightning striking the tires could start a chain reaction that the north would be hard pressed to deal with?"
My attempt to contact your Communications Officer, Susan Bertrand, resulted in an autoresponse that she would not be in her office until Wednesday. I therefore ask you in her place. Respectfully, P. Keenan

Mr. P. Keenan:
This is in response to your e-mail of July 4, 2006, addressed to the Honourable Jim Prentice, concerning the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation tire stockpile.
Let me assure you that the government of Canada is concerned about protecting the environmental health and safety of Canadian communities. Indian and Northern Affairs Ontario regional officials are working with the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation Chief and Council in order to resolve the tire stockpile situation as well as to implement fire prevention and suppression measures at the site.
Thank you once again for bringing your concerns to our attention as we work expeditiously to resolve this matter. If you have any further questions or concerns regarding this matter, please contact Mr. Roy Angelow, Senior Environmental Specialist, Ontario Region, at (416) 973-6225.
Bob Howsam
Regional Director General
Ontario Region INAC
416-973-6201
Fax 416-954-4326
howsamr@inac.gc.ca

One wonders if working expeditiously tanslates into a few phone calls exchanged!

July 30, 2006

OPP's Gwen Boniface Resigns

Shocking news out of Orillia, the OPP headquarters.
It seems we won't have Gwen around much longer to criticize as she's packing it in and moving to Ireland.
News coverage from Canoe follows below:

OPP Commissioner Gwen Boniface leaving for new post in Ireland

http://www.canoe.ca/OntQueTicker/CANOE-wire.Ont-Boniface-Leaving.html

TORONTO (CP)  The embattled commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police is resigning her post, but not because of recent criticism of how the force has handled the aboriginal standoff in Caledonia, the province's community safety minister said Friday.
 
 Gwen Boniface is stepping down as the province's top cop to join a newly established three-person panel to provide oversight of Ireland's 13,000-member National Police Force.

Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter said her decision was both a personal and professional one. Despite the fact that Boniface had recently signed a three-year contract, Kwinter said the Irish government made her an offer she couldn't refuse.
 
 "She was recruited," he said. "This wasn't something she went looking for."
 
 Boniface, a 30-year veteran of the OPP, has come under fire recently for her handling of an aboriginal occupation at a disputed housing development in Caledonia, Ont.
 
 Six Nations protesters have occupied the Douglas Creek Estates housing development since the end of February, claiming the land was wrongly taken from them by the Crown more than 200 years ago.
 
 Boniface was confronted with accusations that police treated aboriginals differently throughout the dispute, which on several occasions erupted into violence.
 
 But Kwinter said that kind of criticism had nothing to do with her decision to leave, adding that pressure comes with the job.
 
 "In any dispute, there are those people who point fingers," he said. "That personal criticism was ill-placed. She was doing her job."

Boniface, who was in Ireland for the official announcement of her appointment, was unavailable for comment Friday. 
 Kwinter said she will stay on as commissioner until early October to ensure a smooth transition. In the meantime, an extensive, Canadawide search will begin shortly to fill the position, he added.
 
 "I want to replicate Gwen Boniface, quite frankly," Kwinter said.
 
 In a statement earlier this month, Boniface said she is proud of her force, and dismissed accusations that her officers treated aboriginals differently.
 
 "I think the right decisions have been made and they've been carried out by competent men and women in the OPP," she said.
 
 Boniface conceded the standoff is a sensitive issue, but denied that protesters were exempt from the law.
 
 "I think that what's quite clear is that on aboriginal rights issues, there are aspects that you must consider,"' she said.
 
 Some residents of Caledonia began circulating an Internet petition earlier this month calling for Boniface's resignation.
 
 The petition said Boniface allegedly failed to protect the people of Caledonia as well as the town's power station, bridges, roads and homes during the protest.
 
 In Ireland, Boniface will join former Boston police commissioner Kathleen O'Toole and former Minneapolis police Chief Robert Olson on the policing panel.
 
 They will advise Ireland's justice minister on policing practices and promote reform, effectiveness and efficiency in the organization.

This webmaster feels just a little remorse if coverage above has lead to this decision by Commissioner Boniface. But those feelings dwindle when one realizes that "getting out the truth" is more important than trying to be nice to everybody. Maybe Gwen should have followed that advice and not have followed Monte Kwinter's lead.

Possibly we'll have to take Gwen off "The Official Of The Month" and replace her with Mr. Kwinter.

Meanwhile, down in Caledonia

You might want to read what is being said about this whole sordid mess by concerned citizens.

Clicking through to their Links Page will give you the e-mail addresses you just might need if you wish to send in your two cents worth.

Image Courtesy of WWW.CaledoniaWakeUpCall.com

Where's Waldo

Clicking on Waldo to the left will take you to a video of what transpired down in Caledonia not so long ago. It is a perfect example of what happens when government fails to live up to its responsibilities.

Where once folks shared the Caledonia area in harmony, now they don camouflage pants and carry concealed weapons as they seek out weaker foes to assault.

My sources in Caledonia tell me that the "war" is far from over and more people and property will be damaged unless the government does something quick.

Jim Prentice - consider yourself warned.

August 21, 2006

Our Government Moves Very Slowly

This web page was begun back in March of this year. Its mandate was to spread the word to all about what was happening on Manitoulin Island - that has been accomplished and yet our Federal Government has yet to do anything concrete to rectify the situation.

Readers will recognize that every possible effort has been made to embarrass Indian and Northern Affairs into taking action - this has failed as it seems that department has no conscience. They cannot be embarrassed into taking action.

That is pretty sad.

Rather than wait another four or five months hoping someone at Indian and Northern Affairs grows a conscience, I've decided to e-mail the Prime Minister. It follows:

Mr. Prime Minister,

In April of this year I became aware of a situation here on Manitoulin Island that shocked me to the core and as I researched it further, I realized something had to be done to avoid a local catastrophe to the environment. In contacting my local reeve I discovered his mutual concerns, but found he had run into a brick wall of bureaucracy and misrepresentation.

I refer to the tire recycling depot situated on the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation located in the northwest section of Manitoulin bordered by the North Channel.

In hopes of applying pressure to the individual(s) responsible for the "disaster waiting to happen" to remove the offending tires I started up a web page. http://www.manitoulinislandindex.com/manitoulinsshame.html

You may be aware of the two tornadoes that hit Manitoulin a few weeks ago. Associated with this we have been experiencing a great deal of thunder and lightning of late and my worst fear is that lightning will hit the tire depot and start an environmental disaster that will cripple Manitoulin and cause damage in the millions of dollars. The tire fire of Hagersville in February of 1990 will seem like childplay compared to what a fire here will do to the economy, the Great Lakes and the entire evacuation of three quarters of Manitoulin.

I have been in contact with Indian and Northern Affairs, but I have received nothing other than "we're working on it". Several e-mails have bounced around their department and frankly I'm tired of being played with by passing me to different section heads that all say nothing to fixing this situation.

I am sending you this e-mail with cc's to various Chairs of Standing Committees in the hope that somebody there in Ottawa will take the time to investigate this matter and have Indian and Northern Affairs close down this tire depot and have the tires removed - I don't think Ontario needs to suffer another environmental disaster when the facts are right there in front of us, but we are afraid to "offend" a First Nation enterpreneur that obviously is playing the government for all he can. The tire depot should never have been started in the first place and their failure to obtain a permit from Indian and Northern Affairs speaks volumes.

Hoping to receive a reply beyond the usual auto-response, I remain,
Yours Truly,
Pat Keenan,
Manitoulin Island

Copies to:

Ken Noland, Reeve
Sarah Hutchison, Green Party
The Hon. Rona Ambrose  Minister of the Environment
Colin Mayes Chair-Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development
Bob Mills Chair-Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development
Gerald Keddy Chair-Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans
Rob Merrifield Chair-Standing Committee on Health
James Rajotte  Chair-Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology
Art Hanger  Chair-Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights
Lee Richardson  Chair-Standing Committee on Natural Resources
Garry Breitkreuz  Chair-Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security
Merv Tweed  Chair-Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities

Writing to the Canadian Prime Minister does not guarantee that Stephen Harper will ever see this e-mail. He has people in his office that redirect his mail as being Prime Minister is a hectic job. He seldom gets involved in local matters due to his workload.
Ergo, the reason so many carbon copies. All of these Chairmen on these standing committees have a vested interest in the welfare of Manitoulin Island and the Great Lakes - hopefully this tire depot matter will come up in committee and one of these elected representatives will carry the ball. The Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs fumbled the ball when it was handed off to him. Maybe our Environment Minister will pick up the ball and carry it.
If lightning strikes the tire depot before any action is taken, all of these government officials will have to live with the fact that they hesitated too long.

August 23, 2006

There Is A Law On The Books

There is a law on the books that should have been brought to bear on this tire depot. It is the Canadian Environmental Protection Act of 1999.

Browse through the following textarea and you will see where the Canadian government has the right, not to mention the moral obligation, to take action.

The legislation is as clear as the nose on your face Mr. Prime Minister.

COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT POLICY FOR THE CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT, 1999 (CEPA, 1999)

Complete document can be downloaded at:
www.ec.gc.ca/CEPARegistry/enforcement/CandEpolicy.pdf

Introduction

Canadians expect their government to provide laws and regulations, in order to protect them and their society. However, it is not enough to adopt laws; legislation must be effectively enforced.
In the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA, 1999), Parliament has made it matter of law that enforcement of the Act must be fair, predictable and consistent. In keeping with the duty to enforce imposed in the Act, this Compliance and Enforcement Policy establishes the principles for enforcement of CEPA, 1999 and tells everyone who shares a responsibility for protection of the environment:  governments, industry, organized labour and individuals  what is expected of them. It also lets everyone know what to expect from Environment Canada and the officers who enforce the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 and its regulations. The policy has been developed in co-operation with the Department of Justice.

Guiding Principles

The following general principles govern the application of the Act:
- Compliance with the Act and its regulations is mandatory.
- Enforcement officers throughout Canada will apply the Act in a manner that is fair, predictable and consistent. They will use rules, sanctions and processes securely founded in law.
- Enforcement officers will administer the Act with an emphasis on prevention of damage to the environment.
- Enforcement officers will examine every suspected violation of which they have knowledge, and will take action consistent with this Compliance and Enforcement Policy.
- Enforcement officers will encourage the reporting of suspected violations of the Act.

Key Elements of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999

The full title of the legislation is An Act respecting the protection of the environment and of human health in order to contribute to sustainable development, which clearly defines the purpose of the statute. Also, the Declaration of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 states that the protection of the environment is essential to the
well-being of Canadians and the primary purpose of this Act is to contribute tosustainable development through pollution prevention. The Declaration underscores the importance placed by the Government of Canada on prevention of harm to the
environment and its commitment to sustainable development.

Key Elements

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 has the following elements:
- authority for the Minister to require submission of information on any subject covered by the Act;
- authority to control the introduction into Canadian commerce of substances that are new to Canada;
- authority to obtain information on and to require testing of both new substances and substances already existing in Canadian commerce;
- provisions to control all aspects of the life cycle of toxic substances from their development, manufacture or importation, transport, distribution, storage and use, their release into the environment as emissions at various phases of their life cycle, and their ultimate disposal as waste;
- provisions to create guidelines and codes for environmentally sound practices as well as objectives that set desirable levels of environmental quality;
- provisions to control nutrients, such as phosphates, in water conditioners or cleaning products, including detergents, which can interfere with the use of waters by humans, animals, fish or plants;
- provisions to issue permits to control disposal at sea from ships, barges, aircraft and structures (excluding normal discharges from off-shore facilities involved in exploration for, exploitation and processing of seabed mineral resources);
- authority to regulate fuels and components of fuels; Compliance and Enforcement Policy for the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 7
- authority to control emissions from motors that power automobiles, trucks and other equipment such as lawnmowers, outboard motors and all-terrain vehicles;
- authority to control the export, import and transit through Canada, as well as shipments within Canada which cross internal provincial or territorial borders, of hazardous waste and hazardous recyclable material;
- authority to identify, by regulation, specific non-hazardous waste which may be exported, imported or travel through Canada in transit to another destination, where that non-hazardous waste is destined for final disposal, and authority to impose controls on those shipments;
- provisions to control sources of air or water pollution in Canada where a violation of an international agreement would otherwise result, or where the air or water pollution caused in Canada affects another country;
- authority to deal with environmental emergencies, where no other federal Act does so in a manner that protects the environment and human health;
- authority to regulate activities of federal departments, boards, agencies and Crown corporations to ensure that those activities have as little as possible negative impact on the environment;
- provisions to regulate federal works, undertakings and to regulate activities on federal land and aboriginal land, where no other federal legislation and/or regulations are in force and, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, provide sufficient protection to the environment and human health;
- authority to sign agreements with a provincial, territorial or aboriginal government or aboriginal people regarding administration of the Act;
- authority to sign agreements that recognize that legislation or regulations adopted by a provincial, territorial or aboriginal government are equivalent to CEPA regulations and will apply instead of the CEPA requirements; and
- provisions setting out the powers that may be exercised by the Minister, enforcement officers and CEPA analysts in enforcing the legislation.

August 25, 2006

Did Someone Say Community Safety ?

Pictured here, courtesy of WWW.CaledoniaWakeUpCall.Com, is a burning bridge down in Caledonia Ontario where native terrorists are running loose.

Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter has not put the terrorists responsible behind bars.

Click the link to read all about it.

Homebred Canadian Terrorism

Closing Note: Native terrorists loosen tire lugs of car owned by Caledonia resident's wife. Baby seats in back seat did not stop this dispicable terrorist act. Wife's car crashes with children onboard. Read about it above.

August 26, 2006

A Prime Minister That Fights Fires

Fire Safety Week is fast approaching (Sunday, October 8 to Saturday, October 14, 2006) and the Toronto Fire Department held a photo-op to bring fire safety to our attention.
Pictured below is our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. He was quoted as saying he had a better appreciation of firefighters after taking part in a simulated fire in TFD's Eastern Ave. training centre.
"It was hotter than the House of Commons," said Harper, after emerging from a so-called burn-house where he hosed down a blaze.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper wears a fire fighter's suit during a tour
of the Toronto Fire Department's training facility in Toronto, August 25, 2006.

Manitoulin Island Appreciates Firefighters !

Manitoulin Island Needs Your Help Mr. Prime Minister !

August 28, 2006

Prime Minister's Office Replies

Jim Prentice, eh. That should be a lot of help.

Had the correspondence officer taken the time to look at this web page he would have seen the bureaucratic roadblock set up at Indian and Northern Affairs with respect the tire depot.

Another attempt at gaining support from somebody in Ottawa follows - this time it's Jack Layton of the New Democratic Party.

Jack,
Manitoulin Island has been a Liberal stronghold since the days of Lester Pearson and any party running here has trouble finding support against the Liberal candidate. As far as the NDP is concerned I think I have something you may wish to get involved in. If you were to champion this local problem, I'm sure that a lot of voters would give your party a closer look come the next election.

The western end of Manitoulin has a First Nation reservation that has a tire recycling depot. Actually it is a tire cemetery as no actual recycling has been conducted here since the equipement broke down, I don't know how long ago. Instead of fixing the equipement, the operator just kept accumulating tires and as you will see from a picture on the web page noted, the tires are just haphazardly dumped here and there - something that you wouldn't do if you were sincere  about running a recycling plant.

The tire depot is located just a short distance from the North Channel and is encircled by brush and trees. There is absolutely no fire prevention mechanisms set into place and the reserve has no 911 shared arrangement in place. If lightning struck, a tire fire that would make the Hagersville Fire of 1990 look like childsplay and would devastate the Manitoulin economy, pollute the Great Lakes, and cause the evacuation of most of the Manitoulin residents.

I have created http://www.manitoulinislandindex.com/manitoulinsshame.html to bring this matter to the attention of the general public and I have openly ridiculed the Indian and Northern Affairs Department in hopes of embarrassing them into action. Nothing has been done in the near six months of my campaign.

Just recently I e-mailed Stephen Harper, but I'm sure my words are not getting past his office staff so I expect no help there. Your background in Toronto has probably made you aware of the damage and costs that were involved in Hagersville so I expect you have a good knowledge of the problem, but like most Canadians, were not aware of the problem.

Would it be possible for you to come to Manitoulin to meet with the local municipal leaders? A tour of the tire depot would surely open your eyes wide to the problem that has everyone here on Manitoulin sick with fear for our safety and health. As a volunteer firefighter, I would be ordered to the site by the Ontario Fire Marshall when all hell broke loose, but without the necessary tools, which we lack here on Manitoulin, we would be forced to just stand back and let the fire burn.

Crying out for your help, I remain,
Pat Keenan
Manitoulin Island

September 13, 2006

NDP Fails To Respond

Sad to say that the New Democratic Party failed to even respond to the above plea.

But There Is Some Progress

The Manitoulin Expositor ran the following:

Removal of tire pile anticipated

Representatives of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) were reluctant to discuss the plan in detail as of press time, but sources indicate that a request for proposals (RFP) was in the process of being issued by the department for the removal of the tires. Parties responding to the RFP were to indicate both a method of transport and the cost of the operation to INAC.

"I can say that there is movement forward on this file," said Carrie Latham, senior funding services officer at the Sudbury INAC office, on Monday. "But the costs will be significant and the process is fairly lengthy, so I don't want to comment anymore than that at this point."

Repeated calls were made to officials at the INAC office in Toronto but no response had been received as of press time.

According to a reliable source, however, an official with INAC recently indicated that the removal operation should start this winter, with most (if not all) of the tires taken away by spring.

The same official confirmed that the First Nation has not had a permit for the storage of waste, and that the pile has not been separated into smaller piles, but that no additional tires have been accepted for some months now.

The tire stockpile, estimated to number 1 million tires or more in total, accumulated as a result of Zhiibaahaasing continuing to collect tires after its recycling equipment broke down.

In the opinion of this webmaster, heads should roll over at Indian and Northern Affairs for the mismanagement of this disaster created by these scammers in Zhiibaahaasing.

September 20, 2006

INAC Still Keeping Quiet

Still no word from Indian and Northern Affairs as to how much it is going to cost the taxpayers to bail out the Zhiibaahaasing Rascals.

Remember - these guys proceeded without a permit !

You can bet if you or I proceeded to create a tire storage dump they'd be all over us if we didn't have a permit. The Manitoulin Expositor ran the following:

INAC confirms funds set aside for tire removal

by Jim Moodie

ZHIIBAAHAASING-Money has been budgeted and a tendering process is in the works for the removal of a million-plus tires from the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation, a government spokesperson confirmed last week.

"We've earmarked some funds to help with the work required, and we're developing a tendering process," said Tony Prudori of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). "We're still working with the First Nation and a variety of other parties to finalize the tendering process."

The department spokesman declined to put a dollar figure on the job, noting that this would influence bids from contractors, but said he expected to be fielding proposals "in about a month."

The actual removal will likely take months, depending on the nature of the proposals that come forth, but "everyone involved wants to get this done," maintained Mr. Prudori.

In the meantime, INAC officials "met with the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin (UCCM) and the Fire Marshal's Office on August 30 to implement fire prevention at the site," said Mr. Prudori. "The UCCM is also working with its technical unit to develop a fire prevention and protection strategy."

Reached on Monday, Zhiibaahaasing Deputy Chief Kevin Mossip expressed satisfaction that a plan was in the works to rid his community of the hazard. "People can now relax a bit and rest assured that the tires won't be here forever," he said.

"We're working with INAC on the RFP (request for proposals) right now, going through the motions, and Bob Kells and I will be sitting on the committee to review proposals," Mr. Mossip noted.

Once a bid is accepted, Mr. Mossip said he anticipated the removal process could take at least half a year. "I've read one paper where it said it would be six months to clean this up, but I think it will actually take longer than that. But the tires will get cleaned up," he promised.

The deputy chief said that his community expects to be involved in the actual cleanup. "As part of the RFP, the contractor will have to satisfy some local content, meaning that if we have the equipment, they can use our equipment, or they can use some of our people to help do the job," said Mr. Mossip.

Manitoulin Island's Shame

Site Navigation & More

Stakeholders

Some Tire Facts

Health Concerns Source:Zero Waste America Health Information - Penn.

Interesting Uses For Tires

Interesting Links

Your Federal Gov't working for you !

See "Is There A Problem" to the right.

Your Security

Air Packs

But That Will Not Happen

This Is What Will Happen If Manitoulin's Tire Depot Catches Fire!

Heavy Equipement

You Can't Fight A Tire Fire Without The Required Tools

Researching On The Web

Native Unrest

Coincidence ?

PreviousOfficial Of The Month

Click on Gwen

The Tire Depot

Click to Enlarge

LaFarge

As Stated Above:

Good Use For Tires

Permit / No Permit

So It's Official

Asphalt Paving

Previous Official Of The Month

Any Resemblance Between Nero And Jim Prentice Is Totally Coincidental

Official Of The Month

No Charges Laid

Meeting Held With All Stakeholders Present

Manitoulin Expositor Releases Column That Startles Manitoulin Residents

An Editorial Printed On The Same Day

This Thing Is Hazardous To Your Health

Another Week Goes BY With No Solution In Sight

MP Brent St. Denis Demonstrates His Lack Of Conviction

Manitoulins See What The Tire Depot Looks Like

Well My Representative In The Ontario Gov't Should Help

Enough Is Enough - I Write The Expositor

Feedback Received

I Can't Just Wait - More Media Coverage Is Needed

I Got To Thinking

Will Lightning Strike Today ?

A Message To Mr. Bob Kells:

The Federal Government's Responsibility

A Message To Indian & Northern Affairs

Is There A Problem ?

Why Am I Not Surprised ?

Hagersville Fire Timeline

The State of Michigan Has a Stake In This

Having Said That

California Knows How To Punish Offenders

Manitoulin Expositor - Interesting Article

Patience Is A Virtue, But .....

Time Passes and Nothing Has Been Done

What a pity that all of this natural environment will be lost when the Zhiibaahaasing tire pile finally catches fire and wipes out Manitoulin's hopes and dreams.

You'll Be Remembered

All of Canada salutes you!

Lake Ontario WaterKeeper Article July 2005

Lake Ontario WaterKeeper Article May 2006

Late Entry

Manitoulin Expositor

Indian and Northern Affairs Heard From

Ingenious Solution To The Problem

Lightning Strikes Manitoulin

We Were Lucky This Time Hopefully INAC Will Take Action Before Our Luck Changes!

Manitoulin Expositor Continues To Hammer Away

Zhiibaahaasing tire hazard outrages rubber industry's stewardship group

Not Trying To Be Politically Correct The Above Might Translate To:

Manitoulin Suffers At The Hands Of Mother Nature

Tornado cuts swath the length of Manitoulin Untold hydro poles down,trees, buildings damaged

Meanwhile

OPP's Gwen Boniface Resigns

OPP Commissioner Gwen Boniface leaving for new post in Ireland

Meanwhile, down in Caledonia

Where's Waldo

Jim Prentice - consider yourself warned.

Our Government Moves Very Slowly

Health Concerns
Source:Zero Waste America
Health Information - Penn.

Interesting Uses
For Tires

See
"Is There A Problem"
to the right.

But That Will
Not Happen

This
Is
What
Will
Happen
If
Manitoulin's
Tire
Depot
Catches
Fire!

You
Can't
Fight
A
Tire
Fire
Without
The
Required
Tools

Previous
Official Of The Month

Any
Resemblance
Between
Nero
And
Jim Prentice
Is
Totally
Coincidental

What a pity that all of this natural environment will be lost
when the Zhiibaahaasing tire pile finally catches fire
and wipes out Manitoulin's hopes and dreams.

We Were Lucky This Time

Hopefully INAC Will Take Action

Before Our Luck Changes!

Tornado cuts swath the length of Manitoulin
Untold hydro poles down,trees, buildings damaged

Manitoulin Island Appreciates Firefighters !

Manitoulin Island Needs Your Help Mr. Prime Minister !