A lot of us sent in our appeals, and we were contacted to see if we would like to make a presentation at upcoming public meeting. I can't help but wonder why they weren't able to tell us how much time we would be alloted. If it's the same as the meetings in Debert in 2013, I assume it would limit us to 15 minutes each… which is more than enough to likely read most appeals, but certainly not any great amount of time to present anything else.
The appeal I submitted can be viewed below:
Dear Ramesh Ummat,
I am submitting this appeal to you to stop the intended discharge of fracking wastewater through AIS in Debert.
Although test results taken after the wastewater has been treated by reverse osmosis have greatly reduced the amount of toxins to be discharged, the tests do not take into account of how they will bio-accumulate over time.
Recently, a group of Duke University scientists decided to do some testing. They contacted the owners of one treatment plant, the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility on Blacklick Creek in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Their analysis, made on water and sediment samples collected repeatedly over the course of two years, were even more concerning than we’d feared. As published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, they found elevated concentrations of the element radium, a highly radioactive substance. The concentrations within sediments in particular were roughly 200 times higher than background levels. In addition, amounts of chloride and bromide in the water were two to ten times greater than normal. This is despite the fact that treatment actually removes most of the contaminants from the wastewater–including 90 percent of the radium.
Radium-226, with a half-life of 1,600 years, will bio- accumulate and will cause cancer in people largely because it is treated as calcium by the body and becomes deposited in bones.
We don't need to make the same mistakes others have made with fracking wastewater. We are capable of learning from this. To start dumping this toxic mix through AIS and into the bay, will turn Nova Scotia into nothing more than a wasteland in a few years. I implore the committee and council to reconsider treating and dumping this toxic mess into our bay.
Sincerely,
Steve MacLellan
Granted, if you read the Summary of wastewater test results and the LaFarge Canada Inc. — Emission Testing Report Production and Fracking Water Final Report, it looks as though the levels are almost negligible, but I was told by the people of grassrootsinfo.org that any amount is dangerous. The United States EPA website explains the dangers of this. Click here to read it now.
I must admit… I really have to question the test results by LaFarge. Granted, I'm a website developer and not a scientist, but the tests results seem a little incredible to me. If they can reduce radioactive elements through their kiln, to a negligible quantity, why does the The Canadian Encyclopedia website say:
Radioactive Wastes
No practical detoxification methods are yet available for some kinds of hazardous wastes such as radioactive material (although it can be incorporated into a matrix such as glass to restrict its release to the environment). Low-level radioactive wastes can often be disposed of safely in shallow trenches on land or can be dumped in the ocean with acceptable risks to human health.
What is an acceptable risk? And if it's acceptable to us, one wouldn't think it's acceptable to the marine life. Almost every other day you read/see stories in the media about whales, fish, and birds being found dead on our shores. Maybe our deaths, too… are an acceptable risk.