Grand Lake New Brunswick

	Get Involved - current issue: The proposed IPP Landfill The proposed Irving Pulp and Paper Industrial Waste Landfill is huge. The pictures they show on their website look like a much smaller pond. But if you look at the numbers on their website, and do a little math, it changes the look of it. The first cell will be 100m x 240m. This is just a little smaller than 3 football fields. Phase 1 will need 4 of these to last 12 years. That makes it close to the size of 12 football fields. Phase 2 looks to be about 3 times that size. So if their numbers are right, your grandchildren will be looking at a dump the size of roughly 36 football fields, 15m high, nearly the height of a 4 story building. Millions of cubic meters of waste, nearly 100 acres over 48 feet high. That's without figuring in Phase 3. Get the picture? Click here for graphic What will their grandchildren be looking at? Cleaning it up? In the Irvings letter dated Aug. 25/2004, (which can be downloaded from their website) to Mr. Eric Smith and Mr. Randy Nason, they make reference to the 400 years of mining in the Grand Lake area. This coal mining fuelled the development of North America, starting in 1639 when the first load of coal was shipped to Boston. It has contributed to the local economy and only removed materials from the ground. Yes, it left a lot of ground disturbed, but it's the price we paid for building a "Nation". Today we have a local committee formed, working on returning these spoils to a useful state. Over the years we have watched as local sawmills filled in areas along the Salmon River with the waste from their mill. Marsh land, low areas, and any hole available was used to dump the waste. This was watched in dismay by the people of the area, but was tolerated because it was wood waste, produced jobs, and seen as the cost of keeping jobs in the area. But this new plan has the Irvings trucking waste in from their Pulp & Paper mill in Saint John. This might make sense from a business point of view for IPP, but it doesn't make any sense for the Grand Lake area. The only thing to be created from this is a dump, There is nothing positive in this venture for the people of Grand Lake or for the wonderful lake itself. The Grand Lake watershed is no place for industrial waste of this type. It will be a disaster waiting to happen. We need to take action NOW to stop this use of our natural resource, and protect our watershed for the future. Many local residents are upset with the closure of the Provincial Park on Grand Lake. This Park was closed because it needed $500,000 to fix the septic.. Imagine the dollars that would be needed to fix up a landfill leak. Dumps are forever and we all know, nothing is "built" to last forever. Can we afford to close or clean Grand Lake? Here is some information Prepared by: Environmental Research Foundation , Annapolis, MD. Have a look at what it's costing to clean up some "Areas of Concern" around the Great Lakes. Click here (remember to close the window to come back) Here is a letter from a person who has built dumps. Click here to see his view of landfills. Issue: The proposed IPP landfill. The Opponents to the Grand Lake Industrial Landfill site, invite you to send a letter of protest to the people listed below using our take-action system. View our letter , You may print the letter and send it to the provincial politicians by mail : PO Box 6000 Fredericton, NB E3B 5H1 ----------Or---------- Click here and send the provided letter as an e-mail to everyone listed below ----------Or---------- *Click here* to write your own letter to the following people. Provincial contacts: ---------------------------- Premier Bernard Lord Brenda Fowlie - Minister of the Environment, David Alward - Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture Jeannot Volpé - Minister of Finance Keith Ashfield - Minister of Natural Resources Peter Mesheau - BNB Minister L. Joan MacAlpine - Minister of Tourism and Parks Jody Carr, Conservative MLA Gagetown Shawn Graham, Leader of the Official Opposition Elizabeth Weir, NDP Eugene McGinley, Liberal MLA, Chipman/Grand Lake Federal contacts: ------------------------ Greg Thompson, Conservative Andy Scott, Liberal Geoff Regan, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Mr. Stephane Dion, Minister of Environment Rob Moore, Conservative Prime Minister Paul Martin