Burnt tires will leave environmental black mark

Since the public was informed last November about the Resource Recovery Fund Board's (RRFB) plan to pay $12 million to the Lafarge cement plant in Colchester County, public protest has been mounting.

A group calling itself Citizens Against Burning of Tires has made public statements claiming the province hasn’t been upfront with the public on how the deal was struck and that it’s a step backwards for a province purported to be an environmental leader.

A visit by Premier Rodney MacDonald to the Lafarge plant months before the proposal became public knowledge in November has led the group to conclude the deal was struck at that time and without any public consultation.

Two companies - one from Ontario and the other from Quebec - wanted to recycle the tires, but disapproval from the RRFB stymied any chance those companies had of carrying out their environmentally sensible plans. Nova Scotians produce about 900,000 used tires every year and previous to recent recycling efforts, most of those old tires ended up in landfills or piled in massive windrows awaiting a fire or kettle hole somewhere for deposit.

The initial response from Bill Ring, CEO of the RRFB, was to deny any government influence in the decision-making process. Ring claimed that Lafarge's proposal ranked ahead of the proposals from Ontario Tire Recovery and Royal Mat Inc. from Quebec.

The RRFB is claiming its decision is based on “solid science.” It doesn’t take a scientist to realize that burning tires as a way to get rid of them flies in the face of the province's plan to “lead the way in environmental innovation.”. Given the current fervour over global warming, the decision seems incongruous.

Taxpayers pay the RRFB a $3 fee on each new tire that’s installed on vehicles in this province. The RRFB will pay Lafarge $1.40 per tire for collection and another $1.25 per tire to burn them to help power their cement plant. In addition to receiving approximately $2.4 million from the RRFB every year, Lafarge is also expected to save around $600,000 annually by supplementing its coal-fired kiln with used tires.

To-date, there are in excess of 2,600 signatures on a petition from the Citizens’ group against burning tires. Opposition parties in the Legislature aren’t ignoring the issue either and have called on the government to provide more information about how and why Lafarge received such a lucrative deal at the expense of taxpayers and the environment.

Nova Scotia already holds the title of being the worst polluter per capita in the country, which makes the decision to shred and burn tires in a heavily subsidized plant even more difficult to understand. During the past several decades the province's forests have been decimated through clearcutting and development. There are increasing problems concerning the watertable level throughout the province and one of the largest holes in the ozone layer lies directly over Nova Scotia skies.

Due to our geographic proximity to the industrial heartland of Canada and the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, we now have higher levels of pollution than ever recorded. A recent Hants Journal interview with a senior climatologist revealed he was shocked to hear smog warnings, previously unheard of, issued for this region. Why is the government allowing more pollution to occur?

Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley MLA Brooke Taylor came out swinging against critics that suggested the process was flawed. Taylor's federal Tory counterpart for the same riding, MP Bill Casey, has made public statements about his concerns for the tire burning plan and the subsequent environmental threat.

In light of our current contribution to airborne emissions from multiple sources, the government should heed the RRFB's advice issued to all Nova Scotian's – develop more ways to reuse and recycle. It’s a mantra that should include tires as well.