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Doctors, politicians butt heads over environmental issues

Medical Post, ©Jennifer Crump

KIRLAND LAKE, ONT. – The proposal to build a soil treatment facility here pits local doctors against the town's business and political establishment.
   Supporters of Bennett Environmental's $6.8-million high temperature thermal treatment centre say the facility would provide the town with a desperately needed economic boost. Detractors say long-term risks the facility could pose to the community's health aren't worth the 30 jobs the facility will create.
   "The town is grasping for straws, for anything to make money," Dr. Marianne Talman said.
   "If the town does not reinvent itself, it will die," said Bill Enouy, Kirkland Lake mayor. Enouy said getting in on the fledgling environmental recycling business might be one way for the town to do that.
   The soil treatment facility was proposed by Vancouver-based Bennett Environmental. The plant, a thermo-oxidizer, would be equipped to treat contaminated soil from across North America. Less than 4% of the soil would have traces of PCBs, said Enouy.
   For the doctors, that's still too much risk. Their main objection is the proposed location of the plant, next door to a school and a day-care centre, said Dr. Talman.
   Her husband, Dr. Ted Mitchell, added, "I have a duty to try to protect those who can't be heard because they don't have any economic power. There are many in this town who would leave if they could, but they don't have the means. Their houses are worth nothing, so they are silent.
   Dr. Richard Denton, former mayor and one of the leading opponents of the Adams Mine Project that would have brought Toronto's garbage to Kirkland Lake's Adams Mine for disposal, said opponents that "as medical doctors we have an obligation to speak out on health issues that have public ramifications."
   Nine of 13 doctors in the economically depressed town have signed a letter opposing the location of the facility. Citing concerns about long-term health risks, 36 doctors in the surrounding communities have also expressed their objections to the project.
   The debate has expanded to include many of these communities.
   While Kirkland Lake has been dependent on the mining and forestry industries, many nearby communities in the Temiskaming rely on agriculture. There are fears that contaminants from the facility may affect the area's agricultural resources. A number of these communities have passed resolutions opposing the Bennett facility.
   These sentiments don't sit well with the Kirkland Lake's business and political leaders.
   Enouy said he has faith in the experts at the Ministry of the Environment. "We're not willing to sell our soul to the devil for jobs. They have to get an environmental assessment and get it passed."
   Enouy said he doesn't believe the doctors who oppose Bennett have anything to add to the debate. "Just because you are a medical doctor doesn't mean you know more than the guy down the street," he said.
   The media is more scathing. The town's sole newspaper, the Northern Daily News, has published a series of editorials accusing doctors of being fear-mongering elitists out of touch with the economic realities of the town.
   "It's easy to be against progress when you're making big bucks," leads off one editorial.
   The editorials have appalled Drs. Talman and Mitchell, who recently made the decision to leave the community. Dr. Talman said this kind of attitude is going to make it difficult for the community to attract new doctors.
   Dr. Denton is not surprised by the reaction.
   "If you talk to the average Joe on the street, docs are at the top of the respected list and politicians are at the bottom, and when docs talk about political issues they go right to the bottom of the heap," he said.
   Not all the doctors oppose the Bennett facility. Dr. Ken Middlemiss, a radiologist and chief of staff at Kirkland Lake Hospital, is a vocal supporter of the facility.
   He said much of the opposition to the facility is "emotional overreaction and stems from the previous brouhaha over the Adams Mine Project."
   The Bennett facility is in the final stages of the approval process with of the environment ministry. The submissions to the ministry have been filed, and five weeks of public comment are now scheduled.
   The government will consider both the report and the public comment and then issue its own assessment. Then it goes to the minister, who can approve the project, reject it or call for public hearings.