LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- November 14, 2006
To The Editor;
I am writing to express my strong opposition to Compliance Energy's proposal to build a 56 mega-watt (MW) wood waste/coal-fired power plant at the former Similco Mine site. One unacceptable consequence of Compliance's proposed plant is the release of mercury, an unavoidable byproduct of burning coal. Coal-fired power plants account for 41% of mercury emissions from human activity, and are the largest industrial source of mercury emissions in the country. Once airborne, mercury can travel long distances to eventually deposit into soil and water and bioaccumulate in fish, wildlife, rivers, lakes, and creeks.
Mercury is a highly potent neurotoxin that persists in the environment and can cause neurological damage to humans, especially children and fetuses. The unborn organism is much more susceptible to the toxic effects of mercury than the adult. Methylmercury, an organic mercury compound, easily crosses the placental barrier and gets concentrated in fetal tissues. Mercury's harmful effects that may be passed from the mother to the fetus include brain damage, mental retardation, incoordination, blindness, seizures, and an inability to speak. Human exposure to mercury comes primarily from eating contaminated fish, but inhalation and absorption also present a significant risk of exposure.
Mercury emissions, unlike nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide emissions, cannot be easily removed by industrial scrubbers, as the scrubber and filter technology that cleans smoke of toxic gasses fails to work on mercury. (Associated Press). The BC governments mercury emission standards demand up to 85% capture, but even, Low levels of mercury regarded as safe could impair brain function and memory in adults. (John Hopkins University).
In the journal Science, researchers Charles E. Billings and Wayne R. Matson published a study reporting that for a 700-megawatt (coal combustion) unit, approximately 2.5 kilograms of mercury per day are released. When applying this ratio to the proposed 56 MW power plant, estimating that only 20 MW will be generated by burning coal, the plant would release 71.4 grams of mercury per day before capture. If Compliance Energy manages to capture 90% of mercury emissions, this would amount to 7.1 grams of mercury released into the atmosphere every single day of operation. Over time, this would amount to nearly 50 grams per week, 210 grams per month, 2.6 kilograms per year, and 26 kilograms per decade. The unavoidable release of mercury emissions from the coal power plant is an unnecessary risk to human and environmental health.
Air pollution from coal power will drive young families away from the Similkameen Valley, as pregnant women and young children are the most susceptible to the potent neurotoxin, mercury. To allow the proposed coal-fired power plant to proceed would be reckless and irresponsible, passing on a legacy of massive environmental and social costs to present and future generations of Similkameen Valley residents. I strongly urge local government to take immediate action to stop the 56 MW coal-fired power plant. We should not put the health of the public or the health of the valley at risk. The short-term economic benefits of the proposed plant are far outweighed by the long-term adverse environmental and social consequences of coal-fired power generation. Coal power is not worth the risk.
Sincerely,
Mike McLean
2005 Green Party of BC Candidate for Yale-Lillooet
To the Editor:
RE: Coal-Fired Energy Generation in the Similkameen Valley. The Health Concerns
Recent meetings in the upper and lower Similkameen valley have served to increase awareness and concern over the proposed Compliance coal-fired energy generation plant at the Copper Mountain site near Princeton. While many of us find it an embarrassment that our elected politicians should even consider proceeding with such flawed and damaging technology in the 21st century, we find ourselves once again in a position of having to defend our health, our valley and our planet against harmful effects brought on by bad decision making.
So it was with a proposed special waste incinerator in the 1980s and a proposed coal-fired plant in the 1990s. So it shall be with the proposed Compliance coal-fired project yet again.
This submission addresses the health concerns arising from such technology as it effects people locally in our valley and as it affects our population globally.
Local Health Effects
Local health effects are related to emission of byproducts of combustion which have a direct effect on the lung or cardiovascular system. They are the materials we identify as air pollution or smog.
- Particulates. Some particles from industrial emissions are small enough to enter the smallest units of the lung, producing increased smooth muscle and fibrous tissue in the airway. A comparison of lung biopsies in non-smokers in Mexico City, one of the worlds most polluted cities, and Vancouver, B.C. has shown much increased presence of such changes, including the presence of the particles. Increased airway smooth muscle produces increased frequency of asthma in children and chronic lung disease in older folks. Increased fibrous tissue produces a lung which exchanges gases poorly and is stiff and non-compliant.
- Ozone. Ground level ozone increases as a result of chemical breakdown of other greenhouse gases. It is a very reactive molecule, and acts on the airway as an irritant. It has been demonstrated to increase the frequency of asthma attacks in children.
- Mercury and heavy metals. There is no safe level of any of these substances. Consumption of mercury by mouth has been shown to lead to predictable patterns of disease and death, as has massive air exposure, as might be caused by burning old car batteries. Smaller airway exposures are sure to have some effect which is cumulative; however it will never be possible to measure this effect in isolation, so we will never know the extent of the damage done.
- Sulphur dioxide. This contributes a lot of the brown hue to photochemical smog. It is somewhat of an airway irritant, but mainly contributes to odor and poor visibility, leading to psychological stress and avoidance. People move away and do not visit.
Global Health Effects
Global health effects have to do with the greenhouse gas effect on climate, which leads to global warming. Emissions of concern are carbon dioxide, methane and oxides of nitrogen. Even cynics have trouble attributing what we have seen so far to a natural cycle. Projections suggest loss of the northern polar ice cap somewhere between 2050 and 2100. Potential health effects are so vast as to raise major concerns for the future of mankind, particularly for those least able to protect themselves the elderly, the poor and the sick. This happens to include the majority of the developing world, and raises a global ethical dilemma, in that those most responsible for the problem are those who suffer least. Affluent societies deal with the problem by air conditioning, leading to increased energy needs and emission of more greenhouse gases. As the cycle continues, we produce the following health concerns:
Temperature related illness. We will see increased deaths from periods of prolonged high temperature, mainly in poor areas of the tropics and sub-tropics, and in densely populated sprawls of large cities. This has already happened. In a heat wave in August of 2003, France experienced an excess of 1400 deaths for that month alone. In polar and sub-polar regions, there may be a reduction in deaths as a result of fewer extreme low temperatures, but the population will still face stress through loss of habitat, food supply and dislocation. This reflects an average temperature rise of only 0.5 degrees Celsius from historical baseline. Projections suggest further increases of 1.4 to 5.8 degrees by 2100.
- Extreme events and disasters. Global warming leads to extreme weather as well. Again, we are already seeing drought, flooding from sudden intense rainfall, hurricanes and storm surges in increased numbers. These events produce health deterioration and death through nutrition stress, disease (such as cholera), through loss of sanitation infrastructure, trauma, and psychological stress through environmental dislocation.
- Infectious diseases. Malaria still kills 2 million people per year worldwide. The mosquito vector in poorer tropical and subtropical countries is rarely adequately controlled by present infrastructure. Infection rate for malaria rises exponentially as a function of temperature. We must expect a similar rise in deaths. The same outcome may apply to dengue, which thrives in similar conditions.
- Food and water-borne disease. With increased flooding, storm surges and high winds comes loss of sanitation infrastructure. Here we see problems with water-borne disease such as cholera, and spoiling of food supplies, which become unsafe.
- Increase in sea level. This occurs both through thermal expansion of the water itself, and through melting of glaciers and land-based (mainly northern polar) ice masses. Predictions suggest a rise in sea level of 9-88 cm by 2100. Some island communities will disappear altogether. Major dislocations will have to take place along coastlines of the Pacific and Indian oceans, and in sub-saharan Africa.
- Air pollution. This is our local concern in the Similkameen, and has already been described.
It has been estimated that between 1970 and 2000 in Canada, 150,000 lives have been lost, and that 5,500,000 disability life years have been lost due to climate change. Conservative estimates suggest doubling by 2030.
Nobody knows how quickly these changes will progress, and such changes may be very rapid indeed. Certainly we need to act locally to prevent health deterioration in our valley. We need, however, to think globally and to stop producing emissions which produce the greenhouse effect and global warming. The health effects will be vast. Mankind is capable of producing its own extinction, and this is one of the ways we can do it. Nature, however hostile to mankind, will still exist in some form after we are gone as a species. We need to hope that our local action will contribute in a small way to our continued health and survival.
Submitted by
N.J. Bosomworth, MD
For Princeton physicians:
J.M. Adams, MD
L. Maritz, MD
P. van Immerzeel, MD
D.B. Reid, MD
A. Simons, MD
M.Whittle, MD
For Keremeos physicians:
M. Jeanes, MD
G. Partridge, MD
