Re: Pat Rogerson’s column “Smelter plan must be reexamined through lens of good information,” which appeared in the Aug. 28 edition of Northern Life.
While Pat Rogerson writes an excellent article, I have a few concerns.
Firstly, she does not address how the Sudbury area will be affected any differently in social, health, and environment impacts than they are right now with Vale’s or Xstrata’s operations.
While Cliffs Natural Resources may indeed foot the bill for the initial study, it remains certain, based on past experiences, that your average household taxpayer will foot the bill for more bureaucratic busy-bodies to “fact-check” the initial study.
In these tough economic times, adding more pen-pushers to an already over-bloated government does not seem a wise course of action.
Secondly, Pat brings up the excellent point on hexavalent chromium, but concludes with a fictional Hollywood movie? This is disingenuous to her readers.
It would be better to specifically address what this toxin does to the human body.
Watching “Bambi” does not make one an expert on the life-cycle of deer, for instance.
Lastly, there’s mention of the high electricity costs.
Her own party, both federal and provincial, have been championing unreliable and expensive wind and solar power (as the Green Party absolutely opposes hydro dams, as well as nuclear and fossil fuels).
Yes, there has been some scandals at Hydro One, however one needs to remember that they are not exclusive in governmental dirty tricks.
So long as there are honest, hard-working ordinary folks, there will be those willing and capable of stealing from them should they let their guard down.
At the end of the day, one cannot lament how an actual business is directly telling Parliament the renewable hydro sector is simply too cost-prohibitive to make economic investments into our community.
Joel Whipple
Greater Sudbury