๐ณ๏ธWILL YOUR CANDIDATES MAKE THE ENVIRONMENT A CLEAR PRIORITYโGET SOME ANSWERS!
๐จBelow is a template you may copy and paste to write an email to the candidates in your electoral district. We have provided the email addresses for Annapolis candidates. Feel free to edit and please add your own personal testimony! Don't forget to sign your name and include your postal code as well.
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TO: Carman Kerr, Cheryl Burbidge, David Bowlby & Sara Adams
RE: Prioritizing the Environment - How Will You Earn My Vote?
Dear MLA Candidates,
I am writing to ask you to make your position on the environment a clear priority. From 1604 to 2024 Annapolis has gone from a pure state of nature to Halifax's dumpster; from a string of prosperous small towns and villages to the home of faceless extractive industries; from a spot on every tourist's bucket list to a refueling stop.
These problems are the direct result of poor judgment by government; from choosing short term gain over long term community investment. Therefore, please tell me your position on:
-Old growth forests
-Import of hazardous waste to rural counties
-Private ownership of public resources
-Low valuation of high income property
-Secret data on volume and concentration of poisons
-Need to FOIPOP information related to my health
-Rubber-stamp approval of Environmental Assessments
I look forward to hearing how you plan to earn my vote.
Sincerely,
[Name, Postal Code]
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EMAILS:
[email protected][email protected][email protected][email protected]
1/2 ๐ZONE 128 - READ THE BOOK!๐
The saga of Arlington Heights - How a community learned it is expendable in the eyes of the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change.
How the disaster happened, seeking answers, lessons learned and what has to change.
Details below.
[Pre and post Arlington wetland destruction photo credits: JKM]
๐ขFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NON-PROFIT PUBLISHES BOOK ABOUT ARLINGTON HEIGHTS C+D LANDFILL
In 2019, the Auditor General found 127 contaminated sites in Nova Scotia. This is the story of the 128th.
PRESS RELEASE ATTACHED.
Facebook Post: https://t.co/LNpOqvOKWI
๐งต 1/4 โ๏ธ๐งPROPOSAL TO ANNAPOLIS COUNTY COUNCIL
In the absence of interest from the Provincial Environment Department - and with immense gratitude to our donors as well as to Arlington Forest Protection Society for matching funds - Annapolis Waterkeepers have initiated a Citizen Science Surface Water Sampling Program to monitor drinking water sources that may be affected by toxic leachate from Arlington Heights C&D.
Attached is our invitation to Council to partner with us, complete with a Study Abstract and Data Analysis. A brief summary is in this thread.
In response to our question about leached toxins from Arlington Heights onto abutting properties, Minister Halman told us on a call that "the department makes decisions based on fact."
We would be willing to let this condescending and dismissive demeanor slide, were he to actually cede to the facts and shut down and remediate the site.
Conveniently, one cannot act on fact while actively ignoring it.
https://t.co/xGUeXkHg2E
Minister @TimothyHalman, on this call you encouraged us to continue engaging with Kentville staff re: Arlington Heights, but we are guessing they haven't told you what they told us - that they wouldn't be communicating with us anymore on this issue.
Please hear our frustration, desperation and grief over the loss of yet another once idyllic paradise in our province, the loss of confidence in your department, the growing loss of pride and hope for our future under this government. Please show you care. At all.
https://t.co/N7LIhbSzUj
When Beth asked Minister Halman about last year's commitment to meet with us and whether he would re-commit, he would not. She reminded them that the problem is not going away - and neither are we.
https://t.co/ynL3eM0HH8
Earlier this month, @nsenvironetwork hosted another well organized meeting with Environment Minister Tim Halman, and we wanted to say thank you! Waterkeeper Beth was on the virtual call, along with the passionate and hardworking representatives of about a dozen other environmental groups in #NovaScotia.
https://t.co/NMjPcDKSyo
๐งต As if these photos of black, oily, putrid sludge amidst dead vegetation at testing location #10 weren't enough to prove the problem persists... ๐ก๐คฎ
๐งต It is now 2024. We all know this problem could have been prevented. NSECC had to know this outcome was possible, but waited until it turned into a serious public heath and environmental threat.
What will they do nowโ๏ธ
๐งต Instead, every effort has been made by both the business owners and the @nsgov to avoid us, and to avoid effectively dealing with the problem. (Dropped charges, a slap on the wrist and a tax-deductible donation to @ducanada for destroying wetland? With permission to continue degrading the land and threaten water supples? Really? We wrote to Ducks saying we didn't think they should accept the money. We had no response.) ๐ฆ
๐งต We know the land here, but there was no community consultation. Even now, the Community Liaison Committee only started meeting 6 years after they were supposed to and refused us membership, as well as ignored our written questions and request for meeting minutes.
๐งต We tried to get @ns_environment to understand the impermeability claim wasn't true as far back as the 2017 expansion, when residents really only found out about the dump at all (it was a pretty secretive process), and we have been trying to make them understand it ever since. (The letters, the recommendations, the awareness campaigns, the FOIPOP's, the Ministerial Appeal - including a scientific report from an expert hydrogeologist...)
๐งต In other words, the clay present does NOT make the soil "impermeable", keeping toxins safely contained onsite.
That was the claim touted back in 2004 with the original proposal (for which there was no Environmental Assessment) and used to justify every permit and expansion since, including accepting asbestos. (To say nothing of the 5 years of illegally dumped, highly toxic auto shredder residue that has caught fire more than once.) ๐ฅ
๐ขโ ๏ธIMPORTANT - WATER TEST RESULTS - WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR ๐งต
Having evidence matters, and we have it.
While we wait for the professional analysis, we think it's important to share with you some basic & condemning information, confirming what we already knew to be true.
๐Read the whole post on our website:
https://t.co/qS5JliqXng
#CleanUpArlingtonHeights #NoToxicWasteInWetlands
๐ขโ ๏ธIMPORTANT - WATER TEST RESULTS - WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR ๐งต
Having evidence matters, and we have it.
While we wait for the professional analysis, we think it's important to share with you some basic & condemning information, confirming what we already knew to be true.
๐Read the whole post on our website:
https://t.co/qS5JliqXng
#CleanUpArlingtonHeights #NoToxicWasteInWetlands