Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Quebec Asbestos Mine Re-Opening With Public Funds

Every now and then a story comes along that reveals a great deal of insight about a topic.

Mining in Quebec has been an important topic of debate for quite some time. For the last three years (at least) coalitions, community groups and NGOs have been arguing that some forms of mining (like uranium, open pit and asbestos) are too harmful to the environment and/or human health to be justified.

Today, the Quebec Government announced it will provide a $58 million loan guarantee, pledging Quebec taxpayers' money, to re-open the Jeffrey asbestos (chrysotile) mine in the city of Asbestos, Quebec.

This in spite of condemnation by the Quebec Government's own health experts.

The justification given is the creation of 400 jobs. Nothing trivial, and for the people who this might employ, probably a life blood for the short term. Long term, maybe not so good.

To illustrate how far behind the times the Quebec Liberal government is:

"The province's exposure limit for dangerous asbestos fibres is 10 times higher than other parts of Canada and 100 times higher than some European countries."

Asbestos dust has been linked to lung cancer and other lung diseases.

It goes to show the risks people are prepared to take to make money. It helps explain why concerns about uranium exploration and exploitation fall on deaf ears in the Quebec Government.

Read the article to find out where other politicians, including federal, stand on this topic:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/que-hands-7-5m-asbestos-mine-20110413-143211-628.html

To learn more about asbestos:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos
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WQ-CAMU / COQCEU

We are a community group that works to protect our human, environmental, and economic health from the risks associated with uranium. Our goal is to obtain a permanent moratorium on uranium exploration, mining, and processing in MRC du Pontiac and MRC des Collines de l'Outaouais. To meet this goal our group advocates, educates, and builds coalitions.

Nous sommes un groupe communautaire travaillant à la protection de la santé humaine, environnementale et économique des risques associés à l'uranium. Notre objectif principal est d'obtenir un moratoire à long terme sur l'exploration et l'exploitation d'uranium dans la MRC du Pontiac et dans la MRC des Collines de l'Outaouais. Afin d'y parvenir, notre groupe défend, éduque et bâtit des coalitions.

More information: wq-camu@know-uranium.org



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