Eldorado Has Raised Shrill Voices On North Shore - The Sault Star, 1981

Eldorado Has Raised Shrill Voices On North Shore

BY CHRIS VANDER DOELEN Of The Star

Almost a year after Eldorado Nuclear Ltd. chose Blind River for the site of its second refinery the plant is still a major topic of conversation in town. But some of the voices are becoming shrill and argumentative.

As it has with other towns it has touched, Eldorado has created a rift in Blind River between those whole-heartedly in support of the nuclear industry, those uncertain of its safety and those against it altogether.

One of the voices belongs to Norlyn Purych, hobby farmer, mother and coordinator of the Blind River and District Concerned Citizens Association.

Since last October Mrs. Purych and a growing number of area residents have been trying to delay Eldorado's arrival, and by now she is frustrated, bitter and very tired of the effort.

Blind River is succumbing to a snow job of nuclear salesmanship without bothering to look at the holes in Eldorado's case, she says. The position has made her very unpopular in some, circles, particularly among some businessmen and township officials.

But despite rumors she is merely a professional activist, dark mutterings about "trouble-makers from outside town" and the flurry of accusations flying around town, Mrs. Purych says she will finish what she set out to do.

"There are many, many concerns that haven't been addressed, and we're asking that the plant be delayed until a lot of these questions are answered, until further studies are done.

"We are not an anti-nuclear group, we are not a front for other groups, and contrary to what some people are saying, we are not trying to shut down the uranium mines in Elliot Lake," she says wearily.

"All we can hope to do is keep repeating the same thing over and over again and hope one day it's heard the way it's said — there are many unknowns that Eldorado has not made apparent because it is not in their best interests."

There is no way a firm number can be put on the people who agree with this stand, she says. "But they are certainly in the hundreds.

"Many people are hesitant to publicly say they are against the plant. The mayor and council are trying to make us look like idiots and crazy weirdos, so people are being careful of what they say."

Among the group's concerns are the facts that waste disposal plans, plant processes and the site itself have all been changed since the environmental hearings several years ago, rendering their findings Inapplicable, Mrs. Purych says. Also, the truck route for dangerous chemicals through town has never been studied, nor a social impact study done on how a large refinery will affect the society of the small town.

"We think we are at least entitled to that."

Why did the concerned citizens wait six months before forming a group to raise these questions? "Most people never thought Eldorado would actually come to town, so why should they have formed a group? It was also Just human nature — opposing this is not something most of us enjoy doing. It's extremely frustrating and discouraging and very hard work. I do it because I feel I have to, somebody has to."

The concerned citizens have succeeded in delaying site plan approval for the plant for a month, while the Atomic Energy Control Board re-examines their concerns. In two weeks they will find out how successful they have been In "balancing the information," when the board hands down its decision.

With rapidly expanding mines and the impending arrival of Eldorado's nuclear refinery, the next five years will be a time of dramatic change for the North Shore. In this series, Sault Star reporter Chris VanderDelen examines the consequences of explosive growth in Elliot Lake, and what it may mean for Blind River.

In the meantime, the town, through its elected officials, "is being subjected to a great deal of Eldorado sales talk," Mrs. Purych says.

One of the plant's most vocal supporters is Camille Chiblow, chief of the Misslssaugi River Indian Reserve which abuts the town. In Blind River, people call him "vigorous and industrious," and praise the entrepreneurial streak that seems to run through the reserve.

"There's only one guy on the reserve who's against Eldorado, But if he doesn't stop shooting his mouth off the way he has been, he's going to get clobbered by someone," he says.

"We campaigned damn hard to get that thing In here. My people want to work."

A few hundred yards away from the chief's executive-style swivel chair, a 24 hour guard has already been posted at the gates of Eldorado's uranium refinery site, although major construction doesn't begin until April. For the 300 people of the reserve, the plant promises Jobs, money, and therefore Independence.

Benefits of the refinery are already starting to accrue: Chief Chiblow chuckles with glee when he mentions the land deal that returned 52 acres of former reserve land to the band In exchange for a few tiny parcels Eldorado wanted.

The band has been selling crushed stone to the company from its pit operation, and when the plant begins operating sometime in 1983 Chief Chiblow is confident it will employ 10 to 15 people from the reserve in the plant and building wooden barrel tops on contract.

In addition, the band will receive a $15,000 cheque from Eldorado for its community hall fund as soon as federal authorities grant the company site plan approval.

Like the mayor and businessmen of Blind River, the chief has little patience for the local concerned citizens' group and its affiliates across the province, all of which are campaigning vigorously to stop Eldorado.

"We don't agree with them. We're absolutely sold that it is a clean plant. That's the first thing we wanted to know when we heard they were coming in here - how clean is it? I'm convinced the precautions are adequate."

He iIs particularly hard on the residents of nearby reserves who have been fighting the refinery, some of them writing letters claiming to speak for the region's natives.

They don't speak for this band, the council and I do. And we're In favor of it. It's none of their damn business what happens on our reserve.

And why are these other people hundreds of miles away so concerned about our welfare? There's acid rain killing the country and they're not concerned about that. These people are really something. Their kids are gazing into TV sets all day long picking up more radiation than you'll ever get from this refinery."

In what is by now a running battle with the concerned citizens' groups, the chief and municipal officials have been shuttling back and forth to Ottawa and Port Hope to lobby for Eldorado, even picking placards and demonstrating their support for the plant at one point.

The concerned citizens argue differently finding a town resident willing to speak against the plant is difficult. Most people seem excited by the changes they sense are about to happen, and others are quietly hopeful they will somehow benefit from the $6 million in wages that will flow Into the town annually when the refinery opens.

Bill Dafoe, 22, and unemployed, is one of the quietly hopeful. He and his wife are expecting their first child in a few months and desperately want a steady Income. Brief construction jobs in the new subdivisions now being built haven't been enough, so Mr. Dafoe, along with nearly everyone he knows, has applied for a job with Eldorado.

He says residents have mixed feelings about welcoming a nuclear industry into town, but the desire for Jobs among the 300 unemployed of Blind River puts many people in the pro-nuclear camp by necessity.

"It's mainly the middle-aged and older people who don't want the refinery. They've been hearing all the stuff from the anti-people, and now they think it's going to ruin the land and pollute the waters. The younger people want it in here because they want jobs."

Carl doesn't want his real name used because he wants to stay out of the controversy, but he agrees with Mr. Dafoe. Sixty-seven years old and retired from the mines in Elliot Lake, he says he Is hardly an "anti-nuker."

"But I'm glad someone's objecting, Just to get things out in the open. I'm concerned about its effects, although I'm not against it."

A highschool teacher, Blind River Mayor Robert Gallagher has been on the town's council for eight years. On his desk is a thick Eldorado publication entitled "Why Nuclear?" and on one wall a collection of snapshots of happy civic officials at a reception the company threw for the town last year.

Those in hard-core opposition to the plant are few in number, but long on deception, he says. Using references to Three Mile Island's nuclear accident, Hiroshima and even Nazism "they have succeeded to some extent because they've scared a lot of people.

"They are even passing out pamphlets with skeletons on them, and telling parents to kiss their children goodbye if that plant comes In here." He speaks in measured tones, but he is obviously angered by opposition to a project that he feels is the town's first chance for long-term prosperity in more than three decades. Coupled with the spill-over effects of Elliot Lake's born-again wealth, the plant has turned the town's economic prospects around In the last 18 months, people say.

The rift is not so bad people are not talking to one another, members of both sides say. But at a meeting of the factions last weekend supporters sat on one side of the hall and detractors on the other, and each side heckled furiously as the other spoke.

On Monday of this week Mayor Gallagher, Chief Chiblow and officials from most of the municipalities from Thessalon to Iron Bridge made one final trip to Ottawa to lobby for the plant before the Atomic Energy Control Board. It was the last delegation the board will see before handing down its decision.

Privately, some say the decision is a foregone conclusion, and claims are made that Eldorado officials are already buying homes in the area.

According to Bill Dafoe, the solution to the entire complex equation Is simple: "the people who want Eldorado outpower the ones who don't."

NEXT: The strain of expansion shows in social services.

North Shore municipal officials feel optimistic following a meeting in Ottawa Monday that Eldorado's refinery plans will proceed. Page 27.