As a former Conistonian, born and raised in the town of Coniston, I was perplexed and surprised at the magnitude of opposition to the chromite smelter planned for the community. When Inco was involved in the area, everyone was employed, no one was on welfare, our parents had money to spend, we lived a good life. Isn't this is what it's all about: reating jobs and improving the economy -- a healthy economy?
These do-gooders (or NIMBY - not-in-my-backyard people) are doing more harm to the well being of our country than the pollution about which they are protesting. The chromite smelter will create approximately 500 jobs in the area and the old Inco location would be ideal.
When more than 20,000 men and woman were employed at Inco, one didn't worry about the blue haze that swept across our gardens. We weren't concerned about the smell of the sulphur we were breathing. It did us no harm, we all survived, everyone was working. The economy was one of the healthiest in the country.
Today, we have new and modern technology that controls and filters any pollution compared to the past. Look at Vale: it no longer requires the Superstack with today's advancements in technology. The sulphur is filtered and contained.
Those attending the meeting in Coniston were concerned about their children and grandchildren. They should be more concerned with their children's and grandchildren's job prospects. If we continue to protest every time there are plans to build smelters and pipelines in this country, there will be no employment.
The future generation will all be out on welfare, wondering what has happened to our country. The do-gooders (NIMBY people) are out there, preventing progress, interfering with advancement in our society. We are now in the 21st century with the latest scientific development in industrial technology. Our opus operandi in the computer age has been eliminating pollution in many industrial environments.
We must eradicate our experiences of the past and come to the realization that pollutants of the past will not endure in the 21st century.
