NSNDP

October 3rd, 2017

NDP to present petition, legislation against burning tires

Lenore Zann joined by community organizations

HALIFAX - NDP Environment spokesperson Lenore Zann was joined today by community organizations to present a petition against the Liberal's decision to allow tire burning. Later today, Zann will introduce legislation to ban tire burning.

"The Liberals' decision to allow tires to be burnt takes us further away from our goals when it comes to the environment and climate change," said Zann. "I'm pleased to present this petition and re-introduced legislation originally put forward by Liberal Cabinet Minister Keith Colwell to ban tire burning."

Lydia Sorflatin helped create Citizens Against The Burning of Tires (CABOT) in 2007, when the initial proposal to use tires as fuel came out. Since then, she and her neighbours have worked to prevent tire burning in Nova Scotia. At that time, her efforts were supported by all three political parties, including the Liberals.

"I can't believe that after 10 years this fight is still ongoing," said Sorflatin. "I'm asking all parties to support this legislation and prevent tires from being used for fuel."

Keith Colwell's legislation was passed by the House of Assembly in 2008, but the bill was never proclaimed. This summer, the Liberals approved a pilot project to burn tires as fuel. As a result, tires will be burned at a cement factory owned by a large multinational corporation, instead of being recycled by a local company.

"Ten years ago, we didn't have a recycling program, but now we do. Why would we want to put that at risk?" said Zann.
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