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WHITBY.FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1979, PAGE 3 Confidential informationsay we re si'ttmg on0 time bomh ByMICHAEL KNEL Free Press Staff Whltby Free Press Copyright 1979 The tragedy of Mlssissauga could re-occur right here in Whltby accor- ding to information given to the Free Press by an* em- ployee of the Reglon. In order to protect the mnan from poslib1e harassment from his superiors -or dismissal, the Free Press has agreed flot to reveal his name or his place of work or residence. In. a written affidavit he wrote, "It is only a matter of tjme before Wbitby will have a disaster far exceeding the worst that could have hap- pened at Mississauga."' ."The ptential,"' he wrote, "is there if one considers. the- following factors: firstly, We bave a 'sewage' treatment plant built on Victoria Street east of the CNR tracks, ad- jacent to the treatment plant we have a works yard where we haàve' gasoline pumps with two thousand gallons of gasoline in storage, within two hundred feet of, the works.yard and on'the'south side of Victoria Street we have Superior Propane with hundreds of t.housands of feet of, compressed, highly explosive gas in storage, ad- jacent to the CNR tracks, over which; many times a, day, hundreds of rail tan- ders carrying chiorine, amonia, P.C.B.'s, tar and.a host of other explosive and toxic chemicals pass, within a quarter of a mile of the centre of this we have Matheson of Canada, where explosive compressed gas is" kept stored in an open yard, also a huge. tire manufac- turer, a plastics manu.fac- turer (DuPont), a paper in- dustry, -the Texaco gasoline and où storage tanks." According to our source of information if anytbing goes wrong, the entire area could explodecausing a great deal of ciamage to the entire town and possibly tho régon He also pointed, out that within a, hall-mile radius of the area is the Dr. J.O. Rud- dy Geçneràl Hospitàl, the Whitby Psychatrie Hospital, the -county jail, the Ontario' .Provincial' Police detachment apd the residen- tial district running south of Victoria Sereet. In the affidavit he wrote, "Also we have the 401 high- way to the north' of the sewage digesters, hundreds o! tons of bazardous materials are moved within 100- yards of sewage digesters s0 it takes no stretch of the imagination to realize what would bappen if an explosion should acciden- tly occur at the sewage plan digesters and here is the probable mecbanism of the time bomb. "In the sewage treatment process highly volatile methane gas is produced by a controiled system .0f digestion of organic waste. Tben gas produced is stored ini the upper sectiQn of the digesters under pressure; most of 'the gas is used for the operation of the furnace. The heat fromn th e furnace-is used for heating the contents of the digesters, however, this gas is not always of a quality suitable for furnace operation soit is supplemen- ted witb natural gas sup- plied by a commercial gas Company." He went on to say tbat, "Now all of this seems sim- pie enough In itself if the operation is operated and maintained by experienced personnel'. The plant on Vic- toria Street East is operated in an efficient manner'and there is where the fuse of the 'time bomb' isto befounid. "The Region of Durham requires the operating 'per- sonnel to adjust, repair and maintain ail the gas equip- ment including eigbt tons of chiorine stored in tanks, yet these personnel do not hold gas fitters licences as required by tfië laws of the Province of Ontario. .'1t wil only be amatter of time until we have a. failure in the normal safety devices,' either through buman error or mechanical falure and I pray to God this wiil neyer happen." Our informant, also said during an interview that the Region, does no pay for the workers to obtain the licence - nor' does it- pay, the examination and licence fe of about $25. ATTERSLEY'*S COMMENTS. "There's always- a 'chance of -something like that (Mississauga) happening," says Bob Attersley, one of Whitby's regional. coun- dilors- and member " of Durham's works committee. However, Attersley says he is confident that the tragedy wiil not occur here. He. did, bowever, say there are major reasons for theý situation around the Pringle Creek sewage treatment plant. "Industry will go wbere the rail mies are, where the services are," Attersley says. He pointed ont tbat heavy industr . such as the, mnanufacturing concerna of Lasco, Steel, DuPont and others need tn be close to transportation routes,, especiaily rail. "Heavy industry w ill neyer move away from, the transportation systems," he said adding that, "'.I don't thinlc We have a problem as far as the- plant is concer- ned."' Attersley took exception to our source's information saying that the region does reqwire the operators of the plants to take the examinations required by the' Ministry of Labor and that the region does pay for it's employees to take the examination and pays ail CONT'D ON PG. 21 710Wilon d. .,Oshawa Phone 579-4000 Give a gift to remember DENTURE THERAPY - CLINIC 111 DUNDAS STREET WEST WHJTBY 688-14 SPECIAL Premleer Pa int servi ce Regular 199-95 ONLYl 599 (Price includes material & labor) COLLISION EXPERTS Locally owned& operated Hrs.: Mon. -Fr. a.m6 p.m sat. 10'a.m.-2 p.m. FREE ESTIMATES -o 0 MAACO 710 Wilson Rd . S-9