Letter from Chester Chronicle, Mold & Buckley Edition 18th February 2000

By giving in to the bullying tactics of Castle Cement, Flintshire councillors have effectively traded off health for jobs. This is unacceptable.

It does not need a scientist to tell us that the burning of waste chemicals as a cheap fuel - however carefully done - is bound to result in nasty additions to the air we breathe.

It is of course very difficult to prove the link between cancers and air pollution and as far as most of us are concerned, we may think it a risk worth taking.

But what if we and our children lived near the incinerator and had to breathe in that dubious air?

Are babies and children's health worth sacrificing for the sake of saving Castle Cement money? Are they worth sacrificing for any reason, come to that, even if it does cost jobs?

This leads me to my second point which I cannot remember hearing discussed before.

Castle Cement claims it would have to close down if not allowed to use this cheap cemfuel, but has anyone actually challenged the claim?

Companies frequently threaten to close down if they do not get their way, but they very rarely do.

Did Flintshire County Council do any research in to the financial situation of the parent company in Germany to establish whether it could genuinly not afford to clean up and modernise it's coal-burning operations at Padeswood?

Did it employ an independant economic adviser to establish these facts before voting the way it did?

There is massive public concern about this issue, and rightly so. We welcome it being called in to public inquiry by the Welsh Assembly so the complex issues involved can be fully and properly examined.

ROBERTA OWEN
Flintshire Friends of the Earth