by Corey Matsumoto

How did Immanence become labeled as a vehicle for shutting down the Mill? How does someone equate concerns about the long–term health of our community (ie. dumping industrial waste within 100 meters of residences) to a desire to put hundreds of our fellow community members out of work?

It just doesn’t equate.

I’m all for the mill cutting costs to be able to maintain its contributions to our community, but not at the long-term risk of our community’s health and food production. Allowing the expansion of a towering dumpsite across the street from a farming community seems as silly to me as taking a crap in your living room rather than walking down the hall to the john. Surely there is another suitable dump location somewhere else within the region that doesn’t equate to a 1000 mile haul.

We live in a mill town, and as we see other mill towns suffer around us it is natural to become scared and defensive about a way of life that seems to always be on the brink of collapsing. It’s important that we don’t panic and lose our senses by hurting each other irrationally.

The points I was trying to get across in my letter in the last issue of Immanence Magazine addressing the “blacklist” was that I don’t believe that any of the businesses that support a petition against the landfill expansion have control over the sagging pulp mill industry, and that the mill may close whether or not we continue to let it dump waste next to our farmland.

I do believe that we, as a community, need to start planning for a future without an operational mill. I am not optimistic that the mill will decide to hire 1000, 400 or even 50 new personnel in the future. Apparently the Municipality (and Yrainucep) share my opinion that the mill won’t be around forever, and are hastily looking for economic diversification projects. Even if the mill is just able to maintain its current state, how long are the suits in New York going to let their company pay out more than its fair share of municipal taxes?

We as a community are not nearly prepared enough for a mill closure. If the mill closed today, it would cripple our local economy, and it is likely that both my businesses would die before they break even.

This is where I reiterate my call to help build a stronger economy by supporting all locally based businesses and creating new sustainable business initiatives that will take Powell River from uncertainty to prosperity –without sacrifice.