NNSL (Jan 11/99) - A committee opposed to the beryllium plant being located in Hay River was formed last Thursday night.

A small group of townspeople and representatives from the Hay River reserve attended. The meeting was called by Lisa Gallagher and Ginger Lester to discuss forming a committee to oppose the Highwood Resources beryllium project.

The women are concerned about the effects a beryllium plant will have on their town and the overall environment.

Gallagher and Lester are also circulating a petition asking the town to hold a plebiscite. The petition asks townspeople whether they agree to a beryllium plant being located in the town and if they think the location is in the best interests of the residents.

The Hay River Dene Band is also circulating a petition stating it does not want the plant located in the area. So far, 110 signatures have been acquired, which represents nearly all the reserve's eligible voters.

Plans were also made to have the beryllium project discussed at Jane Groenewegen's constituency meeting on Jan. 13. Lisa Gallagher is preparing a presentation to give to Hay River's town council at its Jan. 18 meeting.

"I want to give a convincing argument based on fact," Gallagher said.

Roy Fabian, representing the reserve, said the Band had not received a reply to the letter sent to the Regional Environmental Review Committee (RERC) on Dec. 16. Copies of the letter were sent to MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Deh Cho MLA Sam Gargan and the Deh Cho First Nations. The reserve wants a commitment for funding to hire its own specialists to review the three-volume environmental report.

The reserve feels that it has not been given the time and does not have the expertise to interpret the report. Fabian made the commitment to contact RERC and the water board to see what stage they're at and to register the reserve's opposition to Highwood's project.

The newly-formed committee fears the general public is not very well-informed about the consequences of a beryllium processing plant in the community. Notices of future meetings will be put on the local television and an information letter will be prepared to raise public awareness. The committee also fears council is prepared to rubber stamp the approval of RERC and the water board without any more public input.

The committee agreed that "rubber stamping" was not acceptable. It also stated the environmental report is too one-sided.

Gallagher says, "It isn't the beryllium. After extracting it, they're taking it away. It's the waste which will contain radon and other rare earth metals which we should be concerned about. We don't want another Love canal here."

(The Love canal was a highly polluted waterway in the northeastern United States.)

Committee members realize they are running short of time and are prepared to go door-to-door if they have to. Representatives from both the town and reserve said they had a "common goal" and had to "move now."