Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 97

THE CALGARY HERALD Wed, Dc 17g Minnesota mining wastes at issue Crusader tries to keep Superior clean Switching vehicles RED DEER (CP) -City Council was told Monday conversion costs of 55 city vehicles to operate on natural gas would be about $1,000 a vehicle. Council was studying a proposal by the engineer's departments which recommended the change. uTlie tidehas turned toTanqueray Ontario Thunder BayV Min.nia-"V"ferfo imislpM Ontario Minnesota -rSi Mlchijjan Wisconsin eePwis. Mile Michigan I proves expensive Nelson Beck, director of en gineering, said use of natural gas instead of gasoline would result in a saving in fuel and maintenance costs of about $8,000 a year. Council tabled the report until it could determine the provincial government's position on a road tax on natural gas as a fuel for vehicles.

)UEE IMPORTED an que ray IS By Peter Buckley WASHINGTON (CP) One of (he most important skirmishes in the war against pollution is taking place barely 90 miles from the Canadian border, and Canadians are being invited to join the fray. It is a classic case in many respects. At stake is the purity of Lake Superior whose crystal blue waters make it the last of the clean Great Lakes. The opponents are appropriately powerful. In one cornor is a mining company with rich and influential backers and with a licence to dump a Niagara of wastes into the lake.

In the other corner are federal and state anti-pollution bureaucracies sometimes tough, but just as often timid or uncertain or lacking political clout. "Some pressure from Canadians at this time would help enormously," says a Mize. "We must save this precious lake that we share." Who is Verna Mize? She is a one-woman crusade to save Lake Superior from pollution. WORKS FROM HOME Working from the back porch of her suburban home or from phone booths near the downtown government office where she is a secretary, Mrs. Mize has been a persistent gadfly for the last four years on behalf of Lake Superior.

Rom on the shores of the lake at Houghton, she began her crusade when she discovered it was no longer possible to "dip a cup into the Instead, half of the waste "disappears." Ground up into talcum-like powder, it is carried miles away by currents and eddies, silting over plant and fish life on the bottom of the lake, blocking out life-giving sunlight, turning large patches of the blue waters into an unhealthy green. FOUGHT WITH SUCCESS Reserve has been ordered by both federal and state authorities to produce an alternative method of disposing of its wastes. After long delays, Reserve produced a plan for waste treatment which was rejected as inadequate, and it has successfully fought in the courts to put off interim enforcement measures. In what looked like desperation, the federal government recently paid a consulting firm to produce some alternatives. When the report was received, William Ruckelshaus, administrator of the Environ-" mental Protection Agency, announced he was prepared to take legal action "if an amicable settlement is not promptly reached." The consultants produced four alternatives, costing between $48 million and $75 million in initial investment and up to $14 million a year in operating costs.

They estimated the most costly alternative which involved carrying the wastes away by train would slash Reserve's annual profits to a rate of 2.5 per cent of investment from the 1969 rate of more than'? per cent. But they also estimated significantly that it would cost Reserve $75 million to MINING AT SILVER BAY, MINN. ENDANGERS LAKE 67,000 tons of tailings daily poured into delta mi vv trol agency, said in an interview during a visit to Washington that, "judging from their past record, you can't trust the company to do what they say they'll do." Merritt said there is no Indication so far that Reserve's tailings are spreading north toward Canada. Lake currents carry them south and east. But pollution of all kinds is increasing in the lake, he said, "and the worst and most insidious is Reserve." close down its operations, a possibility that has made both federal and state officials hesitate in the past.

Reserve contends that its waste is just dirt and docs no harm. Federal investigators reply that the Reserve waste is equal to 50 times the amount of natural sediment deposited in the lake by all the rivers on the U.S. side. They say Lake Superior's unusually cold and clear water is sensitive even to minor changes. Verna Mize thinks it is "nothing less than criminal" that Reserve uses the lake as a dump, when its competitors taking ore from the Mesabi Range in Minnesota must dispose of their tailings on land.

Many of those who have looked into the case, including biologists and conservationists, tend to use equally strong language. Grant Merritt, director of the Minnesota pollution con Receiving welfare villages 'industry' Vrz-vv ore exc''n9 Christmas Gift Values! SH0P lake and drink the water" from some areas because of pollution. Reared on Longfellow's Hiawatha and its verse about the "shining Big-Sea-Water," she was shocked. Mrs. Mize has since challenged big business, nagged at government, testified before Congress, lobbied with state governors and federal executives, spent her vacations around Lake Superior to spread petitions, and sought support wherever she could find it.

The burden of her message is always the same: "Reserve Mining is using the lake as a free dump. They are killing that beautiful lake. They must be stopped." PRODUCES PELLETS Reserve Mining Co. is jointly owned by Republic Steel and Armco Steel, two of the Big Five in the U.S. steel industry.

They have a $350-million investment in Reserve Mining and the company supplies them with 12 million tons of iron-ore pellets a year. The problem is that to get those pellets, Reserve must flush away twice as much waste ore. That waste goes into Lake Superior. At a rale of 67,000 tons daily, day after day, year after year, the tailings pour out of "the Reserve plant inta a delta at Silver Bay, 90 miles southwest of the Ontario border. If the tailings remained in the delta, or even within a surrounding area which the state of Minnesota authorized, the problem would not be so bad.

out and cut wood, or fish, or work as game wardens at private fishing clubs nearby. Teenagers are spared the boredom of growing up in such a small town. They spend the entire school year taking their grade 8 to 11 courses 125 miles away at school in Havre St. Pierre. Every September, a government airplane picks up the students and they are off to a boarding school.

Their parents only see them during the summer holidays JOHN LANDRY benevolent overlord and Christmas vacation riods. The biggest event of this generation happened in the mid-'50s wien electricity arrived. That gave people a chance to use all those modern marvels they had only heard about. Mr. Landry's favorite trick is serving salmon to the government officials who happen by (or a visit.

Then he hits them for more relief money for the villagers. Sometimes it works. If it doesn't, nobody gets discouraged. "There'll always be another time, 'Mr. Landry says.

Alberta farmers 'attack damage done by hunters EDMONTON (CP) -Farmers in Alberta are unhappy with damage to their land caused by hunters according to the president of the Western Stock Growers' Association. "The annual invasion of our land by hunters and others who seem to think we are just looking after it on their behalf has become almost intolerable," Tom Gilchrist told a committee of the provincial cabinet. Mr. Gilchrist asked the government to study the whole area of provincial policy on the development of recreational resources and the rights of those who have to make a living off the land. The association also asked the government to continue to press for changes in the federal lax reform legislation to ensure continuation of the family farm.

"As it stands at present, in many cases the farm will have to be sold to pay off a capital gains tax which has largely resulted through inflation," Mr. Gilchrist said. jjj i ll Pe- wwm wtT contains i Bittl'' iijliMM I C. LARGE LEATHER UTILITY CASE, J'Xj)fl AmmH 2.39 s3.49 MfMf wfmm U.77 NMH JJpTjPiW der Blue or Black both com- "CM lflBf I tKt: C. SPRITE ELECTRIC MAKE-UP Art X' If fSLU I NATASHQUAN, Que.

(CP) John Landry, a heavily-built man, rules this isolated welfare village along the wind-swept north shore of the St. Lawrence River about 600 miles northeast of Quebec City. But the ever-smiling, fast-talking Mr. Landry is probably the most benevolent overlord any place ever had. The village of 517 population won fame in song through its illustrious native son Gilles Vigneault, one of Quebec's top ehansonniers.

Although Vigneault put Natashquan on the map. Mr. Landry is the man who keeps it there. Mr. Landry will tell you lie's Vigneault's first cousin, hut the relationship is no great thing nearly everybody in this village is related to e-er hotly else.

Mr. Landry is mayor, something he won't let you forget. He also runs the general store, as his father did before him. Natashquan's town hall Is Mr. Landry's living room in his simple while clapboard house on Natashquan's only street, a dirt road which becomes a dead end three miles beyond the village limits.

ACTS AS AGENT "Monsieur Landry" is also ticket agent and express cargo agent whenever an aircraft comes down on the sand-spit landing strip at the end of the village. He is also authorized by the Quebec government to sell fishing and hunting licences hut there are few takers. Another of his responsibilities is the small village dock if any boats are lucky enough to elude the rock hidden in Nalashquan's shallow harbor. The Fort Mingan out of Natashquan plays the game with the rocks twice a week. It's the only regular contact with the outside world, and Mr.

Landry is always the first down to the dock to meet it. He's the only one handy to help unload whatever cargo it is bringing into the village. Which is why Vigneault immortalized him as John De-hardeur in one of his songs. There are no hotels or motels here and restaurants are non-existent. So you have to rely on the enterprising Mr.

Landry to find you a decent meal or a place to sleep for the night. PROVIDES SHELTER Mrs. Vigneault, 85. can give you bed and board for less ihan $10 a day if you speak to Mr. Landry aboui it.

And. if by chanre. a politician should visit the village only three have braved that experience in the last years Mr. Landry is bubbling with good will and hospitality. "I'm a little embarrassed when people ak what we do here." the mayor admits.

"There's no industry here." The village's main preoccupation is cashing welfare cheques. But that keeps a a h-quan's residents busy enough because mail service is irregular and there are no banks. So Mr. Landry takes care of the cheque cashing. Most people live off welfare, except those few who provide services to those receiving welfare.

To keep busy, Uie men go l. VU Sm RAYETTE BATH ENSEMBLE J. OLD SPICE ORIGINAL GIFT SET MRjimyrA i NO. 3365 In Gloss Aftpr Shave I ifj. Ml!" CSSfr Asgmis2n 1.691511 OXli imm0 RW '4 7 K.

OLD SPICE GIFT SET. 4 fflgj iBUW OWJ--- Ma5h DeodoronH 3.4 EACH I .07 WWM BgffSSBl on Alsoow-loWe i mmm I tiHl 0, and Splash.cn lot.on. 3 PHILISHAVE DELUXE TRIPLE I OR hon Control nnd Splasher. (f HEADED ELECTRIC RAZOR I lflipJP lACH MoriPl No each 26.86 pCS IWlfgMiP CLOSE-UP TOOTHPASTE Super 1 AQ fm S. EACH I.U7 I W00LC0 PHARMACY OPERATED BY JACK AUSTIN PHARMACY (ALBERTA) LTD A DIVISION OF DOMINION CITRUS DRUGS LTD.

9 WESTBR00K MALI NORTHLAND VILLAGE MACLEOD MALL MARLBOROUGH MAIL.