Pressure Group Opposes Cement Plant

We wish to announce the formation of a new society ‘Concerned Oamaru Parents Society’ formed in opposition to Holcim’s proposed cement plant at Weston.

Spokesperson Tanya Halcrow of Oamaru said the society represents parents from Oamaru, Weston, and the greater Waitaki region. These parents, with children in various local schools feel the interests of their children have been overlooked.

Describing the children as the future of Oamaru, the society is concerned about short and long term health impacts on their children. They are also concerned with issues relating to traffic and safety.

“History has proven that large corporations do not always tell the truth” Ms Halcrow said, “Just because you cannot see or smell the emissions, it does not mean they are not there and are not harmful”. We know that mercury, arsenic, thallium, cadmium are some of the heavy metals that will be emitted.

We are concerned about the bioaccumulation of mercury in the food chain over time. Mercury has long been linked to neurological problems more specifically in this case an increase in Mercury buildups will most definitely be followed by increased reports of learning disabilities in our children.

Respiratory illness, asthma are all areas of concern for us. Any type of illnesses in our children mean days off school, days off work for parents, hospitalization, child care cost, emotional trauma, these are the unseen costs of illness.

Part of the lifestyle we have here is the safety and freedom with which our kids walk to school or ride bikes to school. Holcim’s own traffic numbers estimate in excess of 200 trucks a day. How safe do you think our children are going to be with this much increase in heavy commercial traffic?

A number of school buses travel through the Waiareka Valley twice daily transporting children to Weston School, and primary and high schools in Oamaru. The increase in heavy traffic on the roads presents a major risk to children and teenagers embarking and disembarking the buses. Not to mention the addition of a major intersection at the proposed cement plant entry/exit point enroute.
There will be no respite; Holcim’s report indicates the trucks will operate 6 days up to 10 pm.

We all have aspirations for our children; most of us want our kids to do better than we did. We do not want our kids to aspire to be quarry workers or cement workers. If as Holcim states our children go away to University we are pretty sure their career paths will not start in a cement plant. One hundred low end jobs are of no long term economic value to us. I doubt Holcim’s plant is offering 100 technical, scientific and management jobs for our children to grow into.

Many of us moved here out of choice. The life and freedom we could give our children. The business opportunities we could create for ourselves. And we have been successful. We have created business opportunities and if we haven’t we are gainfully employed. I moved to Oamaru for my children and for myself. If this plant goes ahead I and many others will not hesitate to leave this area. You may gain 100 low skilled jobs but you will lose entrepreneurial and tertiary educated parents.

Our lifestyle choice is in jeopardy. For many of our members living in the Waitaki region, especially Weston and the Waiareka Valley, has been a lifestyle choice for our families.

Whenever possible my family and others endeavor to eat locally grown organic foods. This will now be in jeopardy. Many of our members in the Weston area collect rain water for consumption. We cannot drink this if the plant goes ahead. We take our overseas and out of town visitors through the Waiareka Valley to explore the valley and surrounds. This will no longer be appealing.

The reasons for moving to this area will disappear; as such we will oppose all parts of this proposal.

Ends