Roland Butler, Opposition Environment Critic and MHA for the District of Port de Grave, is questioning why government is willing to address waste management solutions for the people of Fogo Island, but not the people of New Harbour.

Government announced earlier today that over $500,000 would be allocated to close the dump on Fogo Island because of waste management problems in that region. Meanwhile, the New Harbour dump has been a subject of controversy following disclosure that unclean transformers were buried at the site and have contaminated the soil, yet government has still not acted to close the facility.

"We know the tremendous difficulties that the people of Fogo Island have faced this summer related to waste disposal and rat infestation and we applaud government for taking quick action to rectify the problem," said Mr. Butler. "What I cannot understand is why the dump on the New Harbour barrens remains open after it was scheduled to close on January 1^st, 2007, because of identified problems.

"We know government has let a tender for the removal of 30 tonnes of contaminated soil from the landfill, but this dump site should have been closed over the past year while this work was ongoing. If local residents had barred entrance to the New Harbour dump, I wonder whether government would have acted quicker to work out a financial plan to ship this garbage to Robin Hood Bay.

"Residents are still concerned about contamination from PCB’s and leachate from tonnes of seal waste brought to the dump each year. This dump must close in a timely manner and I encourage the Premier and the Minister of Environment to treat the residents of this area with the same level of attention given to those living on Fogo Island."

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