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THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2012 THE NEW TANNER 5 GRAPEVINE Tribute cancer show The Acton arena/community centre will rock with Superstars Tribute Live! on August 9 for a fundraiser for Cancer Assistance Services of Halton Hills (CAShh). From Cher to Buddy Holly to Shania Twain, the night will feature tribute performances of top entertainer's greatest hits. CAShh provides practical support services for more than 1,600 Halton Hills cancer patients and families. For Tribute details call 1-800-516-5810. Fireworks funded The Acton Firefighter's Association reports that by passing the hat and through the generosity of local businesses, they collected money to pay for the spectacular Canada Day fireworks show in Prospect Park. All of the invoices aren't in yet, but "it appears" donations will cover this year's $16,000 price tag according to Association spokesman Dave Pratt. This year's total was boosted by a group of volunteers who manned a decommissioned fire truck at the end of Elmore Drive and collected approximately $1,000. Job help? There was no rush of clients last Thursday, the first day that the Centre for Skills Development & Training began providing employment services assistance at the Acton library branch. Until the end of July, job search services were provided at the Mill Street offices of Links2Care, and many voiced concerns that closing the office would leave Acton area job seekers without full access to help. Employment advisors are at the Acton library on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to help with job searching, resumes, cover letters and interviews. Mornings are reserved for appointments and drop-ins are invited between 2 and 4 p.m. To make an appointment call 905-6938458, ext. 101. Dutiful donors Lives will be saved thanks to the 39 units of blood collected from donors ­ including three first-timers ­ at the Acton Canadian Blood Services clinic on Monday at the arena. The next clinic is August 16, from 5 to 8 p.m. and the Acton Legion. To book an appointment call 1-888-236-6283. Attention shoppers Acton will soon have two new stores for your shopping pleasure. Belldonna's Boutique and Gifts has scheduled a soft opening on August 1 at 4 Main St. South on the south/west corned of Mill and Main Streets. Owner Donna, of Georgetown, said her store will not be thrift store, but will offer new and consigned, better-quality ladies wear and some home décor items. The grand opening is slated for September 8. *** The former Ice Dream Art store in the MAC's plaza will soon be home to the Renew Thrift and Consignment Shop, featuring sales of clothing and household furnishings. At press time, no other details were available. LEED CERTIFIED: The new Acton library branch is now a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certified facility after being assessed in six categories including sustainable site, energy and atmosphere, indoor air quality, water efficiency, materials and resources and invocation and design. Mayor Rick Bonnette presented the LEED plaque to Geoff Cannon (right) Deputy Director of the Library and Director of Library Services Jane Diamanti a recent Town council meeting. ­ Frances Learment photo Science Matters CROONER CD LAUNCH: Acton artist Monty Greig belted out a crooner classic to a standing room only crowd at Tanner's Pub & Grill last Saturday to celebrate the release of his second CD. ­ Iain Brennan photo Dumping waste into the ground is a shaky solution What can we do with wastes from our industrial pursuits ­ from fossil fuel extraction, agriculture, chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing? We've been spewing lots of it into the air, but that isn't a good plan. Carbon dioxide, ozone, mercury, and other emissions harm human health and contribute to global warming and holes in the ozone layer. We've dumped it into the oceans. But that compromises marine life that billions of people rely on for food. We could bury it: Out of sight, out of mind. But we're learning that hiding it below our feet isn't the best solution, either. Several scientific reports have called into question everything from injection wells to carbon capture and storage. The latter is a key component of the federal and Alberta governments' climate change strategies and budgets. According to a recent study, little is known about leaks from the 680,000 waste and injection sites in the U.S., but structural failures are common. That's not surprising when you consider that close to 130-trillion litres of toxic liquids have been pumped underground there over the past several decades. ProPublica, an investigative journalism website, reports that "the idea that injection is safe rests on science that has not kept pace with reality, and on oversight that doesn't always work." Researchers say wells often leak, contaminating ground- By David Suzuki water and sending waste and toxic chemicals to the surface. According to ProPublica, "From late 2007 to late 2010, one well integrity violation was issued for every six deep injection wells examined ­ more than 17,000 violations nationally. More than 7,000 wells showed signs that their walls were leaking. Records also show wells are frequently operated in violation of safety regulations and under conditions that greatly increase the risk of fluid leakage and the threat of water contamination." Carbon capture and storage is another plan to hide our industrial wastes underground ­ in this case the carbon dioxide from operations like coal-fired power plants and tar sands that would otherwise be sent into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. The federal and Alberta governments have pinned much of their climate change mitigation hopes on the strategy, ponying up close to $3-billion to test the technology. One early venture ended in failure when the main company behind it pulled out. The Alberta and federal governments had committed close to $800-million for the $1.4-billion joint project between TransAlta, Capital Power, and Enbridge, which would have taken carbon from a coal-fired power plant west of Edmonton and either stored it underground or injected it into wells to recover oil. Even with generous government support, TransAlta spokespeople said the market for carbon sales and the price of emissions reductions were not good enough to justify going ahead and that the plan didn't make economic sense without a federal price on carbon through a cap-and-trade system or carbon tax. The economic difficulties with carbon capture aren't the only challenge. The U.S. National Research Council concluded that storing carbon underground can trigger earthquakes. And researchers at California's Stanford University say that could fracture surrounding rocks, allowing carbon to escape. A Greenpeace report notes that the technology, which has yet to be proven effective on a large scale, is energy-intensive, expensive, unlikely to get emissions down quickly enough to avoid dangerous climate change, and undermines funding and research into cleaner energy solutions. In Alberta, taxpayers are on the hook for any problems that might arise once the carbon has been stored. By law, the Alberta government assumes liability for any maintenance, cleanup, or other costs. That the industry demanded this provision makes one question its confidence in the safety and reliability of the technology. On top of all that, we don't really know what effect pumping millions of tonnes of CO2 into the ground will have on bacteria and other organisms below the surface. We need to consider many solutions to deal with waste, pollution, and global warming, but not risky and expensive schemes that serve only to enable our continued addiction to fossil fuels. Our best bet is to reduce waste and emissions. And rather than dumping money into schemes like carbon capture and storage, we should invest in renewable energy.