More to worry about than overweight trucks

Re: Overweight trucks worry council (Jan. 9, 2008 online edition): I wonder if Truro town council knows that overweight trucks are not their only transportation worry - regular shipments of cyanide may soon be rolling through your town.
The government of Nova Scotia is currently assessing the proposed Moose River gold mine, and will make its decision on the project very soon.
If approved, the mine would require several truckloads of cyanide every month for at least five years during the mine's operation.
According to the recent environmental report filed by DDV Gold, cyanide would be transported by rail to Truro, then off-loaded in wooden crates wrapped in polypropylene to be trucked along Highway 224 through Middle Musquodoboit to the mine site.
Truro was chosen over Halifax because an accidental spill of cyanide would affect fewer people. I hope that makes everyone living on the cyanide transportation route feel better.
While dry cyanide bricks are inert, wet cyanide becomes lethal. Just a teaspoon of a two per cent cyanide solution can kill a human being. Since the cyanide would be shipped year-round, there would be endless opportunities for a cyanide spill into rivers, lakes, wetlands, ponds, just as happened in Australia in 2006.
Accidents happen. All you need is one to have a massively destructive and hugely expensive environmental disaster. Have the citizens of Truro made a conscious choice to take this risk?
Barbara Markovits
Clam Harbour, N.S.