NEIL YOUNG, BARENAKED LADIES, RANDY BACHMAN TO
HEADLINE BC CLEAN AIR CONCERT

July 5, 2004
Immediate Release

NEIL YOUNG, BARENAKED LADIES, RANDY BACHMAN TO
HEADLINE BC CLEAN AIR CONCERT

(Crofton, BC)

The Crofton Airshed Citizens Group will host a fall
concert to focus international attention on toxic
emissions from Norske Canada's Crofton pulp mill. The
concert will take place in Duncan, BC, in the midst of
the mill's airshed.

"BC's dirty secret is that we have several polluting
mills like the one in Crofton, and almost no laws to
protect citizens from their toxic emissions," said
Michael Ableman of the Citizens Group. "It's not going
to be a secret anymore."

According to Canadian government data, BC is Canada's
largest emitter of dioxins and furans, mainly from the
pulp and paper sector.

"Everyone has the right to breathe clean air. Our
local industries have to be accountable to people's
lives", said Randy Bachman who lives within the
air-shed of the mill. Bachman has rallied the
performers to join him in supporting the citizens'
effort.

The current controversy began in late 2003 when Norske
submitted a proposal to burn coal, tires, and
creosote-laden railway ties in its Crofton mill in
order to reduce fuel costs. Local citizens organized
to oppose the proposal, and in the process tapped into
widespread concern over existing pollution from the
facility. The Crofton mill operates under a thirty
year old permit that regulates only three of hundreds
of dangerous emissions.

According to Canada's National Pollution Release
Inventory, each day approximately 24 million cubic
metres of exhaust gases leave the Crofton mill,
carrying a tonne of fine particulate matter, a tonne
of volatile organic compounds, two tonnes of
hydrochloric acid, three and a half tonnes of sulphur
dioxide, one and a half tonnes of methanol, dioxins
and furans, chlorine dioxide, formaldehyde, PCBs, and
hexavalent chromium. Each of these substances is
dangerous to human health.

The concert dubbed the "Clean Air Concert" will
feature Neil Young, the Barenaked Ladies, Randy
Bachman, Tal Bachman, and other surprise guests. The
proceeds from the benefit event will support an
independent study of the health and environmental
impacts of the mill.

"This is a classic David and Goliath battle of local
citizens trying to get a multinational polluter to
stop endangering their health," said Ableman. " The
air belongs to all of us, no one company has the right
to hijack that commons for its own profit and place
communities and the environment at risk".

The Clean Air Concert will be held at the Cowichan
Centre in Duncan, BC on September 17, 2004. Tickets go
on sale July 16th.