Fix stench or shut down, say neighbours

BRIGDEN — A public meeting Tuesday that was meant to reassure neighbours of Clean Harbors’ hazardous waste site was reduced at times to a shouting match. About a dozen of the 50 in attendance stormed out of the Brigden Fair Exhibition hall in frustration.

“We’ve listened to your dog and pony show. Now it’s time to listen to us,” yelled an angry Butch Houle.

He and many other neighbours of the Telfer Road facility have been disturbed by a stench intermittently coming from Clean Harbors since August.

The odour, which the company says comes from too much on-site leachate, has driven neighbours from their homes, made them nauseous, stung their eyes and sent at least one man to hospital.

“When the ministry (of environment) ordered two truckloads removed from the site every day, why wasn’t that achieved?” Norm O’Neill. demanded. “It’s all a smoke and mirrors game.”

“We are not being heard. Our concerns are not being addressed,” said Joe Dickenson, a Lambton County beef farmer.

“I think a lot of this issue is airborne, not necessarily leachate but all you do is focus on leachate because it might be the easiest thing to address.”

Many people called for the plant to shut down.

“I’d like you to clean up your mess and go home,” one man shouted.

For most of the two-hour meeting, Clean Harbors’ management sat quietly at the back of the room.

General Manager Chris Brown spoke briefly, apologizing for the stench and promising that the company is working to correct it.

“The company is committed to fixing this issue,” he said. “We deeply regret this summer’s odours.”

Rod Brooks, a representative from Ortech Environmental, spoke about air sampling on 10 occasions during odour events.

The air is tested for 38 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)and none surpass regulatory standards, he said.

Greg Ferrar, senior environmental engineer with Conestoga Rovers & Associates, said his company is hired to devise a leachate abatement plan and is focused on reducing the amount of leachate generated as well as reducing the amount already on-site through incineration.

But most of the meeting was conducted by a hired facilitator, Bryan Boyle, who allowed few to speak. Instead, he tried to engage the angry group by having them write down their thoughts about Clean Harbors and what they believe the solution to the stench might be.

Many in the crowd didn’t want to write anything down.

“Forget this Romper Room nonsense,” said Jim Stenton of Petrolia Line. “We want answers because we’re stunk out of our homes.

“You’re wasting our time,” he hollered. “

One resident walked up to the front of the hall and stuck a note on the wall that read: “As usual, all talk, no action.”

“I want people from Clean Harbors to hear the emotion that I hear and I want them to come up and tell us what they are going to do,” said St. Clair Township Mayor Steve Arnold.

It was only after several got up and left in anger, that the company’s senior vice-president of regulatory affairs spoke.

Phil Retallick said exhaustive studies confirm the odour is coming from leachate, not the plant’s incinerator or a new Thermal Desorption Unit.

“It’s sulfites in the leachate and it doesn’t contain carcinogens or other toxic compounds,” Retallick said.

“There are no compounds of any risk associated with the vapours, but it is a nuisance and we will deal with that. Our experts say it will take four to six months depending on the rainfall this winter.”

Retallick said Clean Harbors has no choice but to reduce its on-site leachate by May because of a directive from the Ministry of Environment.

There will be further public meetings about odour abatement, he said.

ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP — The deputy mayor is not happy.

Peter Gilliland says a government decision to revoke an order for Clean Harbors to truck foul-smelling leachate from its Telfer Road site is nonsense.

“If you write an order, stick with it,” Gilliland said Friday after learning the Ministry of Environment has reconsidered a directive to the hazardous waste treatment facility requiring the immediate relocation of large volumes of smelly leachate.

Neighbours who live as far away as six and seven kilometres from the facility — the only one of its kind in Ontario — have regularly complained since early August of a stench so strong it can make them vomit and drive them from their homes.

The MOE told Clean Harbors Oct. 21 that some of the leachate would have to be relocated, but backed down after numerous meetings last week with company officials.

“The company has demonstrated it can properly treat the leachate at the site through incineration,” said MOE spokesperson Kate Jordan.

“They have also made a commitment to increase the rate of incineration so, for these reasons, we now require the leachate to be treated there, rather than relocate it.”

Jordan said the ministry issued a new director’s order Friday indicating it expects Clean Harbors to “ramp up” incineration of the septic leachate in its lagoons right away.

The order includes timelines and volumes to ensure there is steady progress, Jordan said.

It also requires the company to meet all ministry air standards to ensure there are no adverse impacts.

“This makes me very skeptical,” said a frustrated Gilliland, who is a member of a citizen’s liaison committee with Clean Harbors.

“They’ve had all this time in the last three months to do this and made no progress. I don’t think they are capable of incinerating so much volume.”

Gilliland said he doesn’t believe the frequent odour incidents plaguing the township will be addressed.

“All Clean Harbors wants to do is make sure their profits aren’t impacted. It costs a lot of money to truck the leachate away,” he said.

Phil Retallick, senior vice president of regulatory affairs at Clean Harbors, said cost has nothing to do with the company’s request to handle its leachate on-site.

“We can’t find any Canadian locations to take the leachate and it will take too long to get Environment Canada approval to take it to the U.S.,” Retallick said.

“Since we’re under the gun, we will start burning more imminently.”

He said commercial contracts to use the incinerator had tied up the facility but will now be rerouted to other facilities.

Jordan said the company has also applied to the MOE to build a waste water treatment facility to deal with excess water on site that would otherwise be incinerated.

A waste water facility should free-up capacity for the incinerator to handle more leachate, she said.

Incineration shouldn’t create any adverse smell, Jordan added. “Odours are combusted through incineration. Our number one priority is to reduce volumes and odours.”

The Quebec government is expected to make a decision within weeks on whether to extend loan guarantees to investors to allow them to re-open the Jeffrey mine in Asbestos, Que. (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press)

Families of asbestos victims spoke out against an investor’s imminent plan to re-open a Quebec asbestos mine.

The families invited the lead investor, Baljit Chadha, to visit Sarnia, Ont. to meet with asbestos disease victims and their relatives.

The Quebec government is expected to make a decision within a few weeks whether to extend loan guarantees to the asbestos investors to allow them to re-open the Jeffrey mine in Asbestos, Que.

The mine investors are proposing to export asbestos from Jeffrey to the developing world, particularly India, a major buyer of Canadian asbestos.

“We would like Mr. Chadha to meet us and see first hand the suffering that asbestos has caused to so many Canadians,” Stacy Cattran said in a release. Her father Bill Coulbeck died of asbestos cancer in Sarnia three years ago.

The families held a news conference in Toronto on Friday to express their opposition to asbestos mining.

Sarnia’s mayor, Mike Bradley, joined the families in inviting Chandra to come to Sarnia to meet victims and to visit the city’s waterfront memorial to those who died from workplace exposure to asbestos.

“This community knows the legacy that has been left here from exposure to asbestos and a brave, strong group of citizens, who has suffered directly and indirectly, are determine that no one else around the world will suffer from exposure to asbestos,” Bradley wrote in an open letter to Chandra.

“The question I put to you, Sir, is we know the legacy that asbestos has left here. What legacy on your reputation and your family’s reputation do you want to leave?”

Bradley first invited Chandra in a letter last month.

The group also called for an assistance plan for those in the asbestos mining industry to make the transition to other employment, Bradley said.

…

Reading the rebuff on air pollution from Ray Curran et al, it really got me thinking. I really don’t profess to know any/all the qualifying info and am as confused as many readers must be regarding their stats, etc., but am just a bit puzzled as to their support materials. As the wife of a wonderful man who has issues with asbestos from over 30 years working in Sarnia’s chemical valley – and who has lost many co-workers and friends to asbestosis, etc., their stats ring a little hollow. Their rebuttal of the actual fact that over 60% of Sarnia’s particulate matter emanates from the good ole US of A – could be true – but they go on to state that if this was removed from our atmosphere, we would rank among the best in the world! Helloo! And if 200% was removed from places such as Mongolia, they too, would be among the best in the world!

They go on to state there are only a ‘few’ cities which met the WHO guidelines of what supposedly is the criteria of 20 micrograms or less of PM10 particulate matter in the atmosphere – again, if you say so. However, anyone with a computer can Google this information and decide for themselves that while Canada as a whole had an annual average of just 13 micrograms of PM10 particles per cubic metre of air (as if I really knew the difference) but that Sarnia which has only a population of less than 75,000, had Canada’s WORST air quality, was just marginally above the WHO recommended limit. And we’re talking Calgary (population 1 million); Toronto (population 2.5 million); Montreal (1.9 million)…included – all pollution type cities which should be factored in this equation, but here’s little old Sarnia making the top of the heap. All the equations in the world do not nullify this horrific status.

Sarnia has also had the unfortunate status of being highly polluted for years and not only with its air but its waters. Years later we are told with information from those who should know better but in whom we put our trust…that we have deformed fish, toxic river bottoms, toxic sludge, etc. And later. Much like when there’s an ‘incident’ in Chemical Valley and we’re told – later. Saddens those of us who like to call Sarnia our home with all of its wonderful attributes. I speak for myself and hubby but I’m thinking there are many who would like to see some positive movements forward, not publicity for those who garner remunerative benefits.

For those out in Facebook land who don’t know how close Aamjiwnaang is to sources of pollution – check this photo out

On the North side of the Aamjiwnaang Admin Bldg. Prevailing winds are from the Northwest in the Winter.

Reading your paper on Saturday, I was not that surprised to see another article on the stench coming from the Clean Harbors site on Petrolia Line. Any day that there is a wind from the south, the stench, that is very noticeable driving down Petrolia Line, is disgusting. Living out by Oil Springs and working construction in the Chemical Valley, this is often the easiest route to take. Having changed work sites again this week, I happened to find myself once again using this route. Two of the four mornings I drove past the site, there was that terrible stench again and I had to remind myself to take a different route. Luckily I have that option, unlike the families and farmers that live and work within miles of that giant chemical sewer hole.

The part of that article that compelled me to write this though was the response from their Senior V.P. of Regulatory Affairs, Philip Retallick, claiming that Clean Harbors had “successfully stopped the stench weeks ago”, and that these latest complaints were from a “vocal minority” whose motivations associated with these complaints goes beyond any original odour issue. Nice P.R. work, both false and accusatory.

As long as Big business has senior V.P.’s like this that are more interested in pointing fingers than doing their job concerning ‘regulatory affairs’ we should not expect a lot of changes, unless Retallick can get the regulations changed, which may be his job anyways. Lets hope the MOE is diligent in enforcing its order and the area becomes a safe place to live and work. While I’m dreaming, lets hope the Lions and Leafs win championships this year too.

(See the original article for photos)

Frustration has turned to outright anger as this community remains in the dark about Clean Harbors’ plans to stop a stench coming from its hazardous waste facility.

Tempers boiled over at a township council meeting Monday when a group of residents demanded to know why the intense odours continue to dog them and their families.

Earlier that evening, a foul odour invaded homes for the 12th time in two months, some as far away as six kilometres from the landfill on Telfer Road.

Resident Ed Walsh said his breathing was impacted and his eyes stung.

“We just can’t live a normal life,” he said. “We want to know what the company is going to do about it.”

Clean Harbors has a provincial licence and the township has little authority to do much other than advocate on behalf of the residents, said Mayor Steve Arnold.

“I have tremendous empathy for these people. I know I’d have a very hard time if I lived there.”

The township’s legal team sent a letter to Clean Harbors Thursday demanding the company release it’s plan to stop the smell. That plan was required by the Ministry of the Environment by Oct. 14 but details have not been made public.

A ministry spokesperson said the government is under no obligation to release Clean Harbors’ plan.

But Arnold and the neighbours said the company should be “a good citizen” and explain what actions it intends to take.

“We also want a public information session so our community can get some answers,” said Arnold.

Calls to Clean Harbors officials went unanswered Thursday.

The company issued a “Lambton Facility Update” one week ago that said it is using odour control products on its landfill.

It also started using an undisclosed type of foam on Oct. 11 and has tried to cover its leachate ponds.

“They claim to be making progress, but I don’t think they’ve made any progress because the odour continues,” said St. Clair Deputy Mayor Peter Gilliland.

He’s a council representative on the Clean Harbors’ liaison committee, which includes neighbours living within a one kilometre radius of the site.

They met with company officials Tuesday, but weren’t provided details of the plan submitted to the ministry.

“I told them we are very unhappy,” Gilliland said. “They are not taking this seriously. If they were, it would be fixed.”

…

Enbridge and its affiliates are planning to invest $100 million in two projects to connect western crude oil to refineries in the east.

The investment includes an expansion to Line 5, the pipeline running to Sarnia from Superior, Wis., which would boost production by 50,000 barrels a day.

The company will also spend $20 million to reverse the flow of part of Line 9 so that crude can flow from Sarnia to Westover, Ont.

Both projects are expected to come into service late next year.

The projects look to take advantage of diverting more light oil from Alberta and the Bakken — a rock formation that stretches through parts of Saskatchewan, North Dakota and Montana — to refineries in Ontario, Michigan and Ohio.

The company stated in a news release that the projects will allow eastern refineries to take cheaper crude, while western producers will be able to fetch a better price for their oil.

“Clean Harbors”

In this audio interview, Zak Nicholls (of S.H.A.M.E.) mainly speaks about:
- Responding to pollution around the “Clean Harbors” hazardous waste facility
- Collaborating with residents of Marine City, Michigan — where there is a Wilms tumor cluster
- The latest problems with ESSO / Imperial Oil

This interview is posted here.

A “Wipe Out Wilms” t-shirt

He also mentions:
- The World Health Organization (WHO)’s findings that Sarnia has the worst particulate pollution in Canada
- TODA’s water pollution
- The now inactive, and possibly dead, Lambton Community Health Study
- Free toxic tours around Chemical Valley

This interview follows up another one in which Zak gives updates about how shale gas will be or might be used around Sarnia-Lambton’s Chemical Valley.

Many of these topics had come up in conversation; we then decided to to record some of what Zak has to say about the situations around where he lives.

The ESSO plant — photographed from Michigan