Sludge Watch ==> Paper Sludge Ontario -Env Minister will meet local politicians today

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

There are many alarming substances in the paper sludge that is delivered to 
these huge paper sludge berms and mixtures. Because the sludge isn't 
composted or stabilized it leaches and gases off a variety of chemical 
compounds.

The sludge has not been studied as to the toxicity of the products of this 
decomposition...except to note that the leachate is lethal to fish.  With 
E.coli levels of as much as 500,000 E.coli cfu/g
these sludge berms have higher levels of E.coli (intestinal tract bacteria) 
than Toronto digested sewage sludge!

So WHY is the Ministry allowing the mills to have unregulated disposal on 
rural properties?

If you want a video of the berm (the the bubbling putrescence in the 
leachate around the berms) or if you want to make a donation to their fight, 
just send an email to sludgetackler at yahoo.ca and make arrangements.


...........................................................................................

Aug 1, 2006
St Catherines Standard

Environment minister talking sludge with local politicians


MATTHEW VAN DONGEN


Local politicians will talk sludge with Ontario Environment Minister Laurel 
Broten in a long-awaited meeting Wednesday.

Regional Chairman Peter Partington, Pelham Mayor Ron Leavens and Port 
Colborne Mayor Ron Bodner will meet with the minister in Toronto Wednesday 
at 4 p.m.

Members of a Pelham group opposed to a sludge berm there weren't invited to 
attend, however.
Leavens asked for a face-to-face meeting with the minister after residents 
began protesting a berm of paper fibre sludge growing on a Pelham property.

"Given the size, the location and the purported purpose of the berm, I think 
it's nothing more than an unlicensed landfill," Leavens said Monday.
"I think it should be removed."

The 20,000-tonne pile is meant to block noise from nearby trains. It's made 
of Sound-Sorb, a mix of sand and the waste leftover from paper recycling at 
Abitibi Consolidated in Thorold.
The Environment Ministry considers Sound-Sorb a product and exempts it from 
Ontario's waste regulations, despite a provincial expert panel's 
recommendation to end the exemption.
The expert panel's report and the growing mountain of sludge in Pelham will 
be the main topics of discussion Wednesday, Leavens said.

"Ideally, we'd like the minister to immediately implement the 
recommendations in the panel's report," he said.

"I don't think that's an unreasonable thing to expect."
The province has reviewed the expert panel's report for more than a year, 
but has yet to address any of the recommendations.

Those include:

regulating the use of paper-fibre biosolids mixtures like Sound- Sorb.
monitoring water quality near existing Sound-Sorb berms.
conducting hydrogeological studies of potential berm sites before 
construction begins.
Provincial regulating and monitoring of Sound-Sorb sites is necessary to 
alleviate the health concerns of berm neighbours in both Pelham and Port 
Colborne, Leavens said.
Abitibi maintains the substance is safe, but residents fear the effects of 
run-off from the pile on local watercourses.

Residents have the biggest stake in the meeting, but they haven't been 
invited, said Randy Desnoyers, a spokesman for a Pelham group opposed to the 
berm.
Desnoyers said the group hopes to hold a news conference outside the 
provincial legislature Wednesday to protest the exclusive meeting and talk 
about resident concerns.
mvandongen at stcatharinesstandard.ca