Sludge Watch ==> Paper Sludge - Sludge Tacklers of Pelham

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Welland Tribune

Ontario

August 9, 2006 Wednesday




Keeping berm issue at the forefront
MAGGIE RIOPELLE


Residents close to the sludge berm are being asked to test the waters in 
their wells to ensure there is no contamination.

The Sludge Tacklers of Pelham (STOP) community group met at the Lion's Hall 
on Tuesday evening to inform residents of progress made in their fight to 
have the berm of paper sludge originating from Abitibi Consolidated re-moved 
from Church Street.

While there hasn't been a lot of solutions coming from the Ministry of 
Environment at this point, the committee is doing what it can to compile 
data, keep the issue in the forefront and encourage residents to assist.

"We all need to work together," said Carolyn Botari, STOP member. "We want 
residents with drilled wells to get a water test bottle from the back (of 
the hall), fill it according to the instructions and drop it off at the 
public health department."

The testing, she told residents, is free. And it's necessary because if the 
wells are tested now and show no contami-nation but a year later sample 
results have elevated levels of E. coli or other bacteria created from the 
sludge, then at least there will be documentation, she said.
STOP also hopes residents will provide donations to the committee, as 
members also hope to conduct other tests.

Those tests include core samples to determine the depth of clay in the soil, 
migration testing to see if the contami-nation is flowing offsite and water 
tests that will be conducted in conjunction with the Niagara Peninsula 
Conservation Authority. The committee also wants to conduct sound tests to 
determine if the berm is deflecting sound back to the residents.
"We know there isn't 85 feet of clay," said Randy Desnoyers, STOP member. 
"The only way to know for sure is to test it. We want the hard facts. We 
want to make sure people understand ... and there isn't misinformation."

Desnoyers said since the first contamination problem erupted with black 
sludge filling ditches on the CP Rail prop-erty, the size of the berm has 
tripled to 60,000 tonnes, by the committee's estimate.
Mayor Ron Leavens told residents that in his discussions with the provincial 
Minister of Environment Laurel Bro-ten, he made sure the issue was clear.

"Stop calling it a berm," Leavens said. "It's an unlicensed landfill and 
it's not paper fibre biosolids, it's sludge. The responsibility lies with 
the ministry."
At the time of the meeting, Leavens requested three things: a moratorium on 
building berms; implementation of the expert panel recommendations which 
filed a report for the ministry in 2005; and removal (cleanup) of the berm. 
His answers were: no, working on it, and under present legislation that the 
minister has no legislative authority. There has been movement on the expert 
panel's recommendations, however.
Atlantic Packaging, he said, has voluntarily agreed to implement the panel's 
suggestions. Next up, the mayor in-tends on having a meeting with Abitibi to 
encourage the company to do the same. That meeting will include Regional 
Chair Peter Partington, Port Colborne Mayor Ron Bodner and Leavens.

"The Expert Advisory Panel recommendations would have completely controlled 
this situation," Leavens said.

The property owners, he explained, would've been responsible for getting a 
certificate of approval from the minis-try after appropriate studies had 
been completed before the berm could be constructed. It also means the 
company would be responsible for any offsite contamination which would have 
to be remediated up to and including removal of the berm.

"We are in the process of setting up a meeting, although we haven't heard 
back yet, we hope it will be within the next two weeks," said Leavens.



Randy Desnoyers, Sludge Tacklers of Pelham (STOP) community group 
spokesperson, holds sludge in his left hand and water sampling bottle in his 
right hand. The community group is encouraging residents to test the water 
in their wells to check for contamination from the berm made of paper fibre 
biosolids originally from Abitibi Consoli-dated, which is now on a property 
on Church Street.