Sludge Watch ==> Pelham Paper Sludge Berms - Town wants work on berm halted

[Maureen Reilly]

DEREK SWARTZ, Osprey News Network

The St Catherine's Standard

July 6, 2006



Town wants work on berm halted





Pelham town council is calling on the Ministry of the Environment to stop construction of the Church Street berm.

But some residents weren't impressed Wednesday.

At a special council meeting Wednesday, the town called on the environment ministry to implement an immediate moratorium on the use, dumping or installation of Sound-Sorb and other paper-fibre biosolids (PFBs) in the municipality. 

It also called on the provincial ministry to implement the recommendations made by its expert panel more than a year ago.

Coun. Uwe Brand, who brought forward both motions, said the town had to do something to keep the pressure on the ministry to respond to the town's and the residents' concerns.

"This resolution comes out of frustration. It's been two weeks since our public meeting.... We need to keep pushing or it will slide under the radar and be forgotten," he said.

At the June 21 public meeting, the town requested the results of a ministry water test at the site. To date it has not received the results.

Brand had advice for Abitibi Consolidated, which has said the material leaving its Thorold plant and ending up at Church Street is safe.

If the company wants to help resolve the situation, it should share those test results with the town, Brand said.

He also wondered if the landowners at 325 Church St. are conforming to the town's land-use policy by mixing the PFBs with sand or soil at the site.

If that is happening at the site, it would be considered a manufacturing process, he contended, and that is not permitted on agriculturally zoned land.

Coun. Malcolm Allen picked up on the thought, saying bulldozers are being used to perform the mixing. "This mixing is a misnomer to say the least. At best, it's a layering," he said.

The result is not a mixture that will absorb sound, but a pile with pockets of PFBs and sand, he said.

Both resolutions will be circulated to area MPPs and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to seek support from around the province.

The berm issue came forward in the spring when residents near 325 Church St. began protesting the dumping of tonnes of PFBs, a byproduct of the paper recycling process, at the site. Since then, they have picketed the property and Abitibi Consolidated in Thorold, from whence most of the material originated.

Protestors also walked in Saturday's Canada Day Parade and circulated a petition opposing the berm.

Council's action was met with indifference by about 10 Church Street residents who attended the meeting.

Lou Poolsaar said he believes the town could do more by focusing on the land-use regulations over which it has jurisdiction .

"They should be putting in the (site alteration) bylaw," he said afterwards.

Residents first called for the town to enact a site alteration bylaw at council's June 5 meeting. Pelham has been considering such a bylaw for the past six months, and recently decided to make it a legislative priority.

Last month, Mayor Ron Leavens said the proposed bylaw could be ready in time for the July 17 council meeting.

The mayor plans to ask Niagara Region tonight for its support to set up a meeting with Environment Minister Laurel Broten.
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