Sludge Watch ==> If Your Eyes Miss it Your Nose Won't - residents fight Ontario Paper Sludge

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

See commentary after the story.



www.stcatharinesstandard.ca

Tuesday, June 13, 2006


St. Catharines Standard

Health fears fuel protest -
Angry residents unwilling to accept assurances that paper fibre sludge in 
sound-reduction berm is environmentally safe

MATTHEW VAN DONGEN

Tuesday, June 13, 2006 - 01:00

Local News - Even if your eyes miss it, your nose won't.

It's an enormous pile of purplish-grey goop, about 100 metres in length.

The pile is both wider and taller than the massive yellow bulldozers pushing 
it around - about six metres at its highest point.

The mottled mountain on Church Street is a mixture of sand and "paper fibre 
biosolids" - the waste sludge left over when old paper is recycled into new 
at the Abitibi Consolidated mill in thorold.

The pile is meant to be a sound-reduction berm between a greenhouse on the 
property and noisy trains chugging along the nearby tracks.

It's effective, legal and environmentally safe, says Abitibi and its 
contractor, Empire Agri-Services Inc.

It is leaking nasty-coloured runoff into nearby ditches and ponds, argue 
irate neighbours - and it stinks to high heaven.

"When the wind blows in our direction, the smell just hangs over us," said 
Verna Fang, who lives with her family a little less than a kilometre north 
of the fibre pile. "I'm afraid that when it gets hot and sticky, it's really 
going to stink."

Fang was one of about 30 protesters delaying incoming sludge trucks under 
the watchful eye of Niagara Regional Police Monday.

Fang is particularly concerned about her children being exposed to airborne 
mould spores and bacteria that she fears will breed in the mushy pile.

Other demonstrators pointed to water quality, showing off jars of black and 
brown liquid they say was collected from a ditch along the rail line that 
runs alongside the property.

That worries Lou Poolsaar, who owns several acres of wetland on the other 
side of the rail line.

Trekking down the railway track, Poolsaar pointed to the dark brown water 
pooling near the bottom of the pile.

It's blocked from the ditch by a smaller berm of soil, but Poolsaar fears a 
heavy rain would push the runoff into the environment.

"This feeds into the Nunn ditch, which connects with Big Creek and the 
Welland River," said Poolsaar. "I'm worried about contamination."

Those worries are based on incorrect information, said David Brenzil, 
manager for Empire Agri-Services.

"Any potential for runoff is contained," Brenzil said.

Any runoff is benign, added Abitibi spokesman Marc MacDonald.

"It's so inert you could run a fire hose on it and the runoff would have 
practically no (negative) effect on the environment," he said.

Any odour from the pile will disappear once a final layer of soil is added 
to the berm, added Brenzil.

In the meantime, an odour consultant is advising the company on how to deal 
with the day-to-day smell as the pile grows.

It will continue to grow for a few weeks, he said - or maybe longer, 
depending on how protests affect his trucking schedule.

He wouldn't say how many tonnes would end up on the pile.

The bottom line, said Brenzil, is the berm is safe. "If it wasn't, the 
ministry (of the environment) wouldn't let it past the gate," he said.

In fact, the Environment Ministry doesn't have much control over the 
project.

The mixture of paper fibre and sand is registered with Industry Canada as a 
product, Sound-Sorb. As such, it's exempt from the section of the 
Environmental Protection Act dealing with waste products, said local MOE 
head Paul Nieweglowski.

"We don't have any regulatory approval over it whatsoever," he said. "Anyone 
can put it anywhere for any reason."

That's what sticks in the craw of neighbours, said Randy Desnoyers, an 
organizer of Monday's legal demonstration.

Desnoyers said demonstrators are more upset with the province than with the 
contractor and landowner, identified by a site supervisor as Jim Grove.

"This guy has found a loophole and he's taking advantage of it - any other 
good businessman would do the same," said Desnoyers. "But the MOE needs to 
step up and regulate this. It's their responsibility."

The MOE can't regulate where or how the berms are constructed, but it can 
act if the berm threatens the environment, said Nieweglowski. Nieweglowski 
said the local office has received 40 complaints since mid-May and visited 
the property 12 times to check.

So far, the complaints "have been hard to verify," he said.

The ministry did ask the contractor to create a soil barrier between the 
fibre pile and the back ditch, said Nieweglowski. And in terms of odour, 
"we've told the owner, 'You need to deal with that.' "

Ministry staff have also taken water samples from on and off the property, 
said Nieweglowski, but the results aren't back yet. He did note, however, 
residents' concerns about water colour "often come to nothing."

Orange coloured water, for example, is often the result of mineral content 
rather than nasty chemicals, he said.

The contractor has a record of doing things by the book, added Abitibi 
technical services manager Henry Peters.

Empire Agri-Services was fined $14,000 by the province in March for causing 
an odour and spreading paper fibres too close to a watercourse in Niagara 
Falls.

That was a mixing mistake - and a rare exception, said Peters.

"We stand by our contractor," he said. "We've worked with them for three or 
four years and we've never had any serious issues."

That would be easier to swallow if the ministry regulated the entire 
process, said Desnoyers.

An expert panel prepared a report on Sound-Sorb for the government last 
year, recommending the use of paper fibre biosolids be controlled by 
provincial certificates of approval.

That recommendation is still under review, said MOE spokesman John Steele.

Both Niagara Centre MPP Peter Kormos and Erie-Lincoln MPP Tim Hudak have 
challenged the government to address resident concerns in Pelham.

Environment Minister Laurel Broten said in the legislature Monday odour 
control has begun and monitoring wells have been put in place at the site to 
ensure the safety of the groundwater.

That doesn't address the report's recommendations, said Desnoyers - and it 
doesn't go far enough.

There are no government controls in place, he said, not even at the 
municipal level.

Pelham is working on a site-alteration bylaw that might help, said Mayor Ron 
Leavens, but "it won't solve all the potential scenarios out there."

It won't come to council until next month.

Desnoyers met with municipal officials, the landowner and contractor Monday 
to exchange views and they're scheduled to meet again today.

Protesters will stop delaying trucks in the days ahead, but Desnoyers said 
they'll continue demonstrating.

"We need to keep the message out there; the MOE needs to step up and takes 
responsibility."

mvandongen at stcatharinesstandard.ca

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

Sludgewatch Admin:

Lotsa laughs in this story.

First the waste hauler (who has no waste hauler licence) says that the 
sludge is 'safe' or else the Ministry of Environment wouldn't allow it in 
the gate.  Oh? The Ministry allows lots of dangerous, unsafe 
practices...nuclear plants, Plastimet fires, spontaneous combustion sewage 
sludge pellets.

In this instance the Ministry position is that the Brenzils can haul in the 
paper sludge but they aren't allowed to cause an environmental detriment.... 
like odour or dust.  But apparently they ARE causing odour and dust.
So why isn't the Ministry taking action?

Abitibi Thorold says that the Brenzil Brothers (Lyle and David ) of 
Agri-Empire Services have a good track record.  Thats funny.  I don't know 
how many land owners called me up to tell me that the Brenzils spread sewage 
sludge on their land without their permission.

And as the article points out, these guys have environmental violations 
aplenty.

And Paul Nieglowski of the Ministry of the Environment says that the 
material is a 'federal product'?
Nope.  Nothing you give away or pay someone to take is a 'product' according 
to federal product legislation.  So the berms are not a product. Apparently 
the Ministry of the Environment can't tell the difference between a 'patent' 
and a 'trademark name'.  Heck .... anyone could spit in a bucket and 
trademark it with a name.  That doesn't make it a 'product' under federal 
legislation or put it under federal regulatory control.

And bottom line...who did the waste hauler kiss to get this Ministry waste 
exemption for Sound-Sorb?  Since when does mixing a little dirt with a waste 
make  any waste exempt from the Ontario waste regulations?

Can a septage hauler mix septic waste with a little water and call it a 
product ?  Mix it with a little dirt and call it a product?  No waste 
permits required?

Can you mix toxic fly ash with some sand get it exempted?  How about dental 
mercury amalgam or stale dated pharmaceuticals?  Mix with a little dirt and 
we are good to go?

This is ludicrous untenable public policy.  The waste haulers are making a 
mockery of Ontario Waste Management Legislation.

No .... Truly it is the Minister of the Environment who is making a mockery 
of the Legislation and the Legislature by failing to regulate Sound-Sorb 
sludge.