Sludge Watch ==> Environment Minister contemplates whether or not to meet Pelham officials to talk sludge

[Maureen Reilly]

St Catherine Standard, Ontario, Canada

Environment minister 'likely' to meet with Pelham officials over sludge issue

MATTHEW VAN DONGEN

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 01:00 

Local News - Pelham municipal officials believe they've scored a meeting with Ontario's environment minister to talk about sludge. 

Maybe, but maybe not, said a ministry official Tuesday evening. 

Local politicians invited Laurel Broten last week to visit Pelham and view a growing berm of sludge stockpiled on a Church Street property. 

The mountain of muck worrying residents is a product called Sound-Sorb, a mixture of sand and waste paper fibre left over from recycling at Abitibi Consolidated in Thorold. 

Mayor Ron Leavens said Tuesday ministry staff told him the minister has agreed to meet him and several local residents, but the meeting date and location have yet to be set. 

"It will likely be next week at the earliest," he said. "Where it is doesn't concern me. The fact she has agreed to meet is the important part." 

But the meeting isn't a fact yet, according to Broten's press secretary, Lindsay Mack. 

Mack said Tuesday evening the odds of a meeting are "likely," but added the decision-making process is still ongoing. 

A senior Environment Ministry staffer did talk to Pelham officials Tuesday, Mack said, but "we haven't officially said yea or nay." 

As far as Leavans knows, the meeting is on. 

"This is what I've been led to believe," he said in response to the conflicting reports. "The minister will meet with me, but the date, the time and the place haven't been set up." 

A meeting would be a victory for residents worried about contamination and odour from the sludge, said Randy Desnoyers, a pile protester. 

"I think it's very positive. It seems like maybe (Broten) is paying attention," Desnoyers said earlier in the day Tuesday. 

Sound-Sorb is exempt from Environment Ministry regulation because it's classified as a product, rather than waste. 

Desnoyers said he's hoping local pressure will change the rules. 

"Maybe we'll make it happen - all from the little town of Pelham," he said. 

Hundreds of residents are expected at an information meeting hosted by the town at the Fenwick fire hall today at 6 p.m. 

Representatives from Abitibi and its contractor, Empire Agri-Services Inc., are expected at the meeting. 

In the past, both have argued Sound-Sorb is safe and effective. Used in a berm and covered in top-soil, Sound-Sorb blocks noise without hurting the environment, they say. 

An expert panel commissioned by the Environment Ministry said last year it isn't necessary to ban Sound-Sorb. 

But the panel also made five other recommendations the ministry hasn't implemented, such as requiring the government to regulate the use of the sludge. 

Leavens said he'll ask Broten to implement those recommendations. 

"If those had been implemented, we wouldn't be facing the situation we're in," he said. 

"We'll be telling her this should not be left to municipalities to deal with. It's a provincial issue." 

The ministry is reviewing the recommendations as quickly as possible, Mack said in an interview Friday. 

"There's a rush on them," Mack said, acknowledging the public desire to see the report addressed. 

"We'll look at what regulations might come out of (the report) and go from there." 

Local politicians like Conservative Erie-Lincoln MPP Tim Hudak and NDP Niagara Centre MPP Peter Kormos have called on the minister to regulate the substance. 

Mack noted the former Conservative government created the exemption for Sound-Sorb and said the ministry's review will look at whether the exemption should remain. 

But Mack added ministry testing at other Sound-Sorb berms have shown the product is safe when applied properly. 

Tests at a berm in Oshawa, for example, have shown no evidence of water contamination, she said. 

"We've tested the product for 90 different types of toxins and chemicals," she said. 

"The minister wants to take a science-based approach in any decision-making process." 

mvandongen at stcatharinesstandard.ca
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