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Former mill co-owner Tembec confirmed Thursday that some of the black and green pulping liquors currently causing an uproar in Marathon were earlier this fall being trucked to mills in Fort Frances and International Falls, Minn. About 25 Marathon and Pic River First Nation residents Thursday blocked chemical trucks from transferring any more of the liquors from the mill site to the spill basin, located about three kilometres east of town at the end of an industrial road. Pic River lands and resources co-ordinator Jamie Michano said other mills “are dying for black liquor” and pumping the chemicals into the basin was supposed to have been a last resort. “It came as a real shock,” said Michano, who attended the blockade. John Valley, Tembec‘s business development and corporate affairs executive vice-president, said the diluted condition of the liquors made it difficult to find mills willing to take them. “Because they are diluted and have a low calorific content, they are not particularly desirable,” said Valley. He said he didn‘t know exactly how much of the pulping chemicals were transferred to other mills before the spill basin option was carried out. “As much as practicable,” he said. A plan approved last week by Ontario‘s Environmental Review Tribunal to transfer three million litres of the chemicals into the spill basin got off to a bad start on the weekend when about 12,000 litres leaked from a pipe at the pulp plant. The spill basin, adjacent to a secondary treatment plant, has a capacity of 30 million litres. The Ministry of Environment says it‘s currently just over half full. Tembec and the ministry said the spill was cleaned up promptly. But Pic River and municipal leaders were outraged, saying the spill confirmed their worst fears that the transfer plan was poorly conceived. Meanwhile, those participating in Thursday‘s protest said the blockade won‘t be taken down until Tembec and the ministry outline the plan for the chemicals in a public forum. “They must come down here and provide a proper consultation, and assure us that there will be no environmental impact,” said Pic River Coun. Ken Lees. Valley said it‘s misleading to suggest that the chemicals are exceptionally toxic. “These are materials that anyone who has worked in a pulp mill would be quite familiar with,” he said. Ministry regional spokeswoman Lisa Brygidyr said before the blockade went up, about a dozen additional truckloads of the pulping liquors were to be transferred into the spill basin between Thursday and Monday. Top of Page |
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September 2, 2010, 8:22 am |