Chris Lowrey
LITCHFIELD May 3, 2019
The Pontiac Sorting Centre has received another warning from the Quebec Ministry of the Environment after being convicted of four environmental violations and being fined more than $40,000 in October of 2018.
The Sorting Centre was fined because it failed to store wood and metal on an asphalt; the sorting surface was not waterproofed with concrete blocks; and it stored asphalt shingles outside of a building.
The ministry also ordered the Sorting Centre to cease the burial of residual materials in unauthorized spots and “respect the certificate of authorization.”
The most recent warning, issued on May 3, gives the Sorting Centre 15 days to come up with a plan to restore the work site.
The Sorting Centre will have to install new platforms for the storage of residual materials, demolish a sorting platform made from asphalt shingles and properly store those shingles within 120 days.
Within 30 days of the site’s refurbishment, the Sorting Centre must submit a report demonstrating that the work has been done in accordance with the order.
The ministry has also ordered the Sorting Centre to conduct a “thorough” soil examination within 45 days of the completion of the restoration work. In the event of a contamination, the Sorting Centre will then need to get the ministry’s approval for a rehabilitation plan and then remediate the site within 30 days of approval of the plan.
Ministry spokesperson Sophie Gaudreau said in February that the site contains more than 30,000 cubic metres, or 650 tonnes, of residual materials contaminated with asbestos – enough to fill 12 Olympic swimming pools.
Since 2013, the Sorting Centre has been cited with 10 non-compliance notices from the ministry.
The warning comes just over two weeks after Pontiac MRC Jane Toller said the MRC supports their efforts to obtain a certificate of authorization to operate a technical landfill to dispose of asbestos.
The Sorting Centre put out a press release on May 6 in response to the warning, in which they blame the Ministry of the Environment for delaying the permits for the proposed landfill.
The release also alleges that the Ministry promised the Sorting Centre a “rapid delivery” of documentation to deal with residual wastes left over from the former paper mill, at the site where they have proposed their new landfill. The approval never came, but the Sorting Centre was allegedly tasked to deal with leachate from the site.
“One must remember that the biopark was used by the paper mill to landfill its paper milling debris and ultimately, all demolition debris was put in there as well,” the release states. “We did not create that site or build that site, we simply wanted to contribute to its definite closing for the well-being of the Pontiac residents and utilise at the same time a portion of that land as a technical landfill site.”
“We offer an important service to the Pontiac and its residents,” the statement concludes. “It would be regrettable if we came to a point where we cannot accept these types of debris due to a lack of collaboration on the Ministry’s part.”
With files from Caleb Nickerson.
