Province investigating Hamilton coal tar recycler’s yellow clouds

The province is investigating whether a coal tar recycler in Hamilton’s industrial sector has broken environmental laws by spewing yellow clouds into the air.

In addition to the probe, the province has ordered Ruetgers Canada to hire an engineer to examine the site and report back with recommendations to prevent similar emissions.

Six workers at Ruetgers Canada reported respiratory problems after the coal tar pitch vapours came from the plant on Dec. 5, 2017.

“I was very concerned because I know what they do at that facility. I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is bad,’” Lynda Lukasik, executive director of Environment Hamilton, recalled Wednesday.

The company uses a chemical byproduct of coal tar from steel plants to produce mainly aluminum.

“We were able to stop the leak within 10 minutes,” said Alan Chapple, a spokesperson for Rain Carbon Incorporated, Ruetgers’ U.S.-based parent company.

“Right now, what we’re focusing on is the root causes of what happened.” The yellow vapour resulted from a spill of coal tar pitch at the Strathearne Avenue North site, said Lindsay Davidson, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.

“Since June 2017, there have been four coal tar spills at Ruetgers, including the December 5th incident,” she wrote in an email.

In 2015, Ruetgers asked the ministry for more time to meet provincial air standards for benzo(a)pyrene, which is carcinogenic.

That was granted in November 2017 with certain conditions. One was to create an “environmental monitoring team” to share information and monitor the progress of an action plan to meet provincial air standards.

The committee, which is made up of company, provincial and community representatives, met for the first time last Wednesday.

That’s when Lukasik and others found out about the previous spills and requested a tally of incidents Ruetgers has reported to the ministry in the past two years.

The provincial investigation and spills are cause for concern, says Jochen Bezner, a member of the Crown Point Hub, a neighbourhood association in the area.

“I hope the ministry will have a tighter control on them regarding that.”

The Jan. 17 provincial officer’s order says Ruetgers must hire the independent engineer no later than Feb. 13. By April 24, the company must submit a written schedule and work plan to address the spills.

“We hold ourselves as a good corporate citizen and we want to behave as such,” Chapple said.