Port Colborne seeks resolution on Inco
Twenty years is more than long enough.
That was the message spoken by a pair of Port Colborne councillors Monday night, as they expressed frustration at what they call inaction on the part of the Ontario Ministry of Environment when it comes to dealing with contaminants in soil around Inco’s (now Vale) metal refining facility in Port Colborne.
In council chambers Monday night, Ward 2 Coun. Angie Desmarais presented a detailed, though still abridged, history of the issue, starting from discussions in Toronto in 1997 about how to approach the contamination issue to 2010, when a final report was released from the public liaison committee, a group selected by council to represent the community as part of the city and ministry’s community-based risk assessment (CBRA).
Desmarais said her involvement with this issue predates her time on council. She recalled a meeting in 2010 when the ministry began its review of all reports under the CBRA and being told the process would take two years at most.
“We still have no resolution to the problem at all,” she said. “It’s just absolutely unacceptable that 20 years needs to be taken to get action on this piece.”
In an interview, Desmarais said included in the submission to the ministry are reports from a pair of consultants, one from the city and one from Inco, now known as Vale. The reports come to different conclusions as to the extent of remediation still required, with the city’s consultant recommending a course of action that would be more expensive and disruptive.
Desmarais said at this point she just wants a decision, although the conclusion by Vale’s consultant that no further action is needed would be unfortunate.
“It’s an ending at least,” she said.
“The Ministry of Environment has to make a final decision so this community can reinvent itself and move forward.”
She noted she’s been taking calls from realtors, who are finding that because the situation is in limbo, land by default is listed as contaminated, meaning they are unable to obtain mortgage insurance.
In council, Desmarais said the time for letter writing is done and said the city must demand a meeting with the minister to discuss this.
Mayor John Maloney and chief administrative officer Scott Luey noted they have regular meetings with Vale representatives at which this topic is often discussed and suggested they may want to move in concert with them.
“I think it’s better we go with them,” Maloney said, agreeing that action on the part of the ministry is “way overdue.”
Desmarais said she’s willing to meet Vale representatives with fellow ward Coun. Yvon Doucet, but that she still wants to arrange a meeting with the minister — with or without Vale.
“I’m not letting this go,” she said.
Doucet said he, too, has had a long involvement with this issue and is frustrated by where the city finds itself.
“That area is being held in a form of ransom to anyone else who wants to invest,” he said. “We as a city cannot continue to function that way.”