May 9th will mark the 1-year anniversary since the Ministry of the Environment ended a two month ordeal combating dangerous chemicals that had leaked from an abandoned property in Fort Erie.
Helena Chemical Spill - 001 by
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The spill was reported anonymously to the Fort Erie Fire Department on March 9, 2015 and just one day later, officials from the MOE confirmed through “observation and olfactory means” that contaminants were leaking from the building and had made it down the local watercourse to Lake Erie. The chemicals included acetone, toluene and xylene.
The entire road was immediately closed and a battalion of specialized vehicles descended. Workers in hazmat suits became a regular part of the Fort Erie landscape round the clock for two full months.
Many residents are still looking for answers with respect to who is responsible for the spill, but the director’s order released by the Ministry does little to suss out the culprit. Carvern Petrochemical Co. – a corporation registered in British Columbia – produced fuel additives and other products at the site, but had not been operating there for many years.
In the end, it was estimated that 100,000 cubic metres of chemicals were spilled.
The results of chemical tests of Lake Erie water to determine the severity of the spill have not been released.
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I recently took a trip out to the abandoned property to see how things have progressed over the last year. As I was hopping over the ditch to get onto the property, I couldn’t help noticing schools and schools of minnows racing back and forth in what was once an acetone pit. A wetland surrounding the fenceline is filled with frogs. And when I got inside the fence, I startled some wild turkeys taking shelter in a copse of trees on the property. Nature has recovered.
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The Region is only now seeking a reimbursement from the property owner for the cost incurred by the regional government.
“We’re lawyering up to do that,” one local leader recently said.
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