Dofasco plume raises concern
Posted with permission from the Hamilton Spectator
February 22, 2008
Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator
(Feb 22, 2008)
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment is now almost six months late answering a request to review its approval certificate for emissions from ArcelorMittal Dofasco's KOBM melt shop, which sent a huge red cloud of pollution into the sky over east Hamilton Wednesday.
It's the third reported daytime incident at the plant this month.
A photo of the first, a towering black cloud from the No. 2 blast furnace Feb. 7, appeared in The Spectator the next day. Another large, visible emission was noted Feb. 11 and Wednesday's iron- oxide-tinged plume enveloping the melt shop was photographed by Beach resident Jim Howlett.
The ministry won't explain its delay responding to the application by Environment Hamilton and north Hamilton residents, filed under Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights. It says only that "the application remains under review."
The law requires a response within 60 days. The deadline passed Sept. 4, 2007.
Lynda Lukasik, executive director of Environment Hamilton, says the delay "makes my blood boil."
Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller says it's unacceptable, that he's pressing Environment Minister John Gerretsen for action on the Dofasco application and at least half a dozen others that are seriously overdue.
"I am very concerned about this failure to observe statutory requirements and am pursuing all available avenues to bring the ministry into line. I'm not in a position at this time to say what further action I might take."
Miller said such delays are relatively recent, that historically there wasn't a problem.
"As I said in my special report, Doing Less With Less, the ministry is so seriously underfunded and lacking in expertise that it is not fulfilling its functions. It is not performing at a level the Ontario public would expect."
Emissions from the Dofasco melt shop have been an issue since 2003-2004 when Environment Hamilton began its Stack Watch program in which citizens report and, if possible, shoot photos or video of dark, sooty smokestack plumes.
Lukasik said the company admitted pollution-control problems at the KOBM facility in its 2001 annual report and later said it would install a new system by the end of last year.
"We want the ministry to create a situation where the company is legally required to fix the situation. We see releases on a regular basis and submitted a whole chronology of photos."
Andrea Horwath, NDP MPP for Hamilton Centre, pressed the McGuinty government in the legislature last December for action on the Dofasco application, saying: "Hamilton has been rained on by greasy soot. Its waterways were poisoned by a toxic chemical fire (at Biedermann Packaging in Dundas) that this government refuses to investigate. The damaging air pollution is thick, while the powers that be turn their backs. I implore the government to finally act."
emcguinness@thespec.com
905-526-4650
Photo- Jim Howlett, Special to the Hamilton Spectator
Posted with permission from the Hamilton Spectator
February 22, 2008
Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator
(Feb 22, 2008)
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment is now almost six months late answering a request to review its approval certificate for emissions from ArcelorMittal Dofasco's KOBM melt shop, which sent a huge red cloud of pollution into the sky over east Hamilton Wednesday.
It's the third reported daytime incident at the plant this month.
A photo of the first, a towering black cloud from the No. 2 blast furnace Feb. 7, appeared in The Spectator the next day. Another large, visible emission was noted Feb. 11 and Wednesday's iron- oxide-tinged plume enveloping the melt shop was photographed by Beach resident Jim Howlett.
The ministry won't explain its delay responding to the application by Environment Hamilton and north Hamilton residents, filed under Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights. It says only that "the application remains under review."
The law requires a response within 60 days. The deadline passed Sept. 4, 2007.
Lynda Lukasik, executive director of Environment Hamilton, says the delay "makes my blood boil."
Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller says it's unacceptable, that he's pressing Environment Minister John Gerretsen for action on the Dofasco application and at least half a dozen others that are seriously overdue.
"I am very concerned about this failure to observe statutory requirements and am pursuing all available avenues to bring the ministry into line. I'm not in a position at this time to say what further action I might take."
Miller said such delays are relatively recent, that historically there wasn't a problem.
"As I said in my special report, Doing Less With Less, the ministry is so seriously underfunded and lacking in expertise that it is not fulfilling its functions. It is not performing at a level the Ontario public would expect."
Emissions from the Dofasco melt shop have been an issue since 2003-2004 when Environment Hamilton began its Stack Watch program in which citizens report and, if possible, shoot photos or video of dark, sooty smokestack plumes.
Lukasik said the company admitted pollution-control problems at the KOBM facility in its 2001 annual report and later said it would install a new system by the end of last year.
"We want the ministry to create a situation where the company is legally required to fix the situation. We see releases on a regular basis and submitted a whole chronology of photos."
Andrea Horwath, NDP MPP for Hamilton Centre, pressed the McGuinty government in the legislature last December for action on the Dofasco application, saying: "Hamilton has been rained on by greasy soot. Its waterways were poisoned by a toxic chemical fire (at Biedermann Packaging in Dundas) that this government refuses to investigate. The damaging air pollution is thick, while the powers that be turn their backs. I implore the government to finally act."
emcguinness@thespec.com
905-526-4650
Photo- Jim Howlett, Special to the Hamilton Spectator