Sarnia city council has gone on the record supporting Aamjiwnaang in its crusade for cleaner air.
A motion, submitted by City/County Councillor Brian White on behalf of the UNDRIP [United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples] Committee, to back the First Nation in its effort to lower benzene emissions affecting its residents was endorsed on Monday.
"In its simplest terms, it's to support Aamjiwnaang through their efforts to lobby the provincial government, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks [MECP], to continue to take necessary steps to ensure that INEOS Styrolution remains shut down until such time as a permanent, documented remedy has been implemented," White said.
The First Nation has issued a Notice of Violation against INEOS Styrolution and MECP seeking immediate remediation of benzene emissions after levels as high as 115 ug/m3 [micrograms per cubic metre] were recorded in the band office area on April 16.
Mayor Mike Bradley said he and city staff have met with INEOS, MECP, and other industry representatives since.
"I will say, in general terms, I don't detect from talking to the other industries that they're very pleased with what's happened here because it's put us back 10 or 20 years in the relationship we've had with resolving environmental issues, and also with the First Nations," Bradley said.
City/County Councillor Bill Dennis was the only member to oppose the motion, claiming to have "talked to a number of people in the chemical valley industry" who said the readings were "very, very, low."
"Extremely low," Dennis added. "And they said that if it wasn't Aamjiwnaang making this an issue, if it had been anyone else, it would have been laughed at."
Dennis didn't conceal his support for local industry on the issue.
"It is political, they feel, and quite honestly, this company feeds benzene livestock [sic feedstock] to Imperial Oil, NOVA, a lot of the plants. If it doesn't get resolved soon it's going to affect thousands of jobs," he added.
Councillor Anne Marie Gillis challenged Dennis' statement about benzene levels being "low".
"If you're talking about the actual readings that were found at the stations on Aamjiwnaang, they were the highest that they've ever been," said Gillis. "They exceeded anything above what was acceptable."
Gillis added if the readings were so "miniscule", as Dennis claimed, the provincial and federal government wouldn't have acted as they did.
The province suspended operations at the Tashmoo Avenue site in early May, then Ottawa extended benzene controls on all Sarnia petrochemical companies for two years by the end of last month.
City/County Councillor Chrissy McRoberts asked Dennis to identify the "people in the know" he was attributing his statements to, but he refused to answer the question.
INEOS Styrolution is appealing Ontario sanctions placed on its facility and has asked for a delay in a federal order to destock benzene from its Sarnia site.
