Alberta hazardous waste plant allowed to operate for years without continuous mercury monitoring
CBC
A hazardous waste processing facility owned by the Alberta government was granted permission by the same government to operate without mercury monitoring equipment for years, despite such monitoring being a condition of its operating permit.
The Swan Hills Treatment Centre is owned by Alberta Infrastructure and operated by a contractor — previously French multinational Suez until that company's merger with another French waste management giant, Veolia.
The facility, which opened in 1987 on a site 10 kilometres northeast of the town of Swan Hills, has a history of malfunctions and explosions that have resulted in environmental contamination.
In January of this year the law charity Ecojustice, on behalf of two clients, requested an investigation under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.
In a reply the following month explaining its conclusions, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas (AEPA) said that no sanctions were warranted because Alberta Infrastructure and its contractor were in "frequent communication" with AEPA and "self-reported that continuous monitoring could not be completed due to the [equipment] not recording appropriately."
The continuous monitoring equipment became operational in December 2023, nearly three years after the Jan. 1, 2021, deadline for compliance.
"We feel that that this was not a reasonable decision, that it's not acceptable to not have mercury monitoring at a hazardous waste treatment plant for more than three years," Ecojustice lawyer Susanne Calabrese said in an interview.
AEPA defended its handling of the situation, saying proactive communication by the permit holders about the monitoring issues was sufficient.
The current operating permit for the facility was issued by AEPA in December 2019. It included deadlines for compliance with specific requirements. Three of these requirements are central to Ecojustice's complaint:
According to AEPA, a mercury analyzer was installed in 2020. However, there were multiple issues with the device that prevented continuous mercury monitoring.
Ecojustice obtained several documents, including reports and correspondence, through requests under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act or through the Environmental Appeals Board.
The documents show that Suez wrote to AEPA in December 2022 acknowledging "numerous challenges" with installing the mercury analyzer, which was "still not operational" nearly two years after the deadline to begin continuous mercury monitoring, and 11 days before the deadline to submit a mercury emissions study.
The company requested that the deadline for the study be extended to June 30, 2023. AEPA replied in late May 2023, granting an extension to Sept. 30, 2023.
In January 2024, Ecojustice wrote to AEPA on behalf of two clients, Wendy Freeman and April Isadore, requesting an investigation of several specific offences related to mercury monitoring and reporting.
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