Near Baie-Comeau, managing the polluted water flowing from a massive wood waste dump has cost the Quebec Department of the Environment more than $3 million since 2011.
A green hill rises in a sandpit about 10 km from Baie-Comeau. Its vegetation covers tons of rotting scraps of wood. A polluted liquid flows from it, which is transported via underground drains into a fetid swamp.
The composition of this liquid is described in a tender from the Ministry of the Environment dated January 25, 2022, which we sent to the retired professor of the Center Eau Terre Environnement of the INRS, Guy Mercier.
“We have to treat this water because when it happens in a stream or river, it needs a lot of oxygen. All of the oxygen is needed for decomposition. The PH value will also have a toxic effect. The fish might die from it,” he explained.
Saguenay company Sanidro is responsible for pumping and treating the contaminated liquid from the sump. The contract with the Department of Environment began on March 16, 2022 and will end on October 31 for an amount of US$369,600.
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“It’s still quite a difficult subject. So the treatment cost per cubic meter must be quite high,” said Mr. Mercier.
And that’s just a fraction of the cost Quebec has paid in connection with the location; Since 2011, it has cost Quebec taxpayers nearly $3,350,000. The money was used for the analysis of polluted water, its transport and treatment, but also for the recycling of forest residues.
To understand how the landfill passed from the hands of Abitibi Bowater to the government of Quebec, you have to go back to October 1, 2010.
It is the signing date of the contract to sell the property for $1000 to a reputable company that was so indebted that it was the responsibility of trustee Samson Bélair Deloitte & Touche to indemnify its creditor. We sent the purchase agreement to Gilles LeVasseur, Professor of Management and Law at the University of Ottawa.
“Who can say that you can buy 50 acres for $1,000 without asking questions about the state of the land, the water, and its overall environment? It is almost impossible. You can’t even buy snow tires for $1,000,” he protested.
“If we buy the land, it’s because someone wants to get rid of it,” added the professor.
Trustee Samson Bélair Deloitte and Touche became so indebted managing the numbered company’s assets that he asked the Supreme Court for permission to abandon the landfill.
An application accepted on March 21, 2011; At that point, responsibility for the landfill passed to the Quebec government, according to the Department of the Environment, which declined our interview request.
The ministry cannot say when it will stop paying for this landfill.
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Abitibi Bowater changed its name to Resolute Forest Products in 2011.
The spokesperson declined our request for an interview, writing that the sale of the property took place while the company was facing bankruptcy.