PCB storage by Reliance - City of Pointe-Claire demands increased security measures from Environment Ministry

POINTE-CLAIRE, QC, Sept. 4, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - The Mayor of the City of Pointe-Claire, Bill McMurchie, is pleased with the steps taken this afternoon by the Ministère du Développement Durable, de l'Environnement, de la Faune et des Parcs to increase security at the Reliance site, given recent deficiencies on the site pointed out by municipal authorities.

In a letter sent today to Environment Minister Yves-François Blanchet, Mayor McMurchie identified four additional measures that must be implemented on the illegal PCB storage site in order to properly ensure the health and safety of the local community: an  increase in police presence, a fire fighting emergency response team to remain directly on the site, an anti-intrusion fence installed around the site's perimeter, and access control measures to identify individuals accessing the building.

"Individuals from our community witnessed, that despite police presence, the site remained accessible. We therefore asked that the site be hermetically sealed, to use police terms," explained the Mayor. As a result, the Police Department was mandated by the MDDEFP to review the perimeter and recommend ways to seal it off.

The Mayor also requested that a new anti-intrusion fence be installed around the perimeter of the site, given the poor condition of the current fence.

The presence of firefighters directly on the site, is an extraordinary transitional measure to alleviate an illegal situation under provincial jurisdiction until the order of the Minister to install automatic sprinklers has been completed. This will protect the premises from danger caused by hazardous materials.

"If, in the Order 630 issued to Reliance, the Minister is requiring the installation of an automatic fire sprinklers system appropriate to the nature of the materials stored, it is due to the fact that even a small electrical or accidental fire could result in a truly disastrous situation for the local community," said the Mayor to justify this specific demand.

The Mayor believes that these transitional measures will be implemented as quickly as possible and that they will be sufficient to ensure the health and safety of the citizens of Pointe-Claire until the PCB removal and, if necessary, the site decontamination process has been completed.

SOURCE: Ville de Pointe-Claire

Jean Maurice Duddin, Astérisme relations publiques et communication, 514 771-5777 [email protected]