Algoma Steel reports another chemical spill into St. Marys River
A new chemical spill into the St. Marys River by Algoma Steel earlier this week is under investigation by the Ministry of the Environment.
Steam rises as water is poured over hot steel at the Direct Strip Production Complex at Essar Steel Algoma in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
In an email to CTV News, Lindsay Davidson of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) said Algoma Steel contacted the ministry’s Spills Action Centre on July 2 to report a spill of a milky white substance from the Bar and Strip Lagoon to the St Marys River.
“The spilled substance is believed to be excess lime from the steel-making process,” she said.
Ministry officials said they were told the spill was caused by an “unknown process upset.”
In an email response to CTV News’ inquiry, Laura Devoni, Algoma Steel's director of Corporate Affairs said that during the normal of operations at the plant water is treated with carbon dioxide and subsequently released to the St. Mary’s River from an onsite basin and on Tuesday a “cloudy plume” was observed at a discharge points.
“The discharge was immediately curtailed, and upstream operations were examined and confirmed to be operating at normal conditions,” she wrote.
This is consistent with the series of events reported to the MECP.
“The spill was contained in the lagoon by shutting down the discharge as much as possible and installing a silt curtain to help retain any solids,” said Davidson.
Devoni confirmed Algoma Steel staff contacted regulators to advise them of the incident.
“Although the treated discharge was within normal operating parameters, the observed colour change prompted us to immediately stop the discharge and contact regulators,” she said.
MECP said Algoma Steel reported a ‘small’ fish kill.
“Less than seven fish were impacted, five of which recovered when placed in clean water. The other two fish died,” said Davidson.
Neither Algoma Steel nor MECP shared how much of the substance entered St. Marys River.
An investigation
Ministry staff attended the location on Tuesday to collect water and fish samples. However, MECP staff reported that by the time they arrived on site the water had returned to a normal colour.
“At that time, the discharge was still restricted,” Davidson said.
“Downstream shorelines were searched and no dead fish or other impacts were observed.”
Ministry staff followed up on Friday and checked the Sault Ste. Marie Canal site for signs of the spill or dead fish.
“No dead fish were found,” wrote Davidson.
MECP said staff will assess the impact of the spill once sample results are available.
Algoma Steel said the plant has resumed normal operations, but the company is continuing to monitor the discharge point.
“We confirmed our operations are running normally and the aberration in discharge has since ceased,” said Devoni.
“We don’t expect any impacts to the waterway.”
Algoma Steel also provided the following statement to CTV News:
“We care deeply about the environment in which we operate, especially the St. Marys River which is a crucial ecosystem for our community. We take spills seriously which includes our requirement to report them, mitigate them and work toward the best prevention strategy for the future. We are driving continuous improvement across our business to eliminate spills, learn from historical incidents and make investments to support best practices, ensure regulatory compliance and enhance our responsible environmental stewardship."
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