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The Politics of Sustainable Development: Citizens, Unions and the Corporations

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'St. Clair Blob' rekindled in new book

review written BY CALE COWAN Courier Press staff

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This is Environment Week. What better time to revisit the 10-year-old controversy that came floating down the St. Clair River? The issue of the infamous 'St. Clair Blob' that focused the country's environmental ire on the region came to a head in 1985 when Dow Chemical spilled 40,000 litres of dry-cleaning solvent into the river. The resulting 'blob' demonstrated just how poorly the St. Clair had been treated.

It's a decade later and things are better but not as good as they could be, according to some of the players who were around in the day. Adding to the nostalgia of the event is a book published earlier this spring by PhD Laurie E. Adkin that has a chapter dealing with the 'blob', along with the industry, government and media reaction. Some of the conclusions drawn in Chapter 11 of 'Politics of Sustainable Development -- Citizens, Unions and the Corporations' are less than flattering. An excerpt: "The story of the blob uncovered not only the extent of long-term chemical dumping in the river but also the degree of collusion between officials of the (Ministry of Environment) and the chemical industry."

Publicly revealed in 1984, Adkin said the blob was actually known to MOE officials since 1976. Adkin, who did extensive research in the area during the fallout of the discovery, also recounts how citizen groups and unions dealt with the environmental impact and how they dealt with industry in their desire to clean up the river and preserve jobs. Adkin writes: "Dow had undertaken a campaign to woo over to its point of view the citizen 'thought leaders' in communities downstream of the Chemical Valley. Shortly after the blob incident had broken in the media and had resulted in the shutdown of the water purification plants in downstream communities like Wallaceburg, Dow scientists and managers we! nt to Wallaceburg to reassure citizens that everything was under control. "They found that their audience was not prepared, this time, to accept either their assurances or their authority." Kris Lee, a member of the Wallaceburg Clean Water Committee at the time, has read Adkin's book and feels it's an accurate depiction of what happened here.

"It's a credit to Wallaceburg," she said of the book and the recollection of how citizens here stood up to protect a natural resource. Lee said interest in the problem has faded since spills have become less of a media event but also concedes that "Sarnia has really cleaned up" since the problems they had in the 1980s. Part of that has been due in no small part to a downsizing in the petro-chemical industry, but is also partly due to self-policing in the industry and a greater appreciation for protecting the environment, said Lee, who is a teacher at Wallaceburg District Secondary School.

There are still concerns today, however, like ICI Canada, which recently got permission from the environment ministry to discharge treated waste water into the St. Clair. And with cuts in all government agencies, Lee says it's just as important today for residents to remain diligent in keeping an eye on what's happening. "We can't stop them from discharging ... but we can make sure they monitor it and speak with ICI and find out what's going on. "People say that today there are not as many spills but you have to remember that every day tons of contaminants are allowed into that river. People seem to forget." Things are better now, Lee says, but there are signs that indicate a watch dog approach is necessary. With Wallaceburg's former town council taking an "arm's length" approach to the ICI issue and accepting a $1.5 million compensation package, more than ever it seems that environmental concerns are in the realm of the individual.

"We have to have people more aware of what's going on," Lee ! said.