Stablex landfill site: Blainville examines water, air, and soil

The mayor of Blainville launched a sampling campaign near the Stablex landfill site on her own after a lack of response from the Environment Ministry.

For months, Mayor Liza Poulin has been asking the ministry to make the surface water and groundwater sampling data collected near the Stablex site in 2024 public and to conduct a new sampling campaign.

“These two commitments have not been fulfilled. This was what was planned; it’s their program. We are simply asking them to comply with their own program,” the mayor told The Canadian Press.

Faced with what Poulin describes as government inaction, the city decided to hire a specialized firm, which began a sampling campaign in early September “to assess air quality, sediment quality, and surface water quality.”

“We are awaiting the report on this campaign, and I am committed to making it public, whatever it may be,” she said.

“My intention is not to replace the Ministry of the Environment,” but “since these two commitments have not been fulfilled and the deadlines are being missed,” action must be taken, explained Poulin, adding that she has “a population to reassure.”

Long overdue data

In May 2024, citizen groups sent a formal notice to former Quebec Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, calling on him to “take action and assume his responsibilities to stop the contamination from the Stablex landfill in Blainville and downstream.”

These groups based their case on samples taken by citizens from streams and ditches surrounding the Stablex site, which, according to ecotoxicology specialist Daniel Green, showed the presence of contaminants.

A few weeks later, Charette said in a news release that rigorous sampling by the ministry confirmed the site’s compliance.

“At that point, I said to the minister that since there was no risk, why not make the data public? That would reassure the people of Blainville about living alongside the company,” said Poulin.

The mayor maintains that it was on May 6 — during a meeting between MNA Mario Laframboise, herself, and Minister Charette — that the latter committed to “making public, on an information platform, the results of the sampling analyses carried out at the Stablex site” and to collect new samples.

Bernard Drainville reviews the files

On Sept. 11, Charette was appointed Minister of Infrastructure, and Bernard Drainville took over as Minister of the Environment.

Poulin said she requested a meeting with the new minister “within hours of his appointment,” but has not heard back to date.

A press secretary for the minister told The Canadian Press that Drainville was “reviewing the various files” and “will respond at a later date.”

Work continues

Meanwhile, the American company Stablex is continuing its work to expand its hazardous waste landfill on land that formerly belonged to the city, despite opposition from the city and frequent protests by citizen groups.

The Quebec government took drastic measures by introducing Bill 93 at the end of February to expropriate the city at a cost of $17 million, obtain the land targeted by Stablex, and allow the landfill to be expanded to bury hazardous waste from Quebec and the United States.

Blainville wanted to continue protecting the land, which consists of nine hectares of wetlands and 58 hectares of wooded areas.

The Stablex industrial waste treatment center currently includes a treatment plant and five landfill cells.

The company plans to develop a sixth cell.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews