(Sainte-Marie-Salomé) Elected officials and citizens of the small town of Sainte-Marie-Salomé, in Lanaudière, will demonstrate this Wednesday against the presence of thousands of trucks dumping excavated soil on many construction sites in a sandpit abandoned. Traces of contamination have already been discovered by the Ministry of the Environment, which underlines a long-term risk for the wells of certain residents.
What there is to know :
- The soil excavated on large residential sites has been massively buried in an old Lanaudière sand pit for more than a year.
- The Ministry of the Environment found contaminated soil on site.
- The site manager has already been targeted by a criminal investigation into the contamination of agricultural environments, but has benefited from a stay of proceedings for unreasonable delays.
- The mayor deplores that her city is “taken hostage”.
“I don’t understand how a small municipality can be taken hostage like that,” protested Mayor Véronique Venne on Tuesday, in an appeal to her citizens who could testify to the fill activities on Montcalm Road.
The elected official and some councilors from the small municipality of 1,200 inhabitants are preparing to demonstrate near the old local sandpit where the Ministry of the Environment says it has discovered traces of contamination with petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and zinc. during tests carried out in May 2022. The site was once free of any contamination linked to human activities, according to the same tests.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Mayor of Sainte-Marie-Salomé, Véronique Venne
“Soil contamination has been confirmed by laboratory analyses”, confirms Frédéric Fournier, spokesperson for the Ministry, who says he is following the file closely following complaints received concerning “a few thousand trucks”. The Department “does not exclude any recourse to enforce the law,” says Mr. Fournier.
“We have a municipal road that becomes a transport road with 100 to 300 trucks a day. The comings and goings are incessant on our territory”, protested the mayor in an interview with The Press.
Long term risk
The Ministry inspector dispatched to the scene a year ago already noted at the time that more than 100,000 m3 soil had been dumped there to backfill the old sandpit, located less than a kilometer from the wells of two local residents.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Trucks go back and forth between the construction sites and the Sainte-Marie-Salomé sandpit.
According to the inspection report obtained by the municipality, the owner of the site had declared receiving an amount of cash for each load of soil, from the “controller” who managed the operations, a certain Martin Archambault, president of the ATL Demolition company.
“The quality of incoming soil is not adequately checked,” noted the inspector. Given the level of contamination observed, there was no immediate risk for the residents’ wells, but a “long-term” risk did exist, according to her.
The inspector says she asked Martin Archambault where the cash used to pay the site owner came from, in order to include it in her report. Mr. Archambault would have proposed to register the name of a third company of which he was not a shareholder, before getting angry and launching: “Put whoever you want! »
Last fall, following the inspection, the Ministry imposed administrative penalties of $10,000 on the owner and $2,000 on the controller. Penalties of $5,000 were imposed on two transport companies active on the site, Trans-Dan and KL Mainville, which however disputed them, arguing that it was not their job to characterize the content of the soils that were asked them to move. The Commission for the Protection of Agricultural Territory of Quebec (CPTAQ) also sent a notice of non-compliance to the owner since the conditions it imposed for the backfilling of the site are not respected, according to it.
Known to authorities
The old sandpit belongs to Aurèle Collin, an 83-year-old retired farmer who wants to backfill the site so he can sell it to a younger farmer. “He’s going to make organic cereals,” the owner explained to The Press.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Aerial view of the sandpit
Mr. Collin believes that environmental fears are exaggerated. “Let them come and prove that to us, we are ready to defend ourselves. It is Martin Archambault who takes care of it, ”he assures.
Martin Archambault did not respond to an interview request from The Press. In 2016, the contractor specializing in embankments was the target of a criminal investigation by the Sûreté du Québec on land that was allegedly polluted illegally, according to the police. Due to problems in the administration of evidence, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions said he was unable to lay criminal charges in this case, called the “Naphthalene project”, revealed The Press in 2018.
Criminal charges had indeed been brought against the company of Martin Archambault, for having violated the Environment Quality Act by contaminating agricultural land. A report entered into evidence at trial pointed out that the earth was polluted to such an extent that the animals were at risk of developing mutations.
But in November 2018, the judge ordered a stay of proceedings because the Crown had been unable to proceed within a reasonable time. In his defense, Martin Archambault had also explained that he was not the only one to dump soil in the targeted location and that the pollution could be the work of other actors.
A company withdraws
When passing from The Press last week, trucks shuttled at a frantic pace between the old sandpit and the construction site of a condo tower located in front of the Mascouche station.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
When passing from The Presstrucks shuttled between Sainte-Marie-Salomé and the construction site of a condo tower located in Mascouche.
A transport company involved in the operation, Valosphere (formerly KL Mainville), told The Press that it will stop dumping the soil there from Wednesday. The company, which claims to be “at the forefront of traceability of non-contaminated soils”, points out that the most contaminated sample found by the inspector did not come from Mascouche and had not been transported by its trucks. Valosphere blames the controller of the Sainte-Marie-Salomé site, Martin Archambault, to whom it says it asked for a series of patches, without success.
“In this context, we made the decision to terminate the agreement with Démolition ATL and to no longer transport to this site until the regularization of the permit with the CPTAQ is confirmed,” says Ms.e Rita Magloe Francis, corporate attorney.
However, be aware that at least four other companies deposit soil on the site in question,” she says.
Valosphere’s lawyer, Mr.e Rita Magloe Francis
“No company is immune to an accidental spill of slightly contaminated soil. The characterization and excavation of land are not exact sciences,” she adds.
Valosphere uses the services of a consultant who was also targeted by the Naphtalène investigation by the Sûreté du Québec. This is Louis-Pierre Lafortune, who then worked for the company Gestion OFA Environnement, which had also benefited from a stay of proceedings for unreasonable delays. In 2017, Mr. Lafortune was convicted of conspiracy to launder the proceeds of crime, as part of another police investigation into the infiltration of the Hells Angels in the construction industry.
Me Rita Magloe Francis, however, ensures that the role of external consultant is limited. “Mr. Lafortune does not choose the places where the floors are laid out,” she says.