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THUNDER BAY-The operator of the air service and chain of fly fishing lodges has taken on the task of cleaning up the former Superior Fine Papers plant.

Alan Cheeseman of Wilderness North, located on the waterfront in the Current river, currently owns the mill property, which is opposite his base on shipyard road.

Beginning at the beginning of the last century, the mill was operated for decades under various owners before production ceased in 2008. 

In 2009, the Ontario Ministry of environment issued the first of several environmental restoration orders.

By 2015, the mill had been demolished, but garbage removal and environmental restoration remain incomplete.

Cheeseman knows there are challenges ahead in completing the work, but he is determined to see it through.

“As soon as the affected neighbor next door, watching all this happen over the last decade, we got involved in the first place just because it would be one of the things we would have to live with forever, and probably affect our property values,” Cheeseman said in an interview with tbnewswatch.com.

A Ministry spokesman said it was working with him to complete the outstanding work.

“This includes the separation and appropriate removal of demolition waste from the site. In addition, monitoring and assessment is being carried out to determine what needs to be done to protect the environment, ” the spokesman said.

The Ministry has requested groundwater monitoring and the completion of a report, which it will use to determine whether the landfill site at the site has any adverse effects and whether further action is needed.

It is possible that the burial site could be opened for a period of time for research and educational purposes in partnership with Lakehead University.

Cheeseman enlisted the help of Lakehead’s Department of geography and environment in navigating the route ahead.

“Whatever the’ clean-up ‘is,” he said, ” we have to figure it out, so we have a Memorandum of understanding with Lakehead. We are working with them to help us in this process.”

Cheeseman expects it will take more than five years to complete the work.

According to a recent environmental review Tribunal ruling, previous SFP owners decommissioned the lagoon and removed the chemicals, but ” progress has stalled for some time.”

Cheeseman said he expects to take the next year or so to develop his plan for the site, but he believes the environment Department is willing to work with him to see the process completed properly.

“The problem exists. It’s here. Why ignore it? I’m probably one of the few people who could come to the table and say, ” Hey, I’m an influence. I’m willing to cooperate. I’m even willing to put some money in, but let’s get this straight, ” he said.

Cheeseman said the runoff from the plant “is a big problem” for the city.

His company paid for specialized ground-based radar equipment to analyze runoff patterns in that part of the city, and it confirmed that all the water drains into the lake through the mill property and its aircraft base.

“It’s uncultivated and the mill property goes straight to lake Superior … We want to create an environment where we can say, ” Let’s take this stormwater and treat it with wetlands.” We will lay the wetlands aside for long-term purposes, ” Cheeseman said.

Bioremediation – where organisms are used to neutralize or remove pollutants – is not the only option that can be considered.

Lakehead could also use the site to develop new technologies to deal with contaminated industrial sites.

“Having access to a site like that is difficult for an educational institution to achieve. In our conversations with them, they had a need, and we had a need, and it was a good partnership, ” Cheeseman said. 

Robert Stewart, head of the University’s Department of geography and environment, agreed that this provided his program with a unique opportunity.

“The property provides a’ real world ‘example to train graduates on how to collect environmental data and develop alternative recovery concepts for these legacy contaminated sites,” Stewart said.

He said the University is also happy to play a role in helping make thunder Bay’s waterfront a more attractive destination for visitors and for businesses that “are not just raw resource users.”

Cheeseman said he had already invested heavily in the project.

“We know that going into it, that Yes, you can have problems. But you won’t get anything for free.”

The Department of the environment still has more than $ 1 million that was delivered by previous owners to ensure that proper cleaning is done.

This money will be transferred to Cheeseman as soon as he satisfies the requirements of the Ministry.

The acquisition of the 180-acre site also helps Wilderness North operations, however.

In addition to the float side of the aircraft of its business, the company uses specially modified short-takeoff and landing wheeled aircraft that deliver fuel to remote locations.

With the acquisition of the mill property, Wilderness North aircraft can land very close to their hangar using gravel back road that once traveled logging trucks making deliveries to the mill.

Cheeseman said it would help the company continue to develop its fuel delivery technology and hire people in thunder Bay.

The company deployed its STOL aircraft last year to Indonesia, where it already had a government contract to supply fuel to isolated communities to provide disaster relief after the country was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami.

© 2019 Dougall Media