Harry Rubin & Son Limited - Order for financial assurance

Director’s Order

The director intends to issue an order under section 136 of the Environmental Protection Act to Harry Rubin & Son Limited, the former directors and officers of the company and to the former trustee for the site. The order will authorize the Crown to use the financial assurance for the performance of environmental measures for which the financial assurance was provided, including ongoing maintenance at the site and the containment cell and for rehabilitating monitoring wells.

Background

Harry Rubin & Son Limited established a PCB waste disposal site at 1810 Allanport Road in Thorold, Ontario between 1989 and 1995. The wastes, including oils from electrical equipment and contaminated soil, were stored in outdoor lugger bins, metal containment units and in an underground engineered PCB storage cell. Director’s instructions issued by the ministry included requirements for inspections, monitoring and reporting for the site.

The ministry previously issued orders to Harry Rubin & Son Limited in 2012, its former directors, officers and trustee for the site to properly dispose of the PCB waste and among other things.

Director's Order 8468-8XTKD3 was appealed (see notice on the Environmental Registry archives). A settlement agreement included a new order requiring removal of wastes stored above ground and proper disposal following a ministry accepted plan which was prepared by a qualified consultant. The terms of the settlement agreement have been met, and the work was completed in December 2016. As part of the settlement agreement, the former directors and officers were ordered to provide $250,000 of financial assurance for the performance of the environmental measures set out in the director's instructions and the Director's Order 6763-ADTQ7X, to prevent the discharge of PCBs to the natural environment, and to ensure ongoing containment and monitoring at the site.

The ministry has conducted monthly site inspections over the past several years and yearly groundwater monitoring of the PCB storage cell. Recent inspections have found that maintenance work and other environmental measures are required and will be required to be undertaken at the site by the ministry.