The clean up of industrial chemicals from the idled Marathon Pulp Mill has hit another snag.
The removal of millions of litres of black liquor has been delayed by numerous problems since December. Tembec project manager Bob Gregor said about 1.4-million litres stored in onsite tanks have already been trucked to the AbitibiBowater mill in Fort Frances, and the Clean Harbour Hazardous Waste facility in Sarnia.
The company had hoped to complete the transfer of the remaining 270,000 litres next week, But Gregor says the chemicals have congealed due to the cold weather and will now have to be stored on site over the winter.
Meanwhile, the chemical effluent being pumped from a pipeline and trucked to a nearby spill basin is progressing and should be completed in the next two weeks. That action was undertaken after several leaks in the pipeline were found in January, which forced the company to vacuum out the line.
MOE officials have approved the action and continue to monitor the cleanup.
