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Marathon mill cleanup to go on for weeks
By CARL CLUTCHEY
Sunday, January 17, 2010

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The problem-plagued job of removing leftover industrial chemicals from Marathon‘s dormant pulp mill could take several more weeks, even if crews aren‘t sand-bagged by more unforeseen glitches.
The latest wrinkle occurred around 8 a.m. Thursday, when a seam on an indoor holding tank containing black liquor was discovered to be leaking.
Environment officials say the leak was spotted quickly and the liquor in the tank was transferred to another one outside.
It was yet another distraction that prevented crews from getting on with a more urgent situation – vacuuming out a cracked effluent pipe that has leaked three times since early December.
Black liquor is what‘s left over after wood chips used to make pulp are softened in a heated brew of sulpher and sodium-chloride.
When a mill is operating normally, the chemicals in the liquor are recovered and reused in the pulping process.
The Ministry of Environment, which is closely monitoring the various cleanup and liquor removal efforts in Marathon, says it could take up to a month before all the leftover black liquor – originally about one million U.S. gallons – is taken out.
“Depending on how fast it‘s being pumped, it could be three to four weeks, potentially,” MOE spokeswoman Lisa Brygidyr said Friday.
Marathon Mayor Rick Dumas said it could be near spring by the time the job is finally completed.
The tank that was found to be leaking Thursday morning can hold up to 86,000 gallons but was not full at the time, said Brygidyr.
Most of the material taken out of that tank is to go to AbitibiBowater‘s Fort Frances pulp mill. Any amount that can‘t be shipped to Fort Frances could be taken to a heated trucking facility, if necessary, in Thunder Bay, said Brygidyr.
The Marathon cleanup and transfer operation is being conducted by former mill co-owner Tembec. The Quebec forestry company is appealing last summer‘s MOE order that left it in care and control of the mill.
About 150,000 gallons leaking from the effluent pipe earlier this week is being vacuumed out and transferred by truck to a spill basin located about five kilometres east of town.
That particular transfer could take several weeks because it could require up to 80 truckloads and only two of three available chemical trucks are being used.
Brygidyr said the third truck is being kept on standby to deal with any future spills or leaks.
Though the situation seems grim – transferring chemicals out of faulty pipes and tanks in the height of winter – Brygidyr said it is under control.
“We are developing contingencies for every step they take,” she said. “Everything is being reviewed by our technical people and everything that needs to be done is being done.”
Marathon Pulp went bankrupt in March, resulting in the loss of 230 jobs.

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