Breslau’s Safety-Kleen is looking to develop land immediately to the west of its oil re-refinery, tackling underground contaminants in the mix.
The company is looking for an official plan amendment and zone change to acquire 15 acres of land from the abutting Forwell gravel pit. It plans to build a warehouse on the site and consolidate its truck repair and storage. The truck service is currently located in Breslau’s core.
Part of the 15-acre parcel has contaminants underneath, a legacy from Breslube Enterprises and other former operations on site. Safety-Kleen has been working for years to clean up the pollutants based on a remediation action plan approved in 2002 by the Ministry of the Environment, said planner Sam Head, representing the applicant at a public meeting in Woolwich council chambers Tuesday night.
The idea of transferring a small portion of the gravel pit – the rest will remain in operation – to the re-refinery dates back to 1990, township planning manager John Scarfone told councillors. A number of issues, including the extent of contamination, saw what was then Breslube halt the process.
There is a renewed urgency, as the MOE would prefer to see the land in Safety-Kleen’s hands before its remediation action plan is enacted, he added.
Part of the added parcel would be used as home for a new warehouse that will store finished goods, mostly one-litre plastic containers of oil. Space on the site will also be used by the company’s truck fleet. That would remove the need for a small lot in Breslau’s core; in fact, the company has already stopped using oil storage tanks at that location, with the intention of moving those uses onto the existing Safety-Kleen lands.
“We’re going to remove traffic from the downtown area,” said Head.
The idea of storing oil on the 15-acre parcel raised concerns for Coun. Mark Bauman, who saw the potential for spills or a fire that would see contaminants released close to the Grand River and drinking water wellheads.
Alan Marshall of the Environmental Hazards Team, the only member of the public to speak at the meeting, also raised some red flags over development at the site, drawing comparisons to the much more scrutinized Uniroyal Chemical/Chemtura Co. plant in Elmira.
He called on the township to be diligent in reviewing Safety-Kleen’s application. The site, he said, has a history of environmental issues. And, given the situation in Elmira, caution is in order with a source of potential pollutants near to both groundwater sources and the river.
“I hope that bells are going off with council.”
The company has already completed a variety of studies about the development’s impact, and is currently doing an environmental assessment, a requirement of the Grand River Conservation Authority since the location is close to a wetland area, said Head.
The company will continue pumping and treating the underground pollutants, none of which pose a danger to the wellheads or the Grand River, he added.
Under the plan discussed this week, a storm-water management pond would be built to channel runoff from the site to the north, away from the river.
The land to be severed is currently designated for rural land use, with extractive zoning to allow the gravel pit. The application from 957859 Ontario Ltd. (owners of what was formerly Forwell Properties Inc.) would see the lands zoned for industrial use. The rest of the land would remain a gravel pit, with Dufferin Aggregate looking to take over the extraction process.
The Breslau location is one of two re-refineries owned by Safety-Kleen, which has more than 200 facilities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The company ranks itself as North America’s largest collector, recycler and re-refiner of used oil. Its re-refineries process three-quarters of the continent’s re-refined oil.
Last year, it collected more than 200 million gallons of used oil from automobile and truck dealers, automotive garages, oil change outlets, fleet service locations and industrial plants. It re-refined and recycled approximately 140 million gallons of the used oil it collected, producing base and blended lubricating oils.
