GFL hires communications firm

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Following a poor track record of communicating and addressing health and safety concerns with the residents of Nightingale, Bio-Can/Green for Life (GFL) hired a communications and public engagement firm to address some of the nuances and keep the community in the loop.
A couple of weeks ago, some residents saw what they believed to be smoke coming from the composting site. Transitional Solutions did confirm Wheatland County fire department was called to the site, but chalked it up to an excess amount of dust in the air due to the grinding of drywall.
The community raised numerous concerns with Wheatland County in the past, including the dust, garbage, the smell and the massive amounts of sulphur on the site – far surpassing the allotted amount as identified by Alberta Environment. While none of the residents received an Emergency Response Plan – one that was provided to the county by GFL – many homeowners feel it would decrease their land value.
“We want to be safe if we need it but our land is going to get labeled with ‘you have to have an emergency response plan if you buy our land’ so that’s going to decrease the value, and nobody is going to buy a place where there are hazards,” said Dennis Kiemeny, president of Neighbours Against Pollution 2017.
“That stuff is supposed to be gone and it isn’t so that’s what we’re challenging all the time. Nobody is governing them. We see them hauling, but we don’t know if they’re hauling in or out or what they’re doing. That’s the problem – they won’t tell us and they don’t cooperate.”
However, Transitional Solutions president Erica Thomas said that’s about to change. According to Thomas, the sulphur piles have been reduced to the allowable amount, landscaping and fencing is currently being constructed to deal with some of the nuisance complaints, and the company is working on establishing better communications with the community.
“GFL has bought the facility as of less than six months ago, and in that time, they’ve been working fast and furiously to mitigate and fix some of the issues that there were on site, like the excess sulphur; and I can guarantee now that it is less than 100 tonnes and it will remain under 100 tonnes of sulphur on that site,” she said.
“The clear message here is that with the new ownership, GFL is really committed to working with the neighbours, hence why they hired us to assist them in developing some communication tools that will help them work with the local neighbours. They’re committed to the community, they’re committed to working with the nuisance factors and really supporting the community and making sure they’re a good neighbour in the community.”
Thomas added that trees are being planted around the facility and chain-link fence with privacy screens is being put up, which she said would help alleviate some of the concerns. Furthermore, she said Alberta Environment had come out to the site two weeks ago for an inspection and confirmed the sulphur piles are below the 100 tonnes they are regulated for.
Residents had also pushed to have the groundwater tested, efforts that thus far fell flat. Yet Thomas confirmed a groundwater monitoring program has been developed and approved by Alberta Environment and will commence in the fall.
In response to the lack of communication and transparency, the communicationss company is creating a Facebook page to keep residents informed on activity on the site, and are also working on other methods to provide the community of Nightingale with information.