Ecojustice wants the province to conduct an investigation to determine if excessive flaring at Imperial Oil's Sarnia Refinery February 23,2017 violated the Environmental Protection Act.
Vanessa Gray of Aamjiwnaang and Ecojustice's Dr. Elaine MacDonald are co-applicants being represented by the lawyers from Canada's largest environmental law charity.
Dr. MacDonald says Imperial's failure to adequately monitor the prolonged incident left residents unsure if the air contamination levels were a threat to their health.
"Ms Gray, for example, had to travel past Imperial Oil from Aamjiwnaang to Sarnia," says Dr. MacDonald. "She said her throat was burning, her nose was burning from the fumes coming off the flare. People were frightened. They didn't know what was going on. Their windows were vibrating. The roar of the flare, the glare of the flare, was disruptive. It looked as if the refinery was on fire. The vapours of the flare were being lit up at the time and there was a grass fire next the the facility at the same time."
Dr. MacDonald says these flaring incidents should not be considered normal and the company and the Environment Ministry failed to adequately monitor what was being spewed into the air.
She says it was also troubling that Imperial Oil, the Spills Action Centre and the Environment Ministry provided no information on the incident to either residents or the media.
The elevated flaring lasted for five hours and then diminished, but did not end until March 5.
