There was a release of small plastic pellets into the St. Clair River near Corunna Wednesday. Aamjiwnaang First Nation reported on Facebook that the incident happened at around 8:45am. NOVA Chemicals issued a news release Wednesday evening confirming that a small amount of polyethylene pellets left its St. Clair River Site containment system during heavy rainfall in a morning thunderstorm.
The company says the release was contained quickly, and cleanup was initiated immediately using booms, skimmers and a vacuum truck.
NOVA says the pellets released were food-grade plastic, opaque, and less than 1 cm in diameter, and there was no impact to drinking water.
A third-party contractor was engaged to observe and clean areas where pellets in the vicinity were found.
NOVA says its incident response management and investigation was continuing, "to further understand how to mitigate similar situations in the future."
-With files from Dave Dentinger
