The chemical clean-up crews in Marathon, Ontario hit another snag this week when a leak was found in the seam on an indoor holding tank containing the black liquor.

The black liquor was removed from the holding tank and transferred to a tank outside.

Crews have been busy vacuuming the chemicals out of the cracked effluent pipe that has leaked three times since December. The chemicals are then being transferred to AbitibiBowater's Fort Frances mill.

It is estimated there are 80 truck loads of chemicals to be moved, but only two trucks are available for transport. A third truck is on stand-by to deal with any future spills or leaks.

As the previous owner of the bankrupt mill, Tembec is on the hook for the chemical removal. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment is closing monitoring the chemical removal.

The environmental cleanup is expected to take several more weeks.

Source:
Marathon mill cleanup to go on for weeks (Chronicle Journal)