The Rainy River District Regional Abattoir Inc. has announced mitigation measures to alleviate our concerns over the proposed abattoir site in Emo with some planning adjustments they feel should address our concerns.
Although we appreciate the measures the RRDRAI has taken to try to mitigate our concerns, we do not feel they are sufficient to alleviate the many concerns we have.
•Public concern #1—Location too close to residences
The location of the proposed abattoir may be moved roughly 100 metres east to 26 Byng Street in Emo. The row of trees that are located on this site may block the view of the abattoir from certain angles, but it will not stop the odour or the sound that will resonate from the abattoir.
The residences on Cherlen Bay, as well as many other residences, still will be within 300 metres of the abattoir and our town bylaws, as well as MoE guidelines, state industrial uses of this type must be 300 metres away from any residential areas.
Our arena and fairgrounds can be considered sensitive lands and, therefore, are subject to the same 300-metre separation distances that residential areas are.
The abattoir site is just 18 feet from our fairgrounds.
This move also will make the abattoir even closer to a residential holding zone that is just to the east of the new proposed site.
Boucher Creek, which is designated as conservation land and which flows past Donald Young School and into the Rainy River, also is just to the east of the new proposed site.
Run-off from the new site will flow towards the creek and the residential holding zone.
This mitigation measure does not resolve the issues we have brought forth with regard to the location being too close to residential and recreational areas.
•Public concern #2—Odour
The odour that will come from the abattoir is an issue. We have spoken to the owner of an abattoir in Manitoba, who told us odour will be a problem.
Several farmers who are not part of the RRDRAI also have told us odour coming from the abattoir will be a problem that will affect the entire town, as well as the sounds that will come from the abattoir.
Have you ever heard an animal screech, squeal, and moan when they know they are about to be slaughtered.
Animals brought to the abattoir will not be slaughtered as soon as they get there. They have to be given time to calm down before they are killed.
The RRDRAI showed pictures of an abattoir at the meeting in February and there were two huge exhaust fans on the roof of the building. These fans are to remove odours from the building, aren’t they?
•Public concern #3—Water usage
The abattoir will use water at a rate of 34,000 liters per day of operation at 20 animals per day. This is the equivalent of 19 households. This is what the average abattoir without a full processing plant uses.
These numbers that we are presenting here come directly from OMAFRA and have not been skewed in any way to make them sound better or worse than they are.
Hence, water usage is a huge issue.
•Public concern #4—Traffic
One of our concerns over allowing road access along the eastern boundary of the fairgrounds is the cost of building this road and the costs involved in maintaining it.
Will the taxpayers of Emo be burdened with the cost of building and maintaining this road?
•Public concern #5—Property value
The RRDRAI states that the other mitigation measures outlined in their recent newsletter should address this issue. As you can see, these mitigation measures do not address this issue.
A 2003 study from Trent University found that if two identical properties (one in the vicinity of an abattoir and the other not in the vicinity of an abattoir) were compared, the property in the vicinity of the abattoir would be worth significantly less money than the other property.
How do you think a potential home buyer might react when they find out how close the abattoir is to your property, or when they actually can hear and smell the abattoir?
Would you buy a home near an abattoir?
It will not matter if the RRDRAI mitigates all of our other concerns. Whether the problems associated with an abattoir are clearly evident or simply a matter of public perception, building an abattoir in Emo will reduce our property values and make many of our homes unmarketable.
•Public concern #6—Waste and lagoon issues
Specified Risk Materials will be transported to a member’s farm away from Emo. The other inedible materials and offal from the abattoir are to be hauled away from Emo to the same property or the materials will be delivered to the Emo landfill site for burial.
Which is it? Who will be responsible for the cost of the burial of these materials? Using our landfill for this purpose will shorten the life of our landfill site.
The Township of Emo, and ultimately the taxpayers of Emo, then will pay the costs involved in expanding the current site or creating a new landfill site.
The lagoon is another issue. The increase in flow the RRDRAI is giving us is based on the water usage rates that were stated in error, and the increased load on the lagoon is significant when you take into consideration the new housing developments in Emo our town council has given its blessing to long before the abattoir became an issue.
•Public concern #7—Health concerns
Health concerns about odour have not been mitigated, nor have our concerns about having wash water containing animal blood and animal bodily fluids flowing through our town sewer lines to be diluted before going to the lagoon—causing even more odour to come up through our sewer vents.
Anyone who has had problems with sewer back-up might want to take note of this, especially if someone at the abattoir mistakenly flips the wrong lever and pure blood accidentally gets into our sewer system.
•Public concern #8—Expansion
We have been told the abattoir will be running two days per week, slaughtering 20 animals per day. Will this still be true when the abattoir in Dryden closes?
Expansion could mean they will operate six or even seven days per week and they may not have to apply any mitigation to this type of expansion.
This type of expansion would put an enormous demand on our lagoon, our water supply, and our landfill site.
•Public concern #9—Lack of information
Our problem with the lack of information we have been given has more to do with Emo town council than it does the RRDRAI.
As we have stated many times in the past, we recognize the need for an abattoir in Rainy River District. However, we do not feel the community of Emo is an appropriate place to build it.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
