The head of INEOS Styrolutions wants to meet with Ontario’s environment minister saying the “newly imposed” benzene standards are “impossible to meet.”

In a three page letter, Pierre Minguet, president of operations at INEOS Styrolutions, lays out his concerns, including confusion on whether the company should be following the ministry standards or standards set by the Aamjiwnaang First Nation.

“The directive we have received suggests that the Aamjiwnaang First Nation holds ultimate authority over the fate of our site, irrespective of the ministry’s directives.

“We require certainty of the future regulatory framework to determine if we are able to justify further investment into our Sarnia site and resume operations,” Minguet writes to Environment Minister Andrea Khanjin.

Minguet calls the new standards the company is required to meet “arbitrary” and a “dramatic reduction” – 85 to 91 per cent lower than before elevated benzene levels April 16 about made residents of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation ill.

The head of Styrolution adds the ministry has “imposed unrealistic and unsafe conditions and timelines” for the plant to restart.

“The Sarnia plant is currently shut down; the flow of all products into and out of the site is currently stopped other than movements of benzene to a neighbouring dock for export of of Sarnia. The plant cannot be restarted until all of the requirements…are satisfied. Our engineers and technical teams have raised significant concerns about the sites operational stability, safety, elevated emissions impacts and the potential for broader economic impacts if the ministry insists on the ill-informed actions and unrealistic timelines contained in its May 1, 2024 ECA Amendment.”

More to come…

“We require certainty on the future regulator framework to determine if we are able to justify further investment into our Sarnia site and resume operations.