Richmond ups ante
in pipeline fight

Seeks help of environment commissioner

Jason Fekete
The Ottawa Citizen
                                                     
Thursday, October 02, 2003

Already ensnared in a multi-million-dollar lawsuit over a proposed sewage pipeline from Munster Hamlet to Richmond, the City of Ottawa now faces growing opposition from the community.

Richmond residents, who've fiercely protested the pipeline, will meet next week with Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller to object to what they say is a raw deal for their community.

In the middle of the battle is ward Councillor Janet Stavinga, who initially favoured the on-site option, only to flip-flop when a second round of consultants' reports recommended the pipeline.

The Richmond Village Association has pleaded with the city to halt the pipeline for fear it will break and contaminate the area aquifer. But the association says its concerns have fallen on deaf ears, so it's now going to the environmental commissioner to ensure the city isn't breaching the Environmental Bill of Rights.

"I would hate like hell to see the Munster people put off their sewage solution, but an on-site option is better for both of us," said association president Ted Brown. "If we ever get a pipeline, it'll eventually break and we'll be in big trouble.

"We feel the commissioner may be one of the only people who can stop this thing," he said.

The 11-kilometre pipeline would bring raw sewage from Munster Hamlet -- where leaky sewage lagoons have raised the ire of the Ministry of Environment -- alongside a shallow aquifer that doubles as Richmond's well water supply.

The city has already approved the sewage line's path to Richmond, but is still reviewing six routing options through the community to the pumping station along the Jock River.

The municipality's decision to go with the pipeline option has led to a lawsuit filed against it by what is now Seprotech Systems Inc. -- one of the companies that offered one of two on-site options.

In the suit, the former Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton is a co-defendant, along with Conestoga-Rovers & Associates Ltd., the engineering firm contracted by the region.

Seprotech alleges in the suit that the city put out a request for proposals to deal with Munster's sewage, but then changed the tender requirements to favour the pipeline.

Court documents detail how the company is suing the city for punitive damages for "arrogant and cavalier conduct."

"This is not a matter of mere rejection of proposals; this is a matter of inducing proposers to submit bids under false pretenses in order to satisfy the defendant's own hidden agendas," the documents say.

"By submitting a compliant proposal in response to the (request for proposals), a contract was formed between the parties. As a consequence, the defendant had a duty to treat the plaintiff fairly, and to conduct the (request for proposals) process in good faith."

In a statement of defence, the city denied the allegations.

Conestoga-Rovers has counter-sued Seprotech for roughly $4.2 million, claiming libel and slander. The city has filed a cross-claim against its co-defendant, arguing Conestoga-Rovers should be responsible for any judgments associated with the original suit.

City solicitor Jerry Bellomo could not be reached for comment.

Martin Hauschild, executive vice president of Seprotech Systems Inc., said he's dumbfounded as to why the city rejected the on-site options.

"Clearly there's a very major effort at very high levels to get this pipeline put in," he said. "They're going to squander millions of dollars at the end of the day with the pipeline.

"If they accept the bid or reject the bid, that's one thing, but they can't just turn around and under the same solicitation buy something completely different."

The second company overlooked in the proposal process, Northern Watertek Corp., is reviewing whether to file a similar lawsuit against the city for defamation of its product and for wasting its money on the tendering process.

The municipality has already taken a financial hit on the project, spending $500,000 a year to haul Munster's sewage to Ottawa's R.O. Pickard Environmental Centre for treatment and disposal.

The city has also racked up roughly $1.6 million in consultants' fees and spent more than $6 million on the project, with another $7 million earmarked for construction, which has yet to begin.

Mr. Hauschild and Northern Watertek owner Jeff White, however, say the pipeline alone will run closer to $15 million.

The city has largely favoured a pipeline option as the solution, but its plan was taken to the Ontario Municipal Board. There, it was told to re-evaluate the alternatives, two on-site treatment options that would cost less and alienate far fewer residents.

Last December, an independent consultant hired by the city -- in light of the OMB ruling -- said the pipeline and on-site treatment plans were all sufficient, but the on-site options were preferable because of the pipeline's added cost.

City officials have argued that an on-site option would require changes to the environmental assessment process, which could slow the plan's implementation by one year or more.

"Over the years, as we've spent more than $5 million on studies and stop-gap measures, it's become readily apparent that the on-site treatment methods were not ready to provide the basic public service to the people of Munster Hamlet," Ms. Stavinga said yesterday. "They couldn't meet the performance requirements for on-site treatment. Period."

But Mr. White, a lifelong engineer, said any amendments to the environmental assessment process would take only a few weeks.

The city endorsed the pipeline option based partially on a 90-year cost analysis. Mr. White said the norm is a 10-to-15-year analysis.

Editorial: Costly pipe to Munster

© Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen