That was the executive summary of the human health risk assessment study done by Jacques Whitford Environment Ltd., the consultant hired by Vale Inco to conduct the study as part of the community based risk assessment. The consultants presented the report in an open house at city hall on Thursday.

“Based on the weight of the evidence, we concluded that the risk was low,” said Cecile Willert, of Jacques Whitford, prior to the presentation. “We found the nickel in Port Colborne had a very low bio-availability. There were a lot of questions about that coming in and we thought nickel bio-availability was a big thing.”

“It’s a good news story,” added Eric Veska, also of Jacques Whitford, project manager of the human health risk assessment. “For human health, our recommendation is not to do anything.”

The HHRA final report was the end result of four drafts, and much of the sampling that included well water, soil, air dust and even supermarket produce took place between 2000 and 2002. Based on the low bio-availability of the nickel, which Jacques Whitford says results from the refining process, the company used 20,000 parts per million, or milligrams per kilogram, as the guideline for a health risk.

The company found no residential properties where nickel exceeded 20,000 ppm, said the study. But some neighbourhood residents who attended the open house disagreed.

“Where do you get off?” asked Eric Butler. “This report is garbage. It’s not worth the paper it’s printed on.

“In seven years I’ve lost seven people in my family from cancer. Don’t correct me on that,” he continued. “You’re full of baloney, my friend. It’s a medical fact that cancer is caused by nickel over 200 parts per million.”

Will Pearson, a Rodney Road resident, and lead plaintiff in the multi-million dollar class action lawsuit against Vale Inco that’s expected to begin later this fall, also had many concerns with the report, including the timing of the sampling. He said that the pollution done before upgrades at the plant is what severely contaminated his house.

“In other words, now that you’re saying there’s nothing coming out of the plant, it’s A-okay,” said Pearson. “We know that.”

Veska said that the contamination doesn’t break down substantially enough to fudge the numbers.

“The soil doesn’t forgive and forget,” he said.

But Pearson wasn’t convinced.

“I can’t sell it (his house), I can’t give it away and I wouldn’t give it to my worst enemy,” he said.

The report says Vale Inco takes responsibility for emissions of nickel, arsenic, cobalt and copper. The company has already cleaned up 25 properties in the residential neighbourhood beside Inco as ordered by the Ministry of Environment following the Rodney Street study.
The guideline for the study was 8,000 ppm of nickel.

The next CBRA meeting is on May 15 at 7 p.m. when the public liaison committee will receive the HHRA final report from Jacques Whitford. Following that, Vale Inco’s integration report, which will present the company’s remediation strategy, will be presented in an open house on May 27 at 7 p.m. at city hall.