Councillors tight-lipped about rejigged environment committee

Facing accusations that the city was trying to stack its new environmental sustainability committee with excessive representation from heavy industry and the fossil fuels sector, City Council quietly tweaked the committee's terms of reference last week.

Responding to criticism from ferrochrome and climate activists, council voted to add one new, unnamed member to the committee's current membership of eight.

Councillors had been subjected last month to a flurry of social media posts and letters about the committee membership, but sat zip-lipped last Monday night as the change slipped through on the consent agenda, reserved for routine matters not requiring comment or debate.

On Jan. 11, councillors had appointed eight members to the new committee: Ward 3 Coun. Donna Hilsinger, Rimaz Abakar, Mark Britton, Erik Emilson, Jaime Graham, Fred Post, Andre Riopel and Bhavna Sikka.

Critics flagged five of the appointees for their industry connections:

• Fred Post and Rimaz Abakar work at Algoma Steel
• Bhavna Sikka is from Tenaris Algoma Tubes
• Mark Britton works for PUC Services Inc.
• Jaime Graham is a Sault College professor of corporate social responsibility with extensive experience in western Canada's oil and gas industry

Rejected applicants included Kara Flannigan, a public health inspector who has run locally for both the provincial and federal Green Parties, and Abby Obenchain, a retired communicator for Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and an outspoken opponent of Noront Resources Ltd.'s proposed ferrochrome refinery.

Coun. Shoemaker said there were 25 applicants for the committee's seven positions.

Replacing the city's 13-year-old green committee, the environmental sustainability committee will oversee rollout of the Sault's greenhouse gas reduction plan and support projects protecting and enhancing local environmental sustainability.

Local health care activist Margo Dale wrote to Mayor Christian Provenzano before last week's meeting, said the single new appointment won't be enough the balance the committee.

Dale pointed out that Coun. Hilsinger, environmental activist Andre Riopel and forest aquatic ecologist Erik Emilson might have valuable skill sets, but "are outnumbered therefore outvoted."

"There has to be a paradigm shift," Dale wrote. "Greenhouse gas reduction must be the first consideration for all decisions made by council members, in all departments of City Hall and all sections of the community.

Coun. Shoemaker defended the composition of the original committee last month.

"Given that over 60 per cent of the carbon emissions come from our industrial players, obviously we know who they are, Algoma and Tenaris. We thought it was necessary to include Algoma reps and Tenaris reps on our environmental sustainablility committee," the councillor said, adding: "It's not a conflict. It's necessary in order to achieve the kind of goals we're trying to achieve."