Gov't says Port Weller Air and Water OK

They also told a recent public meeting Ssonix Products passed an inspection in 2020

A wide range of questions from people showing up to an information session at Grantham Lions Club, in regard to the explosion at Ssonix Products.

St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe showed up, as did the fire chief, and Ministry of the Environment officials to answer questions about the event back in January, which killed a worker at the plant.

Residents were assured their water is safe to drink and the air is safe, however, there could be some ditches and areas with water to be wary of.  The Ministry is investigating every avenue of concern.

It was also revealed Ssonix Products was inspected in 2020.

Ministry of the Environment spokesman Taylor Buck says it passed that inspection, but there were plans for another inspection a week after the fire.  "And I want people to keep in mind that we can't be in every facility at once.  There's a lot of facilities in Niagara that we'd like to be in every year, but, we try to take a risk based approach to our inspection planning."

He says the Ministry of the Environment is complaints driven, and didn't receive any about Ssonix.

Government officials were asked if the company will ever open again.

St. Catharines CAO David Oakes said it's too early to tell if it will, and added rezoning is partially up to city council.  "The zoning on properties, and this goes across the entire municipality, have permitted uses.  If there was a request to review that, that would be part of a planning process.  It would have to go through a very public process."

Officials said many questions that weren't answered, while be in time as the Ministry of the Environment continues to look into what happened and the impacts.   Another one of those questions centred on taxes, and who will pay for the overall impact of the explosion.  

As for ensuring the bridges are available in the future, Mayor Siscoe repeated they are pressuring the federal government, and encouraged everyone to keep peppering area MPs with requests for action.