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Local News - Aamjiwnaang First Nation residents are about to become their own environmental police.

Band councillors have been lobbying for more stringent air monitoring of local industry in the wake of studies showing skewed birth ratios on the reserve.

As a result, trained volunteers will soon begin conducting their own community air monitoring, measuring contaminants by tapping into the expertise of an international pollution team known as the Global Community Monitor.

Ada Lockridge, chairperson of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation health and environment committee, said the committee has long contended pollution from local industry is affecting residents' health.

"We know what level (of pollution) the industries in the area are allowed to emit," she said. "We can compare our data and go to environmental agencies with this information."

Committee members and volunteers will meet Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., for field training exercise and begin testing the next day.

They'll use a "bucket brigade" — a device made popular in the movie Erin Brockovich — which was developed by a California environmental engineering firm as a way for ordinary citizens to document air pollution.

The device is housed inside a five-gallon plastic bucket and is capable of detecting up to 88 toxic gases. It's been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"This system is the environmental equivalent of a crime watch program. People can take a sample of a (pollution) release as it occurs, to prove their exposure," said Global Community Monitor's Denny Larson, who is conducting the Aamjiwnaang workshop.

He said the technology can be used to hold companies accountable for chemicals that escape beyond the boundary of their plants.

"There's no requirement that they install monitoring systems at the fence line or in nearby neighbourhoods," Larson said.

Vicki Ware, a band councillor and member of the health and environment committee, said council has purchased seven monitoring buckets.

"It's important to learn how to document (pollution) incidents," she said. "By the time you can get someone to come out to the community to test the air, you're not going to get an accurate sample."

Aamjiwnaang drew international attention in 2004 after a health survey of 428 Aamjiwnaang residents between 1998 and 2003 found female births outnumbered males by a two-to-one ratio.

Abnormally high rates of miscarriages, infertility, still births, birth defects and childhood learning disabilities were also detected. Some health experts suspect the sex ratio is linked to gender-bending chemicals.

An international study conducted earlier this year concluded the Aamjiwnaang First Nation has the most skewed girl-to-boy ratio in the world.

ID- 523315 © 2007 , Osprey Media. 

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 You have to hand it to the Aamjiwnaang First Nation; its residents know how to get things done.

 This weekend, members of the band's health and environmental committee and other volunteers are being trained in the use of portable air monitors.

 Having correctly concluded that current testing methods are inadequate, the band has bought seven of its own monitors capable of detecting up to 88 gases in the atmosphere.

 The so-called "bucket brigade" is the environmental equivalent of a crime watch program, in which ordinary citizens can hold companies accountable for chemicals that escape beyond their boundaries, according to Global Community Monitors, the workshop's facilitators. Anyone who follows these things knows that Sarnia's air monitoring system has gaping holes in it.

 When an industrial mishap results in a release, government stationary monitors and industry's fence line units can't detect what's being discharged unless they happen to be sampling directly downwind.

 Such shortcomings were dramatically revealed by a major benzene spill near Corunna seven years ago. It was days before a portable Environment Ministry monitoring unit arrived from Toronto, and by then the worst was over.

 And following a massive power failure a few years later, one company famously declared "no offsite impact" even as clouds of black smoke billowed over the city.

 Reserve residents, who are virtually surrounded by industry, have good reason to be concerned about chemical releases.

 But rather than wait for outside intervention, they are taking direct action and demonstrating how determined people can make a difference.

 We eagerly await the results of this program.

 ID- 524808 © 2007 , Osprey Media.

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 London Free Press - London, Ontario

SARNIA -- A First Nations community living in the shadow of Canada's largest cluster of chemical and manufacturing facilities will become its own environmental police force following studies documenting skewed birth ratios on the reserve.

Band councillors for Aamjiwnaang First Nation have been lobbying for more stringent air monitoring of industries near Sarnia.

As a result, trained volunteers will soon begin conducting community air monitoring -- measuring contaminants by tapping into the expertise of an international pollution team known as the Global Community Monitor.

Ada Lockridge, chairperson of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation health and environment committee, said the committee has long said pollution from local industry is affecting residents' health.

Aamjiwnaang drew international attention in 2004 after a health survey of 428 residents between 1998 and 2003 found female births outnumbered males by two to one.

Abnormally high rates of miscarriages, infertility, still births, birth defects and childhood learning disabilities were also identified in the 2004 survey.

Then an international study conducted earlier this year concluded that Aamjiwnaang has the most skewed girl-to-boy ratio in the world. Some health experts say they suspect the sex ratio is linked to gender-bending chemicals.

Residents live in an area known as the Chemical Valley -- Canada's largest cluster of chemical, allied manufacturing and research and development facilities -- and co-exist with smoke stacks and nauseating smells that carry with the wind.

Lockridge said the committee knows what level of pollution the industries in the area are allowed to emit and that it can take data it has collected to the environmental agencies.

Committee members and volunteers will meet tomorrow for training and begin testing the next day.

They'll use a "bucket brigade," a device developed by a California environmental engineering firm as a way for ordinary citizens to document air pollution.

The device is housed inside a 23-litre plastic bucket and is capable of detecting up to 87 toxic gases. It's been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.