Provincial officials say the government is doing all it can to support the community of Wheatley as the investigation continues into the August explosion.
Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford was in Wheatley this week, and refuted claims that the province took too long to step in after hydrogen sulphide was first detected back in June.
“It’s not a source of controversy, at least in my mind and in the minds of others,” Rickford says. “Monitoring support was in place since June, and in fact it was the monitoring capacity that the province had brought to the area that had given us detection levels that immediate steps were required by people in and around where ultimately the incident occurred.”
65 homes have been evacuated since August with 125 residents displaced.
Meantime, work continues to identify the source of repeated gas leaks that caused the blast on Erie Street North.
Chatham-Kent CAO Don Shropshire says while the source of the gas has yet to be confirmed, technical experts at the site are getting closer.
“One of the wells at the APECs, or one of the areas of interest, the Tate Well happens to be located on a piece of property (where) the municipality had a parking lot,” Shropshire says. “We’re working with the Ministry now to look at how a license can received to open up that well and do further investigation inside of it, but then making a determination as to how we can mitigate a future event, be it re-plugging it or venting it. That’s for the engineers to provide recommendations on.”
Shropshire says discussions are also underway with neighbouring property owners about the potential for more digging on or near their land.
Municipal officials and the Minister were in Wheatley early this week to announce further provincial funding to support Wheatley residents affected by the ongoing evacuation order.
Residents who remain evacuated will receive emergency funds up to $3,000 per household, plus an additional $1,500 for each member of the household. These funds can be used to pay for any expenses including food, clothing, or household items and receipts will not be required.
Evacuated residents who have relocated to permanent housing may also receive up to $8,000 for one-time housing costs, and up to $4,000 for additional relocation expenses, receipts will be required.
Evacuated residents in temporary accommodations may receive up to $4,000 per month for rent from September 2021 through to March 2022, receipts will be required.