Lambton College Gets $11.8 Million for Upgrades.

Photo by Zach Neal.

From Melanie Irwin, Blackburn News.


Lambton College is undertaking a major renovation of existing facilities.

An $11.8-million funding commitment was announced at the Centre of Excellence in Energy and Bio-Industries Friday morning.

Lambton’s Vice President of Academics Donna Church says about 43,000 sq ft of the first floor and lower level, of the most southerly block of the campus, will be upgraded.

She says an addition will also be built on the main floor to house a boiler that is a key element in the chemical process and production technology and power engineering programs.


Link to the rest here. 

Additional coverage.

Lambton College Gets $2.3 Million for Applied Research.

Photo by Zach Neal.

From Tyler Kula, Sarnia Observer.



A fuel cell reliant on acid-loving bacteria could be a “game-changing technology” for green energy generators, says the man heading up applied research into the technology at Lambton College.

“It is definitely cheaper than your regular conventional fuel cell. I can tell you that,” said Shahram Karimi, industrial research chair.

Instead of the typical hydrogen-oxygen reaction relied upon in fuel cells for energy storage, the bio-based battery relies heavily on micro-organisms sourced from hot springs in California, he said.

Devouring iron, they supply the electron exchange necessary for the storage technology to work.

For the past three years, researchers at Western University have been crunching data for London-based BioGenerator Energy Solutions, and they’ve turned to Lambton to test the idea at the college’s Sustainable Smart House – which uses wind and solar to produce hydrogen through electrolysis. It also demonstrates other green energy applications.


Link to the rest here.

Lambton College Hits the Big Five-O.

Photo by Zach Neal.

From Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer.




Lambton College, a school set to launch a $42-million expansion, had a humble start 50 years ago.

In the mid-1960s, Ontario decided to create a new system of community colleges, and Lambton was the second to set up shop.

Ron Lawrence, 93, was among its 10-member faculty when the college first opened its doors in November 1966 in an old building in Sarnia's Chemical Valley.

“It was a derelict schoolhouse,” he said.

Zach Neal.

“When I say derelict, I really mean it. The heating didn't work, the air conditioning didn't work, the toilets overflowed. The whole place was a real mess.”

Lawrence said he remembers selling students their textbooks on the first day, although just getting the books had been a challenge.

“We had to order a large number of textbooks for a college that nobody had ever heard of, and they didn't believe me,” he said.

But Lawrence convinced publishers that a college really was starting up in Sarnia, and the books arrived in time.

Zach Neal.

Link to the rest here.

1,500 Rescued as River Float-Down Goes Awry.

Photo courtesy Shelley Ambroise.

From the Sarnia Observer, staff writers.

Hundreds of Port Huron Float Down participants had to be rescued after strong winds pushed them to the Canadian side of the St. Clair River late Sunday afternoon.

Sarnia-Lambton first responders – along with the RCMP and Canadian Coast Guard water units – spent several hours Sunday assisting float down participants stranded along the river from Sarnia down through to Corunna.

Read more here.

From Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer

Canadian Coast Guard officials knew Sunday's unsanctioned St. Clair River Float Down was a disaster in the making.

Sarnia Police said in press release a convoy of Sarnia Transit buses carried approximately 1,500 U.S. citizens over the Blue Water Bridge Sunday evening after they were blown to the Canadian shore while taking part in the annual float down the river on inflatable rafts, from Port Huron lighthouse to Marysville, Mich.

“It's exactly what we saw coming,” said Peter Garapick, superintendent of search and rescue for the Canadian Coast Guard.

He was on the water, along with crews from the coast guard, fire departments in Sarnia and Point Edward, the OPP and RCMP, as well as their counterparts in the U.S. side of the border.

The float down is a summer tradition going back several decades and has continued despite attempts by U.S. officials to scuttle it, and despite the drowning of a U.S. participant in 2014.

Sunday's weather conditions were “almost the worst-case scenario,” Garapick said.

Read the rest here.

Minor injuries reported from folks climbing the seawall. (Photo Shelley Ambroise.)

From Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer

It cost the City of Sarnia $8,181.77 in total to help rescue approximately 1,500 Americans who participated in Sunday’s Port Huron Float Down event, but Mayor Mike Bradley doesn't expect the city will be able to recover those costs anytime soon.

The total cost, which includes overtime costs and additional expenses incurred by various city departments, was released Tuesday afternoon.

A media release says city services that incurred costs included Sarnia Police Service ($3,405.92), Sarnia Transit ($1,977.97), Public Works ($712.40), Sarnia Fire Rescue Services ($1,435.88), and Parks and Recreation ($649.60).

Sarnia officials are expected to meet later this week to review the operation that saw approximately 1,500 U.S. participants in the annual unsanctioned event who were blown off course from the Michigan side of the river and landed unexpectedly in Sarnia.

They were helped from the water, over several hours, gathered up by Sarnia police, and loaded on Sarnia Transit buses called in to carry the stranded “floaters” over the Blue Water Bridge and back to the U.S.

Read the rest here.

Photo by Shelley Ambroise.

Additional Coverage

Cost Frustrates Mayor. (CBC)

Floaters Washed Ashore. (CBC)

END