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November
2001 Newsletter
Update
- Remediation of the Rennie and Brampton Landfills
It
was a long summer for citizen representatives involved in
the community liaison committee overseeing the remediation
of the city of Hamilton's Rennie Street and Brampton Street
Landfills.
After
the release of the provincial class environmental assessment
for this clean-up project, several citizens were compelled
to submit what are referred to as bump-up requests in order
to draw the provincial Minister of the Environment's attention
to several unresolved and critical issues related to the
clean-up effort.
These
issues included concerns about the selection of assessment
process. Class assessments are normally used for routine
undertakings; citizens argued that the remediation of a
toxic landfill is hardly a routine project.
Citizens
were also concerned about the City of Hamilton's future
plans to excavate approximately 20% of the old Rennie landfill
site to accommodate the proposed Red Hill Creek expressway.
The city is pursuing this excavation even after warning
against excavation as an unwise choice for long-term remediation
of the Rennie site.
Finally,
citizens were hopeful that the Ministry of the Environment
might provide some support for efforts to require that the
city undertake investigations on the west side of the Rennie
site -where the landfill is directly adjacent to residential
properties - in order to determine whether the landfill
is having any impact on these properties or on residents.
Bump-up
requestors recently learned that the Minister decided not
to grant their requests. Instead, the Ministry of the Environment
provided very disappointing responses to the concerns raised.
In
response to the concerns about choice of process, the Ministry
did not state whether or not it supported the choice of
a class assessment process for the remediation project.
Instead, it simply indicated that the city had satisfied
all of the requirements of a class assessment process.
In
terms of plans for future excavation at the site, the Ministry
indicated that the excavation had nothing to do with the
remediation project and that any negative impacts of excavation
would be minimized to the extent possible by the city.
Finally,
the Ministry indicated that there was no need for concern
regarding impacts on adjacent homeowners as all groundwater
flows (and therefore all landfill leachate flows) moved
toward the creek and not back toward the residential properties.
This information is false, as the city's own groundwater
maps show, there are flows toward homes at the west end
of the site. All of this led one resident to state that
fish are better protected than humans when it comes to provincial
environmental legislation.
The
city's original intent was to begin the remediation process
in late August - early September. But delays in the granting
of approvals will limit the city's ability to begin work
at the site. It was not until November 8th that the city
received the necessary fisheries permit from the federal
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which will allow for
creek realignment to accommodate the landfill leachate collection
system. Other outstanding approvals are required from the
Provincial Ministry of Natural Resources and the Hamilton
Conservation Authority.
A
recent discussion with city staffers revealed that work
will likely begin this winter to clear vegetation in parts
of the valley north of the CN rail line. Clearing is necessary
to undertake the city's preferred remediation plan for the
landfills. Winter clearing will be done to avoid disrupting
any migratory bird nesting that might occur in the spring.
The
next meeting of the Rennie/Brampton Landfills Community
Liaison Committee is on Thursday, November 22, 2001 at the
Steam Technology Museum located on Woodward Avenue North
just north of the Woodward Avenue Sewage Treatment Plant.
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