September
21,
2000
GUILTY
PLEA SKEWERS ATTEMPTS TO PREVENT A FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Hamilton
Toxic Dump in Path of Red Hill Expressway
On September 18 Hamilton officials admitted they have been
hiding the existence of a major toxic landfill that sits
in the path of the proposed Red Hill Creek Expressway and
they have failed to prevent PCBs, ammonia and organic pesticides
from leaching into Red Hill Creek. They pleaded guilty to
charges under the federal Fisheries Act and the Ontario
Water Resources Act and agreed to pay $450,000 in fines,
as well as spend up to $11 million to remediate the toxic
landfill site.
The
Rennie Street dump lies directly in the path of the proposed
Red Hill Creek Expressway. In August 1999, the Regional
Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth launched a federal court
challenge to block the holding of a Panel Review federal
environmental assessment of the proposed expressway. The
Region is arguing that the Canadian Environmental Assessment
Act does not apply to the completion of the Expressway,
and that no review is required under the Act.
As of August 18, 2000, the Region has spent $1.787 million
for its court challenge which is scheduled to be heard from
November 27 to December 1. Evidence accepted in court on
September 18 revealed that the existence of the Rennie Street
landfill has been known since at least 1989 when consultants
hired by the Region examined the site in relation to the
expressway project.
In
1994, the Region hired another set of consultants in response
to a scaled-down road proposed by David Crombie. Those consultants
also examined the Rennie Street Dump site and advised the
Region that it would require major cleanup costs. Curiously,
neither set of consultants mentioned the large number of
visible leachate seeps, nor provided any information on
the toxicity of these seeps.
The
Harris government announced funding for the expressway project
in 1995 and in 1997 exempted it from any further provincial
environmental assessment. Later in 1997, the Region purchased
valley lands from the City for use in the expressway project.
However, one piece of City land was not purchased —
the Rennie Street dump site.
In
1998, a new consultant study done for the Region reported
that PCBs were flowing into the creek from the Rennie site.
However, nothing was done to stop the toxic flows until
a private citizen laid charges in the fall of 1999.
This
history shows that Regional government officials knew about,
or should have known about, the problems at the Rennie dump
for at least a decade, but that they remained silent as
they pursued and obtained an exemption from a provincial
environmental assessment of the expressway. They also remained
silent when the Region decided to go to court to try and
prevent a federal environmental assessment.
This week's guilty plea makes clear at least one reason
why Regional officials are doing everything they can to
avoid an environmental assessment of their expressway project
For more information, please contact Don McLean, Friends
of Red Hill Valley (905) 664-8796.
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