POLITICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL SHORTSIGHTEDNESS CONTINUE

Last Thursday's Waterloo Region Record carried this story "$7.3-million price tag for brownfield plan panned". My objections have been consistent whether it's a tax incentive plan in Cambridge, Kitchener or Waterloo. First off why are huge numbers of contaminated properties legally allowed to be abandoned? How many politicians and lawmakers got paid off in the first place to permit once thriving corporations to close shop and not clean up behind themselves? The taxpayers should not be subsidizing former private profits. Secondly are we as a society completely nuts? Quoting this article "It's estimated there are at least 24 contaminated properties throughout the city, mostly uptown and in old industrial areas along the rail line.". At least 24 properties that have never been addressed from a public health standpoint. Do we really believe that industrial contamination is either contained or naturally stationery? Toxins from oils, fuels and solvents can move to neighbouring properties through groundwater flow, gravity flow for DNAPLS and even by vapour movement through the subsurface. These same toxins can and do leach into nearby surface water bodies as well as simply discharging into the air.

The longer these sites remain unremediated the farther the contamination will spread and negatively affect our environment. The third point is the actual quality of the cleanup. What incentive does a developer have to do more than the absolute bare minimum? I believe that each and every one of these sites should have their before and after environmental status out there in the public light. Was there a pump and treat system installed which quickly lowered groundwater concentrations nearby and then they rebounded back to where they were; or was there actual source removal of liquid and solid contamination? Twenty years from now will we suddenly discover that occupants of these so called redeveloped sites are sick and dying from wholly predictable vapour intrusion that could have been avoided with a serious cleanup.