Gross negligence is usually required for a screwup as severe and life shattering as that which occurred between Bishop St. and the Grand River. I've heard numbers of between 300 and 600 homes were affected by the TCE (trichlororethylene) plume from Bishop St. all the way to its' discharge point into the Grand River.
Oddly enough it seems that the Chromium contamination has not been addressed which seems peculiar to me. In fact I believe it was the same Chromium vi that was the problem in California that the famous Erin Brockovich was involved with. GE were involved as they owned BorgWarner which occupied a site across the road from Northstar that had also used TCE. At the time of the discovery of the contamination the occupant of that site was known as Rozell who apparently had not been a part of the contamination..
Northstar Directors settled with the Ministry of Environment for 4.75 million dollars towards cleanup costs etc. A private. local lawsuit cost Northstar another 4 million dollars still peanuts considering the health damages alone that they had caused.
It seems probable that the outdoor sheds have mitigated some (most?) of the effects of TCE poisoning within the community's homes. That said nothing can mitigate the permanent health damages from years of exposure prior to the mitigation being initiated. Far too many people have become sick and died prematurely. Yours truly spent an evening in Joyce Hipel's home with her son Tracy and others early on in the crisis. After departing I suffered from a TCE headache with only a couple of hours of exposure. She lived in it 24 hours a day and passed on in 2010.
Our authorities are world class in minimizing other people's suffering. Their families do not forget.
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