The article in last Saturday's Record is titled "Long journey to transform former Kitchener industrial site almost complete". My first concern is the inaccurate or at least deceptive claim that the building was "abandoned and derelict for years," Nice try as it sat there rotting above ground and leaking trichloroethylene (TCE) below ground for many decades. The words "contaminated" and remediation" are used twice and once respectively.
What it doesn't say are the negative health effects that TCE has had on the neighbourhood, the residents and local wildlife likely since early in its life more than 120 years ago. The article also doesn't give us any idea as to the extent of remediation. Did mayor Vrbanovic and local illuminaries ask for and receive the Cadillac cleanup as promised here in Elmira or instead did they receive the Volkswagon Beetle cleanup as we have here? TCE is a DNAPL chemical. Did they find remaining pools of TCE and if so what did they do with them? How deep did the soil and groundwater contamination go? What other chemicals were released along with the TCE? One component spills, releases and dumpings are mostly a fiction perpetrated by those looking for cleanup shortcuts.
Where are the Phase 1 and 2 Environmental Assessments? Who did those assessments? Was a Risk Assessment completed allegedly to determine exactly how much cleanup was required? Were monitoring wells ever installed in both shallow and deeper aquifers to determine how far from the source the TCE (and other) contamination has spread? Was any testing of nearby homes ever undertaken to determine if TCE had penetrated into them via vapour intrusion? How many cancers, lung and heart diseases may have been caused or exacerbated by TCE and other contaminants?
Sorry K-W Record but this article is simply a puff piece to help re-elect Berry Vrbanovic in October. Yes "The Shanley" probably makes the neighbourhood look better now but where was the cleanup 25 to 50 years ago when it was most needed? As a society are we going to continue letting toxic contamination sit in residential areas for decades and pretend that no harm has been done?
No comments:
Post a Comment