Randle Reef cleanup moving in slow motion

Hamilton politicians and government agencies yet again embarrass this city. Hamilton has yet to come up with its one-third share of the Randle Reef cleanup cost more than two years after the federal and provincial governments pledged a total of $60 million.

The environmental assessment is unfinished, the Hamilton Port Authority is refusing to manage the project and local officials are begging Public Works Canada to take over. All the while, a toxic stew of coal tar, metals and industrial chemicals on the floor of Hamilton Harbour continues to spread and disperse.

Randle Reef has been called a spill in slow motion. Now we have a cleanup in slow motion.

The plan is to build a steel wall around the most contaminated sediment beside U.S. Steel Canada's plant, then add material dredged from other areas and cap the structure to create two piers for the port authority.

When the McGuinty government announced its $30-million pledge 30 months ago this week, it said work could start in 2008. No one can now say when it will begin.

The cost has risen to $105 million from $90 million and it seems certain Hamilton has lost its chance to celebrate the harbour cleanup in 2015, when it welcomes thousands of visitors to the Pan Am Games.

Capping the contaminants was always a band-aid solution, but it's better than nothing. The proper way would to copy the one billion dollar cleanup of Scajaquada Creek in Buffalo. The only solution their was to dig out all soils to a depth of 20 feet and process the soil enough for transport to Hamilton, as a semi-solid, where it was washed and hazardous particulates separated and buried at Swan Hills Alberta.

The sight and smell of raw contamination is sickening so to cap it would mean that sometime in the future it would still need to be processed, so do it right in the first place. Raw cement and lime must be added to solidify it enough to cap and definitely not reclaimed soil alone and a steel wall.

This reef needs to be cleaned up ASAP; the cleanup should take priority over everything that this council has on the boil. Stelco didn't start the problem, nor are they the only problem, but, they should never have been allowed free reign to contaminate not only our air but also our lakes and lands.

Later,
Kenaz