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Great Lakes toxic hotspots ignored for decades
Great Lakes toxic hotspots ignored for decades
March 06, 2008
Citizens’ groups outline lack of attention to toxic hotspots clean-up – recommend immediate actions
Sault Ste. Marie, ON - Attention to Ontario’s worst sites of toxic pollution have steadily fallen from the public and government radar over the past several decades.
On the heels of a report by Ron Thompson, Federal Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development to the Auditor General of Canada, two prominent citizens’ groups have outlined a plan to revitalize clean-up efforts, calling on the federal government to stand up and lead the effort.
“The Environment Commissioner has made it clear - more action is needed. Today, we are saying just what that action should look like,” said Derek Stack, executive director of Great Lakes United.
There are 43 toxic hotspots, formally termed Areas of Concern, across the Great Lakes region. Of these, 12 are in Canada and five are shared by Canada and the United States. Since being identified in 1987, only three of the 43 sites have been cleaned up.
The St. Mary’s River was listed as an Area of Concern over 20 years ago because of many problems, including continuing pollution from industrial and municipal sources, loss of fish and wildlife habitat, and, especially, contaminated sediments that remain on the bottom of the river.
“We have a legacy of contaminated sediments that need to be re-mediated,” says Dr. Greg Zimmerman of the St. Mary’s River Binational Public Advisory Council (BPAC). “We don’t need more studies. We do need some specific plans to clean up those contaminated sediments, especially in the Bellevue Park and Little Lake George areas.”
Great Lakes United and the Ontario Public Advisory Council urge the federal government to make the following commitments:
- $300 million over two years to develop comprehensive and coordinated plans to clean up contaminated sediments. This should be followed up with significant funding to begin the actual clean-up effort, estimated to cost between $0.75 billion and $2 billion.
- $1.5 billion over five years to upgrade wastewater infrastructure in Ontario’s AOCs and Quebec’s zones d’intervention prioritaire (ZIPs). This should be matched by provincial contributions to achieve the $3.0 billion necessary to clean up these sites, as estimated by Environment Canada ($2.4 billion for the AOCs) and the Green Budget Coalition ($0.6 billion for the ZIPs)
- $5.2 billion over 10 years to create a Great Lakes Clean Water Infrastructure fund. This funding addresses one-third of the current infrastructure deficit, as identified by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal. The remaining two-thirds should be funded by provincial and municipal governments.
“Volunteers in Ontario have dedicated hundreds of thousands of hours over the past 20 years towards the clean-up of the most seriously damaged parts of the Great Lakes,” says Moyra Haney, chair of the Ontario Public Advisory Council. “But that’s only part of the job. The sweat that Ontarians have put into cleaning their communities must be matched by some heavy-lifting by the federal government.”
“There has been substantial progress in all of the toxic hotspots in Ontario over the past 20 years, but there’s still much more to be done,” said John Jackson of Great Lakes United. “Our federal government has an opportunity to make huge strides to protect our communities.”
The challenges facing cleanup of toxic pollution, and the actions needed are outlined in Great Lakes Hotspots: Citizens Speak Up, authored by Jackson and available on the Ontario Public Advisory Council website.
“It is too easy to shrug our shoulders and say that these hotspots are beyond hope,” said Stack. “The fact is cleaning up these sites is within our grasp; all we need is the political will to complete the job.”
Other issues highlighted in the Environmental Commissioner’s report:
- Genetically modified fish largely unregulated in the lab and with not requirement to
report escapes into the wild
- Government dragging feet in combating continuing invasion of foreign species mostly
on the East Coast and Great Lakes
- Environment Canada lacks clear guidelines for rejecting advice of a federal science
panel designed to protect endangered species and so far produced recovery plans for
only 17 of 142 species at risk for which they are responsible. Parks Canada has
produced recovery plans for only 55 or 228 species at risk for which they are
responsible
- Management of bird sanctuaries and other protected wildlife areas is weak and full of
gaps
- Great Lakes cleanup stalled, with only 2 of 17 areas of concern restored after 20
years. Sewage and toxic sediments flowing into lakes remain urgent problems
- The Commissioner noted satisfactory progress on assessing dangerous chemicals,
managing pesticide safety, and identifying and cleaning up contaminated sites. National
Defense also gets passing grade for program to identify munitions and chemical
warfare dumps both at sea and on land.
Read the full report at Office of the Auditor General of Canada.
For additional information, click here and here
About the groups:
Great Lakes United is an international coalition dedicated to preserving and restoring the health of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River ecosystem. Great Lakes United is made up of member organizations representing environmentalists, conservationists, hunters and anglers, labor unions, community groups, and citizens of the United States, Canada, and First Nations and tribes.
The Ontario Public Advisory Council (OPAC) is made up of a representative from each of the remedial action planning public advisory committees in Ontario. Its roles are to advise the governments of Canada and Ontario on the development and implementation of remedial action plans, and to provide a forum for discussion and information sharing among public advisory committees.
The St. Mary’s River BPAC members are dedicated Canadian and American citizens devoted to the clean-up of the St. Mary’s River Area of Concern. Through the years, BPAC has urged the governments of Canada and the United States to fund the actions needed to restore and protect the St. Mary’s River, including removal of contaminated sediments, upgrading of the East End Sewage Treatment Plant and [providing funds] for numerous projects to improve fishery habitat in the river and tributaries.
March 14, 2008
Editors Note:
The full US government report 2007 Draft "Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in the Twenty-six Great Lakes Areas of Concern" is now available online.