Transport Canada is spending millions of dollars cleaning up historic pollution at a municipal airport in British Columbia even as it refuses the same help to Hamilton.
Hamilton is studying PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) contamination at an old firefighting training pad at its airport, which Transport Canada owned until 1996. The toxic chemical has also been found downstream in fish and turtles in the Binbrook reservoir.
The city has asked for federal cash for remediation, which could cost $2 million at the airport alone. The federal government says it’s not responsible for the cleanup because the 1996 airport transfer agreement doesn’t list PFOS as a “contaminant of concern.”
But Transport Canada has spent close to $2.4 million since 2006 cleaning up firefighting pollution, including PFOS, at an airport owned by the City of Williams Lake, B.C., according to a federal contaminated sites inventory.
“We weren’t even aware of it (the pollution) until the government came in and started doing remediation work,” said Brian Carruthers, CAO for the city of 11,000 which also took over its airport from Transport Canada in 1996. “Never once was there any indication that it was anything other than the federal government’s responsibility to deal with … It’s never been a political issue at all.”
Hamilton Councillor Brian McHattie said the federal government can’t take responsibility for pollution that happened on its watch in one place, but not in another.
“If they’re treating municipalities in different ways, they’re in trouble,” said McHattie, one of several councillors who initially balked at paying for a pollution study without federal involvement. “The federal government obviously has to contribute because the city doesn’t have the resources to deal with this problem.”
The city is still trying to convince the federal government to help, said Guy Paparella, director of airport and industrial land development, but staff have not yet investigated the Williams Lake cleanup and how it compares to Hamilton’s situation.
The Spectator asked to speak with Transport Canada about the B.C. project last Thursday, but no one was available by the end of Tuesday. Answers to emailed questions were also unavailable.
David Sweet, Conservative MP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale, said he and Niagara West-Glanbrook MP Dean Allison have met with city and federal officials on the issue, but added he “won’t speculate” on whether federal funding is possible.
“The Minister has been clear, the government has been clear, the transfer happened in 1996, and now it’s a local responsibility,” he said.
That response confuses Joe Minor, the Hamilton biologist who raised the alarm about PFOS near the airport with independent soil testing in 2011.
Minor pointed to consultant reports online showing Transport Canada is involved in remediation or studies of PFOS not only in British Columbia, but also in Ontario at the London International Airport, which is still on federally owned land.
The federal government, through the Department of National Defence, is also investigating PFOS contamination at military bases in Trenton and Greenwood, N.S.
“I’m not sure how they can say they’re not responsible,” Minor said. “It’s like Hamilton being left out is a bureaucratic accident or something.”
In Williams Lake, Carruthers said he assumes the city’s 1996 airport transfer agreement shows Transport Canada is responsible for the cleanup, but he was unable to find the document last week.
Hamilton is studying PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) contamination at an old firefighting training pad at its airport, which Transport Canada owned until 1996. The toxic chemical has also been found downstream in fish and turtles in the Binbrook reservoir.
The city has asked for federal cash for remediation, which could cost $2 million at the airport alone. The federal government says it’s not responsible for the cleanup because the 1996 airport transfer agreement doesn’t list PFOS as a “contaminant of concern.”
But Transport Canada has spent close to $2.4 million since 2006 cleaning up firefighting pollution, including PFOS, at an airport owned by the City of Williams Lake, B.C., according to a federal contaminated sites inventory.
“We weren’t even aware of it (the pollution) until the government came in and started doing remediation work,” said Brian Carruthers, CAO for the city of 11,000 which also took over its airport from Transport Canada in 1996. “Never once was there any indication that it was anything other than the federal government’s responsibility to deal with … It’s never been a political issue at all.”
Hamilton Councillor Brian McHattie said the federal government can’t take responsibility for pollution that happened on its watch in one place, but not in another.
“If they’re treating municipalities in different ways, they’re in trouble,” said McHattie, one of several councillors who initially balked at paying for a pollution study without federal involvement. “The federal government obviously has to contribute because the city doesn’t have the resources to deal with this problem.”
The city is still trying to convince the federal government to help, said Guy Paparella, director of airport and industrial land development, but staff have not yet investigated the Williams Lake cleanup and how it compares to Hamilton’s situation.
The Spectator asked to speak with Transport Canada about the B.C. project last Thursday, but no one was available by the end of Tuesday. Answers to emailed questions were also unavailable.
David Sweet, Conservative MP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale, said he and Niagara West-Glanbrook MP Dean Allison have met with city and federal officials on the issue, but added he “won’t speculate” on whether federal funding is possible.
“The Minister has been clear, the government has been clear, the transfer happened in 1996, and now it’s a local responsibility,” he said.
That response confuses Joe Minor, the Hamilton biologist who raised the alarm about PFOS near the airport with independent soil testing in 2011.
Minor pointed to consultant reports online showing Transport Canada is involved in remediation or studies of PFOS not only in British Columbia, but also in Ontario at the London International Airport, which is still on federally owned land.
The federal government, through the Department of National Defence, is also investigating PFOS contamination at military bases in Trenton and Greenwood, N.S.
“I’m not sure how they can say they’re not responsible,” Minor said. “It’s like Hamilton being left out is a bureaucratic accident or something.”
In Williams Lake, Carruthers said he assumes the city’s 1996 airport transfer agreement shows Transport Canada is responsible for the cleanup, but he was unable to find the document last week.
Source: http://metronews.ca
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