'Solid leadership' sought
Two MPs ask feds for help with Randle Reef cleanup
February 27, 2010
Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/729409
Hamilton's two Conservative Members of Parliament are asking federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice to find new leadership for the cleanup of toxic coal-tar-contaminated sediment on Randle Reef.
The Hamilton Port Authority has backed out of managing the project, now estimated to cost $105 million, and Mayor Fred Eisenberger has said efforts are focused on convincing Public Works Canada to take over.
It's a significant issue because it's Canada's second-worst case of coal tar pollution and must be fixed before Hamilton Harbour can be removed from a list of toxic hot spots on the Great Lakes.
David Sweet, MP for the riding of Ancaster Dundas Flamborough Aldershot, told The Spectator this week that he and Niagara West-Glanbrook MP Dean Allison have written Prentice, whose department is conducting an environmental assessment of the remediation plan.
Sweet said, "We have asked that he (Prentice) look into it personally and try and re-establish leadership in the project now that the port authority is not going to do it."
He said he and Allison chose not to identify a department, such as Public Works, but instead just to say to the minister whose department pledged $30 million for the work three years ago, "Let's establish some leadership, solid leadership."
Frederic Baril, an aide to Prentice, confirmed that the letter was received Tuesday and said, "We are working on a response, however, you understand that I won't speculate on the content of this response before we reply to the MPs."
Jim Hudson, executive director of the Bay Area Restoration Council (BARC), applauded the MPs for trying to get the stalled project moving.
BARC president Debra McBride recently issued a statement saying the organization was disappointed by the lack of progress. She called on the mayor and port authority to sort out the management issue and the matter of finding $30 million or more to match contributions promised by the federal and provincial governments.
She complained that not one cent of the local share had been publicly announced.
The port authority has since said it would put up $6 million, and Eisenberger said the city put $2 million in its capital budget last year and will add $3 million this year. Finance staff say a portion will come from provincial infrastructure grants rather than city ratepayers. The rest will be borrowed.
The proposed cleanup involves building a steel-walled containment facility around the heaviest coal tar deposits, then dredging less-contaminated sediment and adding it to the facility, topping it with clean fill and creating two piers for the port authority.