Quote:
Originally Posted by alecz_dad
No, I think it is more fact-mongering caution out of genuine concern:
* from adjacent residents about what toxins have been blowing around during the course of the excavations;
* that contaminants continue to blow off the giant mounds of exposed soil, that would normally have to be removed offsite to an appropriate disposal site;
* that after having been blended up with other non-contaminated soil it will be impossible to obtain accurate levels of different contaminants found in soils from the different locations around the site; and
* that the soils are going to be re-entombed without an impermeable liner and leachate pumping system, to prevent the contaminated soil that will all now be located immediately next to the Canal, from potentially leaching toxins into the groundwater and by way of the Canal into the Ottawa River ecosystem.
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So, nonsense? No, I don't think so.
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Two additional problems with these comments. First, the suggestion that this soil should be removed to "an appropriate disposal site" really means that you just want it to be somewhere else. Foisting local problems on someone else by sending your contamination to some remote area is a typical NIMBY sentiment and is not good policy.
Second, the contaminated soil, complete with leaching issues, has been there for years, just like the sea of crumbling asphalt. There was no public outcry until the Lansdowne project began. Why is that? And why is this outcry coming from the exact same group of people that has opposed the project as a whole?
The problem is that these complaints lack credibility. (Mind you, not as much as the complaints about the loss of parkland as the City plans construction of a massive urban park.) The approach taken by this group - complain about every aspect of the project and hope something sticks - means that none of the complaints are being taken seriously anymore.
I really believe that the interests of the community would have been much better served if a constructive approach had been taken from the beginning. People posting pages from the Lorax on fences have to recognize that they are not going to be seen as people with genuine, balanced arguments to make.