Randle Reef

[SteelTown]

Baird coming with cash for Randle Reef cleanup

Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator
(Nov 8, 2007)

Canadian Environment Minister John Baird is expected to announce a $30-million federal contribution to the $90-million cleanup of Randle Reef tomorrow.

Hamilton Centre MP David Christopherson, a New Democrat, is so certain of the news he said: "Fantastic! Finally. Hooray. Let's get on with it."

Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who said he wasn't sure why Baird is coming, also said, "I'll be there Friday and I expect to hear good news."

With $30 million promised by Premier Dalton McGuinty during the recent provincial election campaign, a federal commitment would clear the way to cap and contain enough toxic mud to fill Copps Coliseum to the roof three times.

It's a significant issue because Randle Reef is the second-worst case of coal-tar contamination in Canada after the tar ponds in Sydney, N.S. And it is the biggest remaining obstacle to getting the harbour off the International Joint Commission's list of Great Lakes pollution hot spots.

The final $30 million is expected to come from the Hamilton Port Authority and in-kind donations from industry and other local sources with an interest in creating an eight-hectare peninsula for cargo storage and two new shipping piers.

Officials who've lobbied hard for the federal and provincial aid say Ottawa's pledge will clear the way for a 2008 construction start. The aim is to finish ahead of the 2015 target for removing the harbour from the hot-spot list.

Baird, who toured the site by boat in mid-July, is scheduled to appear at the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce building at the harbour at 1 p.m.

Christopherson, who has urged Baird to come up with the money, said he couldn't imagine the minister coming to town without making the announcement.

"John knows he's going to get kudos for doing this, and I will be in the lineup. I told him flat out, if he delivered, he could count on getting favourable comment from me, and I told him we need this really, really badly."

[raisethehammer]

finally.

[SteelTown]

Full Steam Ahead For Harbour Cleanup
Nov, 08 2007 - 5:10 PM

HAMILTON (AM900 CHML) - The President and CEO of the Hamilton Port Authority says it is a "huge" day for the city.

Keith Robson notes they've working for some time, to get the federal government to commit its one-third share toward the 90-million dollar clean-up of Randle Reef.

He adds that Friday's expected announcement by federal Environment Minister John Baird should allow for the capping of toxic sediment to begin early in 2009 at Hamilton Harbour's pollution hotspot.

Robson says the end results will include a clean harbour and a better image for Hamilton.

The province has already committed its 30 million dollar share towards the project. The other third will be covered by the city and other local sources.

Baird will make his announcement during an afternoon visit to the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club.

[SteelTown]

Media Advisory - Government of Canada to make Announcement on Hamilton Harbour

HAMILTON, ON, Nov. 8 /CNW Telbec/ - Canada's Environment Minister, John Baird, and Members of Parliament David Sweet and Mike Wallace, will make an announcement concerning Hamilton Harbour.


Event: News conference
Date: Friday, November 9, 2007
Time: 1:00 p.m. EST
Location: Royal Hamilton Yacht Club
Evergreen Lounge
555 Bay Street North
Hamilton, Ontario

[SteelTown]

Yay! Get'er done! I still ain't voting for you though.

Baird, Sweet and Wallace deliver action from the Government of Canada to clean up Hamilton Harbour

HAMILTON, ON, Nov. 9 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable John Baird, Minister of the Environment, David Sweet, Member of Parliament for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale and Mike Wallace, Member of Parliament for Burlington, announced today that the Government of Canada is investing $30 million towards the clean-up of contaminated sediment in Randle Reef in the Hamilton Harbour Area of Concern in the Great Lakes.

"Delivering action to cleaning up the Great Lakes and our Canadian waters is important for this government," said Minister Baird. "We know that Randle Reef is a priority and that is why our government is putting its funding on the table immediately to ensure that the Hamilton lakefront returns to productive economic and recreational use for the benefit of us and our children."

Hamilton Harbour is the largest and most severely contaminated Canadian site within the Great Lakes. It is expected that the Province of Ontario, along with municipal and local partners will each contribute one-third of the remaining costs.

"This is a great day for Hamilton Harbour and the environment in this area," said Mr. Sweet. "So many have worked so hard and I'm pleased that our Government has recognized the calls that MP Wallace and I have made to address Randle Reef."

The project involves the construction of a 9.5-hectare containment facility (made of double-lined steel walls with a clay bottom), which will be built around the area with the heaviest contamination and be used to store the less contaminated sediment dredged from the surrounding area. Once dredging is complete, the facility will be capped with clean fill and two-thirds of the area will become a shipping pier and the rest a naturalized shoreline. The containment facility is expected to have a 200-year lifespan.

"There is nothing more vital to our communities and our people than clean, healthy water. It is what Canadians demand and my constituents deserve," said Mr. Wallace. "The people of Hamilton deserve to have their waterfront returned to them and today we are taking a major step towards restoring the full economic and recreational potential of this harbour."

This major investment to clean up Hamilton Harbour is part of the Government of Canada's Action Plan for Clean Water. Recently, the Government has also taken action to protect water quality, including tough new regulations against the dumping of raw sewage and improving raw sewage treatment in municipalities and first nation communities across Canada. These measures will help filter out substances like phosphates, which can lead to excessive blue-green algae production.

[SteelTown]

Making plans for Randle
$90m cleanup strategy being floated for public input in November

The public will get to see details of the proposed $90-million cleanup of toxic tar deposits on Randle Reef in Hamilton Harbour sometime in November.

Roger Santiago of Environment Canada says a meeting that month will be the last opportunity for public input before an environmental assessment report is submitted to the federal minister in January.

If the assessment is approved next spring, as hoped, tenders could be called and construction started late next year or early in 2010.

Santiago says the nine-year construction schedule calls for toxic sediment on the bay bottom to be contained by 2015, Hamilton’s target year for getting the harbour removed from the International Joint Commission’s list of Great Lakes pollution hot spots.

A York University computer model predicts a payoff of at least $1 billion for the city if the work is done.

It puts the direct economic gain to the Hamilton Port Authority, industry and tourism at $126 million and says the image improvement that will come with delisting is worth another $900 million or more to the local economy.

The federal and provincial governments have promised $30 million each for the project, and the port authority has enlisted former federal cabinet minister Tony Valeri to help find the remaining $30 million in cash and in-kind contributions from local sources.

Marilyn Baxter, environmental manager for the port authority, said the engineering design is done.

Santiago said detailed drawings and specifications should be finished by January, when the assessment is due to be submitted.

In the meantime, Environment Canada and the authority will outline the latest plans to a project advisory group Sept. 15, and present a progress report to area MPs and MPPs at a Sept. 27 breakfast organized by Hamilton’s public works department.

That event is being held to get their support for bigger federal and provincial contributions toward $650 million in sewage-treatment upgrades needed to meet the goals of the harbour Remedial Action Plan.

The Randle Reef project involves containing the most heavily contaminated sediment inside steel walls, putting less-contaminated sediment dredged from elsewhere in the harbour on top, capping it and creating dock space just west of U.S. Steel’s Hamilton Works.

[raisethehammer]

is this plan still the one where they cap it and leave it in there and allow future generations to worry about the mess if there's an earthquake or shipping accident that blows the 'cap' open?

[adam]

They are containing it just West of U.S. Hamilton Steel ... which is exactly where Randle Reef is located! So it isn't moving very far, but really what other options do they have? Dump it up north? or Hess Village?

Looks like if something isn't done soon, we are going to see even higher cancer rates in North Hamilton due to those darn hydrocarbons... And then once it gets into our water system, welll.. good thing they have decided to clean it up.

Found a lot of info here Great Lakes Sustainability Fund for Randle Reef Cleanup Project

[HAMRetrofit]

What they need to do is have one of these built on the adjacent lands.

http://www.plascoenergygroup.com/

Have the tar scooped and plasma torched. Run the steel mills off the energy produced. Its a fantastic system and will still be useful when the project is complete.

[MsMe]

I sure hope they do something to clean this mess up. It's SUCH A HAZZARD. And not just to people, that includes anmals too.

Another bad spot is Bayfront Park. Those poor birds losing their muscle control like they have.

That's another reason I would like to move out of Hamilton, get away from this pollution.

[the dude]

it's a lazy, short-sighted move on the government's part. sure, there are issues related to safely removing the offending material and choosing a safe place to dispose of it but it shouldn't be left in place. another decision based purely on dollars and cents.

[SteelTown]

Learn more about $90m harbour cleanup plan

November 15, 2008
The Hamilton Spectator
(Nov 15, 2008)

Environment Canada will provide details of the proposed $90-million cleanup of Randle Reef at a public meeting Tuesday.

Display panels containing much of the information can be viewed in advance on the Bay Area Restoration Council website, www.hamiltonharbour.ca.

Randle Reef is said to be the second-worst case of toxic coal tar contamination in Canada, after the tar ponds in Sydney, N.S.

The heaviest contamination covers 7.5 hectares beside U.S. Steel Canada's Hamilton Works near the foot of Sherman Avenue.

The plan is to surround it with a steel-walled structure, then dredge less-contaminated sediment elsewhere in the harbour, put it inside and cap it with clean fill.

The structure would hold enough contaminated sediment to fill Copps Coliseum three times. Part of the surface would become dock space for the Hamilton Port Authority and part would be landscaped.

The federal and provincial governments have each committed $30 million for the work, considered key to removing Hamilton Harbour from the International Joint Commission's list of Great Lakes pollution hot spots. The port authority has hired former federal cabinet minister Tony Valeri to help raise the $30-million local share.

The panels will be on display from 1 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, 555 Bay St. N., with members of the project team available to answer questions. Formal presentations will be made from 7 to 8, with a question period from 8 to 9.

[crhayes]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Learn more about $90m harbour cleanup plan

November 15, 2008
The Hamilton Spectator
(Nov 15, 2008)

Environment Canada will provide details of the proposed $90-million cleanup of Randle Reef at a public meeting Tuesday.

Display panels containing much of the information can be viewed in advance on the Bay Area Restoration Council website, www.hamiltonharbour.ca.

Randle Reef is said to be the second-worst case of toxic coal tar contamination in Canada, after the tar ponds in Sydney, N.S.

The heaviest contamination covers 7.5 hectares beside U.S. Steel Canada's Hamilton Works near the foot of Sherman Avenue.

The plan is to surround it with a steel-walled structure, then dredge less-contaminated sediment elsewhere in the harbour, put it inside and cap it with clean fill.

The structure would hold enough contaminated sediment to fill Copps Coliseum three times. Part of the surface would become dock space for the Hamilton Port Authority and part would be landscaped.

The federal and provincial governments have each committed $30 million for the work, considered key to removing Hamilton Harbour from the International Joint Commission's list of Great Lakes pollution hot spots. The port authority has hired former federal cabinet minister Tony Valeri to help raise the $30-million local share.

The panels will be on display from 1 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, 555 Bay St. N., with members of the project team available to answer questions. Formal presentations will be made from 7 to 8, with a question period from 8 to 9.

630,000 cubic meters of contaminated coal tar! Hopefully when this project is complete the whole dock/landscaped area will be put to good use.

[SteelTown]

[MsMe]

Too bad the industires couldn't pump their waste into a truck then take it to the plant on Woodward so they can purify it before it goes back into the lake.

[realcity]

is it possible that Hamilton Harbour could be a container port? Perhaps take containers that now go to Montreal? It's a deep sea port, part of St. Lawrence Seaway.

Would it make any sense if the ships sailed past Montreal to Hamilton, and unloaded from there onto trucks/trains, Hamilton is closer to larger markets so it might save on fuel. thoughts?

[realcity]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

this rendering shows a container ship with a container yard and cranes/rails for unloading containers???? does it make sense? Could Hamilton be competitive in a container port industry?

[SteelTown]

Yea, shipping containers is big now. The Port Authority bought a huge piece of land from Stelco to make it into a large shipping port. That land will be used for shipping from Canada to USA (New York state). Trucks can stay off the QEW and just meet at the ports instead. That's the future.

[Dundasguy]

The St. Lawrence is too narrow and too shallow to accomodate today's super sized container ships.

[MsMe]

Originally Posted by Dundasguy

The St. Lawrence is too narrow and too shallow to accomodate today's super sized container ships.

I heard they are having same problems with the Welland canal now too due to the size of the huge ships.