toxic waste

Thursday July 23, 2015

Thursday July 23, 2015Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 23, 2015

Randle Reef construction starting in spring

After years of delay, the harbour toxic blob will be encapsulated at a cost of almost $140M

The Hamilton company that will take on the first phase of the long awaited Randle Reef Remediation Project won’t be starting construction until the spring of 2016.

Environment Canada says it’s too late this year to begin work encapsulating the giant toxic blob in Hamilton Harbour. As well, it will take several months for steel to be made for the containment walls.

The $138.9-million project to deal with the worst coal tar contaminated site in Canada had been snarled for years in delays, technical studies, funding disputes, and legalities. Then in February 2014 a call for bidders was issued with expectations of construction beginning that summer.

But that was dashed when all the bids came in over budget and government officials had to go back to the drawing board. A second request for proposals was issued in the spring of 2015, with hopes of construction beginning this summer.

But now—with the awarding of the contract to McNally Construction of Hamilton taking until last week – actual construction has been put off again.

“I had a feeling this would happen,” said Lynda Lukasik, of Environment Hamilton. “It is par for the course. We have been waiting a long time.”

But she said she is pleased the project has reached a point that a contract has been awarded for the first of three phases.

Jonathan Gee, of Environment Canada, said one aspect of the project will move ahead in September. In a separate contract with a different construction company, work will begin on reconstructing a harbour wall along the shoreline.

The entire remediation project is slated for completion in 2022. “Two years to build the box, two years to fill the box, and three years to put a lid on the box,” said Gee. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Friday April 27, 2002

April 27, 2002

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 27, 2002

Hamilton’s Randle Reef

There have been so many setbacks in cleaning up Randle Reef, the notorious dead zone in Hamilton Harbour, that it seemed as if a solution would take forever. So much for the litany of bad news associated with the toxic hot spot just west of Stelco’s Hilton Works. With key stakeholders now in agreement on a viable strategy for the cleanup, Hamilton is finally in position to correct one of the most pressing pollution problems in the harbour.

The stakeholders made a prudent choice in supporting a plan to cover the site and build a facility large enough to hold contaminated sediment from other areas in the bay. Capping Randle Reef was judged the most practical and cost-effective approach, and for good reason. The alternatives involved dredging the site, and other contaminated areas of the bay, and then trucking the waste away. It would be a messy, piecemeal, time-consuming and ultimately more expensive approach for the harbour as a whole.

The plan favoured by the stakeholders has the drawback of filling in more of the bay, which is never desirable. But there is a strong case that it’s an acceptable tradeoff in tackling not only the Randle Reef menace, but other contaminated areas in the bay which must be addressed. Under the preferred option, six to eight hectares of the harbour would be filled in. About 95,000 cubic metres of contaminated sediment at Randle Reef would be covered. The facility would be designed to accommodate another 200,000 cubic metres of contaminated sediment from elsewhere in the bay. (The Hamilton Spectator)