Who should pay to clean up industrial pollution from another era?

In Hamilton Harbour, workers cover a giant octagonal structure, the size of six football fields, with rubber canvas. Beneath the canvas, steel walls sunk into the bed of Lake Ontario contain nearly 600,000 m³ of contaminated sediment, enough to fill the Rogers Center, home of the Toronto Blue Jays, by a third.

The structure must make it possible to decontaminate the reef Randle. Backed by the Stelco steelworks facilities in Hamilton, the region was home to the largest contaminated site on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes.

The reef sediments contained polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), substances stubborn, toxic and carcinogenicexplains Roger Santiago, head of the sediment remediation unit at Environment and Climate Change Canada.

For decades, pollution has spread through the port, contaminating the region’s flora and fauna.

I wouldn’t swim heresays Sean McGibbon, a resident of the municipality, without hesitation. I don’t understand how things manage to live in thereasks Ed McCartan for his part. It’s disgusting. I would love to see the harbor cleanedadds Jacqueline Hunt.

From the formation of blue-green algae to sewage spills during heavy rains, Hamilton Harbor faces many environmental challenges.

But through Randle Reef remediation efforts, pires substances were sucked from the bottom of the water with a dredging pump and enclosed in the waterproof structure.

At a cost of $150 million, the project, which is in its final phase, will have taken nearly 25 years to complete.

The step that took a little time was obtaining the financingindicates Mr. Santiago who will have devoted a significant portion of his career to the initiative.

A decade passed between the time an advisory committee determined the steel structure would be the best way to contain the sediment and the announcement that funding for the project had closed.

The challenges of contamination inherited

As in many cities in the Great Lakes region, economic development in Hamilton has occurred without much regard for environmental preservation. In 1965, nearly 100 tons of contaminants were dumped into the port water daily.

Both in Canada and the United States, it was not until the end of the 1960s that a series of restrictive environmental laws appeared for businesses. But centuries of industrial activity had already left their traces.

In 1987, the Port of Hamilton was added to 42 others areas of concern in the Great Lakes region, 12 of which are located within Canadian borders and five for which Canada and the United States share responsibility.

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To date, decontamination efforts have resulted in the removal of three sites from the Canadian list.

For the 14 who remain […] we have big and small projects to clean themassures Kate Taillon, manager of Great Lakes areas of concern at Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Finding funds for these projects is a challengeadmits the federal civil servant.

In many cases, the companies responsible for the pollution did not break any laws at the time, and several have since closed their doors.

We are faced with inherited contamination. There are no entities that we can point to and say, “You are responsible.”explains Mr. Santiago.

In the case of the reef decontamination project Randlethe bill was split into three. A ideal situationbut which is not always possible, indicates Ms. Taillon.

The federal and provincial governments have each agreed to pay $46.3 million. Local actors – mainly municipalities in the region – paid the remaining amounts.

Stelco was the only private company to contribute financially to the project. The steel mill supplied the $14 million worth of steel panels needed to build the structure.

The company did not respond to our requests for an interview.

A challenge shared with the Americans

John Hartig, a visiting scientist at the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Institute, says the strategy for trapping Randle Reef sediments is a practical solution to a complex problem.

He believes that Detroit could take inspiration from it to decontaminate the river that separates it from Windsor.

According to the researcher, more than 5 million m³ Contaminated sediments have accumulated on the American side of the seaway. Some 345,000 m³ Sediment must also be removed from the Red River which runs through the city.

The estimated cost of the operation: 1.37 billion US dollars.

Under the Great Lakes Legacy Actthe American government could cover 65% of the bill. The remaining 35 percent must come from local Michigan players, Hartig says.

Detroit cannot pay this amount. The city has huge financial problemshe continues.

There are still a few viable industries. These are the first groups you want to reach out to and ask them to contribute to the projectadds the researcher.

The State of Michigan is called upon to partially finance the decontamination of the sites orphans who have no neighboring businesses.

According to Mr. Hartig, local players still seem far from reaching an agreement. And while negotiations stall, time is running out.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiativea federal fund through which decontamination projects in the Great Lakes are financed, expires in 2027.

For now, a group of Democratic and Republican elected officials support extending the budget until 2031, but with $3.7 billion awarded to more than 7,500 projects to date, American lawmakers may well want to close the tap.

We only have a few years left to take control of the situationinsists Mr. Hartig, who continues to believe that businesses in the region will end up contributing to decontamination efforts.

In Mr. Hartig’s eyes, the fallout associated with cleaning up the shores of a city like Detroit is too great to leave them polluted.

One of the most compelling arguments is return on investment, he says. The Don River is a good example.

A Toronto river as a model

Separating east Toronto from its downtown core, the Don River has also been the victim of decades of contamination.

In 1969, concerned residents even held a funeral for the waterway because the level of pollution was so high.

You couldn’t really touch the water. It was awfulremembers John Wilson, one of those who fought for years to have the river cleaned up.

In 2017, Ottawa, Ontario and the City of Toronto shared an investment of $1.25 billion to transform the mouth of the Don River.

The project would remove contaminated sediment, protect the region from flooding and prepare the Port Lands area to accommodate thousands of homes.

According to Waterfront Toronto, the group responsible for carrying out the initiative, the project is expected to generate nearly two billion dollars in additional tax revenue for all three levels of government.

The expansion of the City’s tax base, [la construction de] housing and waterfront development, I’m sure those things resonated with politiciansnote M. Wilson. It’s a bit of a perfect storm of progress.

Continue efforts

In Hamilton, the steel structure in which contaminated reef sediments are trapped Randle will become a wharf to expand port facilities.

It will serve, among other things, a future sugar refinery under construction near the water.

According to calculations by researchers at York University, benefits are estimated at approximately $174 million over 25 yearssays Roger Santiago of Environment and Climate Change Canada.

This type of return on investment could lead to other decontamination initiatives coming to fruition, think the stakeholders we met.

The benefits could also make it easier for future governments to swallow when the time comes to reinject funds into the reef project. Randle.

A sign that remediating contamination often requires ongoing efforts, the steel panels that form the structure’s envelope have a lifespan of 75 to 100 years and will therefore one day need to be replaced.

At that point we will need to determine what technology will be appropriate to keep the sediment trappedmaintains Mr. Santiago.