MONTREAL – Quebec’s environment ministry sent a notice to two Pointe-Claire companies ordering them to submit a decontamination plan within 30 days.
In 2013, an illegal stockpile of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) was discovered on the former Reliance Power equipment site on Hymus Boulevard.
READ MORE: PCB problem in Pointe-Claire more extensive than originally thought
The stockpile was removed last year, but the land was never decontaminated.
Along with the decontamination plan, the underground water system on Hymus Blvd. will have to be monitored.
Pointe-Claire mayor Morris Trudeau said he is pleased with the Ministry’s decision.
“The bottom line is that it will be done and this is good news for Pointe-Claire,” he told Global News.
READ MORE: PCB seepage in Pointe-Claire has environmental group concerned
Many residents were surprised that the soil hadn’t been decontaminated upon the removal of the chemicals, expressing their disappointment with the city for not being more transparent.
Pointe-Claire resident Cliff Bush has been monitoring the situation, but remains skeptical.
“At the town hall meeting, [city officials] said that they were going to take care of it and then they put it on the landlord of the building to take care of it,” Bush said.
He said the city promised to decontaminate the land.
It has since passed to the Ministry to intervene.
READ MORE: More PCBs leak into storm drainage system in Pointe-Claire
Trudeau said he was not impressed with the way the situation was originally handled.
“In a perfect world, we would have been very content if they would have come in there, destroyed the PCBs, and decontaminated in the first year. Unfortunately that’s not how it works,” he said.
Residents insisted it’s the city’s responsibility to keep its residents safe.