New Brunswick’s Department of Environment and Climate Change says there is currently no budget to deal with the remediation of industrial contamination sites in the province.
Heidi Liston, deputy minister for the department, said the fund for orphaned contaminated sites was eliminated in 2009 after responding to questions by Liberal MLA Rene Legacy.
“There’s no funds?” Legacy asked.
“There is no specific fund to deal with that,” Liston said.
Orphaned sites are properties where the owner either cannot be located or can’t pay for remediation. Along with cancelling the budget, the province also stopped tracking them, meaning it’s now impossible to know how many there are in the province.
AG report revealed backlog
Back in November, Paul Martin, the province’s auditor general, revealed the province had a backlog of 1,046 contaminated sites, some of them orphaned.
At the time he said the files stretch back 35 years, with three-quarters being more than 10 years old. The province doesn’t implement remediation timelines and consistently fails to follow its own processes outlined in the remediation program.
New Brunswick is the only Atlantic Canadian province not to have any regulation or legislation on contaminated sites.
Liston said there was about $250,000 set aside for remediation in the department last year.
“Yeesh, OK, so nothing,” said Legacy.
The province has added 66 new contaminated sites to its long list, but only closed 60, according to Liston – a net improvement of just six sites. It can take up to two years to fully remediate a site that is considered contaminated.
She said a site cannot be closed until it is tested to be sure the contaminants are fully eradicated.
The plan
She said the department is in Phase 2 of a plan that will come before legislators sometime this year, but when asked for a more specific timeframe, Liston only reiterated it would be sometime this year.
“We may be looking at some of the highest priority areas,” she said.
Only 180 of the 1,046 sites are owned by the province. Liston said tracking down the owners can be a difficult process.
Prioritization is the second phase, listing sites based on proximity to water sources and residential areas, as well as how old the site is.
Liston said remediation cannot be done through the Environment Trust Fund or Climate Change Fund, as it does not meet the current criteria for projects that would fall under its umbrella.
She said the department is looking at its budget, which could include asking the government for more money, to deal with sites of the highest priority.
Comments