An Irving Oil storage tank sits near the former Imperial Oil fuel storage facility in Charlottetown.
Island taxpayers may soon purchase more than they’re bargaining for.
A large piece of land on the Charlottetown waterfront, which was once an Imperial Oil fuel storage facility, is full of contaminants. It’s also the proposed location for an outdoor events centre and parking lot.
An environmental toxicologist from UPEI reviewed a risk assessment of the site and found plenty of red flags in the assessment, all of which were a cause of concern for him.
“The report certainly made me believe that there are areas where it is literally just laden with liquid petroleum in the soil,” Michael Van Den Heuvel, Canada research chair in watershed ecological integrity, told Island Edition.
Given the site’s close proximity to the Hillsborough River and the shallow water table under the land, Van Den Heuvel said it’s only a matter of time before the contaminants reach the river.
“There’s no question. There’s nothing to stop this stuff from slowly getting in (the river), said Van Den Heuvel. “I can’t really see what rate it is (moving) and I can’t really say that it’s going to be harmful to organisms in the environment or not without doing further
study.”
If fish were affected when the contaminants reach the river then the owner of the land would be on the hook for federal fishery violations, said Van Den Heuvel.
Imperial Oil owns the land but did enter into an agreement to sell the property to the Charlottetown Area Development Corporation.
The province, CADC and the city signed a memorandum of understanding with the oil giant in January 2009. The agreement would see CADC take ownership of the land and any future liabilities.
Before the land changes hands, the province needs to approve the development. CADC submitted an environmental impact statement to the environment department in January 2010 – it is currently under review.
Part of the environmental statement outlines a mitigation plan prepared for Imperial Oil by engineering firm Conestoga-Rovers.
“I’m not an environmental engineer or profess to be one. Conestoga-Rovers is an internationally recognized environmental engineering firm and they’ve presented a risk assessment plan that the provincial Department of Environment and Imperial Oil have both agreed is a fair and reasonable plan,” said Ron Waite, general manager of CADC.
The plan calls for capping the site with one-meter of soil in some areas and paving over the rest.
Conestoga-Rovers said that as long as the mitigation plan is followed, contaminants in the ground would not pose any risk.
“They’re stable. That was one thing we looked at, especially with the oil in the ground. We wanted to determine if it has any potential to move,” said Matt Rousseau in an interview with Island Edition in November 2011. “We looked at it in about five different ways, including some very sophisticated testing that is not actually commonly done in Canada and we could find no evidence that (contaminants) had any potential to move.”
Van Den Heuvel, who has been part of contaminated land clean ups in New Zealand, doesn’t buy that the contaminants aren’t moving.
“Chemicals may move slowly (but) there is almost a certainty to my mind that they are going to reach the estuary in time,” he said. “They openly admit in the report that this will get into the groundwater, but apparently that’s not important because no body’s going to drink it.”
All groundwater under the Island eventually discharges into a stream, river or coastal area.
“Groundwater systems on P.E.I. are shallow and turn over quickly, water is generally thought to have a residence time of about 5 years,” said Van Den Heuvel. “So when you have groundwater contamination a stone’s throw from the river, it does not take an expert to predict the outcome.”
As far as Island Edition could find out, the water table under the Imperial Oil site discharges into the Hillsborough River.
CADC is prepared to move forward with the plan once the project gets approval from the province.
“I stand to be corrected but the number of monitoring points that they’ve had on that land over an extended period of time have suggested that any contaminants on the land are stable and stationary,” said Waite. “I woulnd’t profess to know one way or the other (but) over time all we can do is rely on the subject matter experts.”
Waite pointed out other contaminated lands around Charlottetown have been redeveloped and enjoyed by residents and tourists, one of which was Confederation Landing Park. The park was developed on contaminated land after the Texaco bulk plant was demolished in 1991.
“They moved some of the contaminants around and then capped them (with clean soil). Certainly today it appears to be a fine site,” he said.
Because the only interview with Rousseau was from November 2010, recent attempts were made to give him a chance to respond to Van Den Heuvel’s claims.
Rousseau said he needed to get permission from Imperial Oil before he could answer further questions.
He never called back.
“We’ve been very forthright from the beginning, as has Imperial (Oil), that these are contaminated lands, there’s no question about that,” said Waite. “We’re prepared to move forward under those recommendations.”
Waite would like to see construction of the outdoor park begin this spring.
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