PCBs and PAHs leak from Montreal July 04, 2002 Driving into Montreal on Highway 10 near the Victoria Street Bridge, you would never know you are passing over one of Canada's most toxic sites. Old Montreal rises up ahead of you and the mighty St. Lawrence River rushes along outside your passenger window. The highway sign over your head reads "Technoparc". Nothing tells you that an old landfill site filled with noxious chemicals lies just beneath your tires. If you were to stop your car on the shoulder, hop over the guardrail and look down the riverbank, you would see a wooden monitoring platform and a series of yellow and white floating cushions just offshore. The cushions are called "booms" and they are designed to catch PCBs and PAHs as they pour into the St. Lawrence River from the Technoparc landfill. That is to say, the booms are designed to catch the toxins - but that is not what is happening. Right now, PCBs are seeping out of the riverbank and into one of Canada's most important rivers. Seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, these dangerous toxins pour into the St. Lawrence River. And it has been happening for years. The Environmental Bureau of Investigation has been documenting the contamination since the year 2000. In that time, we have: Sampled the leaking toxins four times, identifying more than 15 contaminants; Taken 100 photographs of the contamination; Filed dozens of pages of field notes; Video-taped hundreds of minutes of ongoing contamination; Commissioned a report from an independent biologist and former government investigator; Brought local, national, and international media attention to the poisoning of the St. Lawrence River. We compiled all of our evidence and published a report in April 2002. Environment Canada says it is now investigating the toxic leaks - but the owner of the site, the City of Montreal, has made no effort to stem the flow of pollutants into the St. Lawrence River. In fact, the City of Montreal is bragging about its track-record for cleaning up contaminated sites. Ignoring photographs of free-flowing toxic slicks running down the St. Lawrence River, the City claims there is no problem. Despite an official investigation by Federal environment officers, city representatives still talk publicly about successful containment. Dumping PCBs in concentrations three million times government guidelines is not success - not according to our environmental laws. On paper, Quebec has some of the strongest restrictions on PCBs in the country. We just need to see these standards enforced to halt the toxic leaks and send a message to polluters that our rivers, lakes, and communities will be protected. We know that environmental law enforcement works. EBI's investigations in New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, and other regions prove it. We need your help to prove it again. Just downriver from the Technoparc landfill, the beluga whales are in trouble. Contamination from PCBs and PAHs are devastating populations of these beautiful creatures. Despite ongoing investigations by EBI and Environment Canada, the City of Montreal's Technoparc landfill continues to discharge these toxins into the St. Lawrence River each and every day. Making a stand to protect this great river is going to take money that we do not yet have. We need to find a way to join together and make this happen. We just cannot do it without your donation. Sincerely, Mark Mattson Executive Director P.S. By enforcing Federal environment laws in Quebec, we will set precedents to protect all of our rivers, lakes, and streams. We must act now to protect one body of water, or risk jeopardizing the protection of every body of water in Canada. If everyone just gives a little, together we can make it happen. Be a part of something that makes a huge difference to our environment, to our communities, and to our country.

 

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