“Environmentalists find toxins in Turcot Dump” - CTV

CTV reported in the middle of the night that “… environmentalists have found toxins in the huge piles of snow in the Turcot Yard.”  No word on who they were.  No reaction by City Hall, no comment by a public-servant.

I must suspect something stinks in that the media is blatantly failing to do an adequate job of getting to the bottom of these snow piles which are quickly turning the yard into the *TURCOT GARBAGE DUMP*.  There is more to this than meets the eye.

 Over the years a great number of citizens have fought in many communities the spectre of an impending garbage dump making politicos jump through hoops and perform environmental impact studies before such toxic behemoths could be developed next to residential and commercial (as opposed to industrial) districts.  Our elected officials and their minions have managed to foist a toxic mass, through incompetence or by crook for all we know, (someone didn’t want to shell out all the money it would have taken to move the snow somewhere further away and more apporpriate) next to St-Henri, NDG and who knows where the toxic-dust will fly depending on the blustery winds which are about to become a Spring-storms reality.

It is impossible for this writer to believe that there is no brain at Montreal City Hall who could have come up with a reasonable solution to this trap.  They should at least cover it up, water it down (use crop-dusters) - it would create jobs for the summer - regularly as would be done with hoses on a construction or demolition site generating dust.  This toxic heap also should be monitored for downwind and perimiter fallout, for if we learn nothing else from this we will understand what is going on in and around such a mess.  The heap could be studied.  This is actually an opportunity for foreward-looking researchers.  It’s bad enough the mess was generated, it’s now up to those involved - media, community groups, scientists, urban-planners, city officials, politcians, and Moms & Dads - to do the right thing or we should all prepare for another bout of the “Turcot Toxic Shuffle” come next winter.  And who knows what long-term effects are associated with this sort of toxic dump?  Turcot Toxic

 

Maybe I’m wrong about all this and there really is no dust problem.  Would you gamble the health of your children on this?  Let’s set up a pic-nic under the Turcot Interchange on a coming Sunday afternoon.  I’ll be wearing my mask, and you?

NEATH has great ongoing coverage including recent valuable photos of the dump’s east end on his blog. Check him out

~ by KirkBennett on May 9, 2008.