Ministry Waiting for CN's Post Derailment Clean Up Plan

Tuesday, August 21, 2007 03:55 AM

The Ministry of the Environment office in Prince George is watching the clock. CN has until the end of Friday to submit its plan for cleaning up the bank along the Fraser River in Prince George, where two of its trains collided on August 4^th.

Sean Sharpe, Regional Manager for the Provincial Ministry of Environment’s Omineca-Peace Region says he is hopeful the clean up plan will be delivered before the deadline although he is surprised the plan hadn’t been submitted by now.

Sharpe indicates that at the time of the crash, CN had made several promises about what it would do to ensure the site was clean and there was no threat to the river. “We hadn’t received the copy of the report from their (CN’s) own consultants, and it wasn’t delivered without prodding.” That report indicated there were chemicals, consistent with diesel and gasoline spills in the soil on the bank of the river. “When we finally got the report, we went to do a site inspection and discovered the boom was no longer in the water, and fill had been dumped over the site.”

Sharpe says the clean up orders delivered to CN Friday (see previous story) were done in an effort to ensure CN follows through with its promise to clean up the site “We want to make sure there is no threat of the contaminated soil entering the river.”

Last Friday, Ministry Staff from the Provincial and Federal levels advised CN of the orders that would be coming down. The orders were issued, and the clock started ticking. If the clean up plan isn’t submitted by the end of the day Friday, the Ministry can launch legal action.

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Posted on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 03:55 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: REALIST on August 21 2007 8:34 AM

C.N. is still not doing the right thing. No surprise here. I guess they figure they can just pour new fill over the contaminated soil and claim it has been cleaned up. Then again why not, the ruling Liberals are not going to make these guys act safely, so why do the right thing when it is cheaper to cover up? Come on Shirley, Pat and John, unfortunately, you must say something about your pet company. PLEASE STOP SUCKING UP TO GORDO AND START CARING ABOUT YOUR CONSTITUENTS.

Posted by: Parrothead on August 21 2007 12:49 PM

Yeah, like they're gonna do that. I thot you were a realist!

Posted by: Honestjoe on August 21 2007 6:15 PM

Well stated REALIST. Unfortunately, Shirley, Pat and John are on Gord's leash. We won't hear anything about democracy from them until the next election.
As for CN and Kelli Svendsen, the continuing whitewash continues. CN care nothing for the environment......they are big business and profits predominate over people and environment. So sad that most Canadians are terribly complacent! We need hundreds of thousands of Ben Meisners to turn things around so we can see some accountability from politicians and big business.