Remarks: Once upon a time in 2002, there was an Esso station. And it closed. And the people were sad. And Esso was sad. And most of all, the soil was super-sad, because it was deemed potentially contaminated. And so, Esso and the Department of the Environment went on a gay jaunt down the enchanted path of soil remediation. And they cleaned the soil. And then, quite suddenly, it was 2007. And they were still cleaning. And Imperial Oil said, “I couldn’t even give you an estimate as to when it will be done. We’re doing the best we can.” And then, they got a ticket. The End.
Who’s Responsible?: Imperial Oil Limited. Phone 1-800-567-3776.
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
Does the Coast have someone with real-life business experience who could put a stop to certain “on patrol” articles written by people who don’t bother doing any research before sending it to the press?If you bothered to research “brownfields”, the industry term contaminated sites then you’d find out that the soil clean up of a former gas station can be a long one. First they have to dig up the tanks and inground car hoists to look for contamination. Then they remove the soil that is contaminated and replace it with clean fill. There is often some minor pollution left over that will clear up with time as nature and some humans help it along. Until the site is pristine again it is unable to be sold and no insurer would take on a site that wasn’t 100% remediated. So Imperial Oil has to hold onto the site until it is clean and then they might still hold onto it as its a prime piece of land.