KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – This week’s weekend video is a short documentary on the disruption caused by a construction and demolition debris facility on North Mountain, not far from Bridgetown in the Annapolis Valley.
The facility is located in a wetland area that feeds several brooks and some 20 wells on adjoining properties.
Ever since the dump arrived without meaningful notice or consultation, residents of Arlington and St. Croix Cove on the Bay of Fundy have been worried that asbestos and autofluff stored on the site are poisoning their wells.
The residents looked at the department of Environment for help and information, but that was mostly ignored.
For instance, when residents complained about the presence of autofluff at the facility, the department replied that autofluff was not present at the facility. However, last week the CBC reported that yes, autofluff was accepted there for years now, and the Environment Department was investigating.
People who live in the area have been trying to get the department’s attention for fifteen years now. Earlier they formed the group Annapolis Waterkeepers to put pressure on the province to act. They are also concerned about the presence of asbestos at the dump, which to a large extent is trucked in from Halifax.
Residents also complain about big trucks going back and forth all day and sloppy practices that make contamination even more likely.
The Annapolis Waterkeepers are calling for a dedicated asbestos disposal facility, operated by the province and “properly sited so that it threatens no one’s water, devalues no one’s land, is easily accessed by large trucks, and creates no danger for the motoring public.”
The residents threatened by the facility are doing everything right, they organized, they have done their research, their website is informative, their videos are slick and professional, and despite all that they are still fighting this uphill battle to get the department of Environment to listen, let alone act.
Makes you wonder how many more Arlingtons there out there, here in Canada’s Ocean Playground.
Check out our new community calendar!
With a special thanks to our generous donors who make publication of the Nova Scotia Advocate possible.
Subscribe to the Nova Scotia Advocate weekly digest and never miss an article again. It’s free!
Unbelievable incompetence, or corrupt collusion? Or both? How this kind of gross incompetence and irresponsible regulation is still going on in this day and age needs to be explained and answered to by the DOE. Surely, someone needs to be held responsible for this ridiculous corporate and government misbehaviour.
As a Land Owner beneath this establishment.. I visited the site.. which is more than I can say for the Annapolis Waterkeepers. I have a brook that spawns from the east end of the site.. and NEVER have I had any concern about what was running down my brook. In fact the only time I did… it was forresters that had maimed the top end of the spring feeding the brook.. Not the C&D site. The DOE has been there constantly and regulations are being followed..I know, I see the planes flying low over my house to check that the cell was covered properly.. FYI: this site sits and is DUG into the CLAY BASE..how do I know..because I have to garden in the same dirt on my land. Asbestos is in double lined bags and it does not flow….. once buried!! The Waterkeepers should produce evidence of asbestos in the wells?
Dept of Environment does not work for Nova Scotians, they have always worked for Corporations, no one who works there cares about the environment, they do as they are told by political bosses, who care nothing about pollution, and that is just a fact of life. in Nova Scotia, can someone name one time when DOE has stepped in and stopped something????????????
We could always dump just about anything at the site. Local prominent family with political connections considered untouchable.
Re “Makes you wonder how many more Arlingtons there out there, here in Canada’s Ocean Playground.” Every site and situation is different due to the geological conditions etc. and the waste material etc., but a serious risk of contamination of unknown extent may be developing at the West Paradise waste operation.