The Conservation Council’s Lois Corbett spoke with host Terry Seguin on the March 30th edition of Information Morning – Fredericton about a vacated Irving Oil bulk-tank farm property on Fredericton’s northside, and who should be responsible for the cleanup.
Corbett says there is a fundamental question of legal responsibility and at the end of the day the company needs to be held accountable for cleanup and decontamination.
“You can’t just build something that makes you profit for years and then walk away and say it’s not my problem anymore,” says Corbett.
“Tank farms are regulated because they pose a lot of danger. We need to know what’s in that soil now, what’s the cleanup plan and who’s responsible for the cleanup before we get to the part of the discussion on can we use it for boat launch.”
The land that the city of Fredericton is considering purchasing use to be the site of an Irving Oil bulk-tank farm located near Carleton Park on the city’s northside, but in 2003 the tanks were moved and it’s remained unused ever. Nearly a decade ago, the city attempted to buy that land but the deal failed because Irving attempted to raise the price and get the city to take on all environmental liability. Now the city is considering purchasing the land once more.
“The government needs to make sure that a company that abandons a storage tank farm does a proper environmental impact assessment and prepares a proper remediation plan before walking away. The regulator needs to do its job, and regulate.”
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