Cleaning up contaminated sites to cost 7.7 billion

Scott Vaughan the Canadian environment commissioner says that the bill to cleanup contaminated sites owned by the federal government will be about 7.7 billions dollars. The government has made progress. It has cleaned up 9,000 sites across Canada. However, 13,000 still remain to be decontaminated.

Vaughan said of the remaining sites: "Many of these sites are buried and out of the public eye, but they will impose human health risks and environmental and financial burdens for generations to come." Vaughan's report also dealt with other issues including the government's 2020 target of having greenhouse gases 17 per cent below 2005.

Vaughan points out: “Environment Canada’s own forecast shows that in 2020, Canada’s emissions will be seven per cent above the 2005 level, not 17 percent below it,” Regulations are being drawn up for each sector. Even those three that have been written do not come into effect until 2015. There are no regulations even written yet for the oil and gas sector. These are the fastest growing emitters of greenhouse gases. For much more see this article.