The good news is, air tests on buildings near the former Nortel contamination site in Belleville are “at standard.”
The provincial government says the owners of the former Nortel property in Belleville continue to make progress in decommissioning the “unnecessary groundwater monitoring wells,” as required by a Ministry of Environment director’s order.
Industrial activity by Nortel resulted in soil and groundwater contamination at 250 Sidney Street.
The ministry reached an agreement with Nortel last fall.
The current owner, Capital Finance, is monitoring the condition of various sites, using money provided by Nortel.
Frank Mondelli of Capital Finance spoke with Quinte News.
He says the results have been shared with the province and with those concerned.
Mondelli continued, “That’s basically the go-forward plan. We’ve been monitoring the situation since 2018 and we’ve continued to do more sampling and monitoring in 2019, and it’ll continue for another 20 years.”
Solvents were used by Nortel in production and some got into the ground, formed a plume, and started to travel in the ground.
In a report two years ago, Ministry of Environmental lawyer Mark Mattson pointed to numerous contaminants left on various Nortel sites, including the one in Belleville.
Contaminants in Belleville leaked onto the adjacent school property, forcing the Catholic school board to move students for the first half of the school year.
Mattson said toxic gases had been leaking into the air, and moving in the ground.
In a letter to Quinte News regarding this story update, the Ministry of Environment says, “Ministry staff continue to ensure that the current owner is in compliance with the requirements in the ministry’s Director’s Order and that remediation efforts are protective of human health and the environment.”
