The Ontario Ministry of Environment announced today that it will be spending more than $30 million dollars to cleanup the abandoned Deloro mine site, one of Ontario's most contaminated sites. Located in the Town of Deloro, north of Bellville, the 202 hectare abandoned mine site is contaminated with radioactive materials, arsenic, cobalt, copper, nickel, and several other toxic compounds. The site discharges its pollutants directly into the Moira River, ultimately flowing into Lake Ontario. The provincial government took responsibility for the site in 1979 and today?s announced plan will involve isolating the contamination on site so as to reduce its impact on the surrounding environment.

The Minister of Environment (MOE) is the proponent of the Deloro Mine Site clean-up and thus the requirements of provincial legislation must be addressed. We are concerned that the requirements of the the Environmental Assessment Act will not be addressed until after the Federal Environmental Assessment is completed and thus unnecessarily delay the achievement of the end goal for the Deloro Mine Site, complete clean up of the radioactive and hazardous waste.