Hello and thank you for the…

Hello and thank you for the opportunity to submit comments. I have a background as a heavy equipment operator and natural gas underground pipe repair tech. Also some experience with toxic spills and soils contaminated by leaching.

Here is an example of leaching.

A farmer I knew used to do a lot of burning, every year applying for the proper burn permits. He used gasoline and/or diesel fuel to start his fires. His burn area was very slightly dished out but mainly on the surface in a safe place, away from other combustibles and livestock. It was approximately a 20’x20’ area that he wanted to enlarge by going deeper and building a berm wall around it. He had been burning in this area for around 10 years.
I was asked to do the excavation for him. Now, just a little insight. I had been trying to educate him all these years about the perils of using fuels as an accelerant but he wouldn’t listen and said they are burned off every time because he usually burns all day. Funny how I let him teach me to plant some small crops in my yard.
The very first bucket of soil I lifted out absolutely reeked of stale fuels. You couldn’t smell it on top because it had all leached under. We inspected the soil and noted the oily texture it possessed not to mention the smell. He figured we’ll be using it as the new berm but I told him this will exacerbate his problems further because that soil will just leach into the new soil we place it on. Furthermore the area under this 20x20 patch had grown immensely over the years as it slowly leached down and out. Boy does he wish he had listened to me 10 years ago because now he’s faced with a toxic environmental spill. Luckily he was somewhat of an environmentalist so he called in the proper authorities to assess his problem. All this soil had to be trucked away and believe me in was many tons more than a 20x20 patch. He was lucky he didn’t get fined but I knew the bill for the removal was very large.
Prior to the excavation I asked him when he had last burned and he figured at least a couple months prior. I said, don’t you think it's funny that not even a weed had started to grow in and all around that 20x20 patch.

My point here is quite obvious, if contaminated soils are relocated to fresh soils the repercussions will be felt forever. It will leach into the water table and pollute drinking water and streams for miles/kilometres around. Pits often have groundwater present in excavation sites. Placing soil into or near a watertable has the potential for disastrous results for the surrounding community. Drinking water as well as farmlands and forests may be contaminated with these soils. Dumping of excess soil into pits may pose new and long-lasting threats to ground and surface water. There are concerns about the cumulative impact of these contaminants as well as the long-term effects on the ecological functioning of the landscape. Evolving science may intensify these concerns. No controlled scientific testing of the impact of dumping potentially contaminated excess soils in pits and quarries has been completed by the Ministry
Below is a link to irrefutable evidence of a recent major violation that involved illegal dumping of thousands of loads of contaminated soils, which has gone unpunished. This sort of thing must be prevented at all costs by whatever new regulations you choose to establish.

Thank you for your serious consideration and I sure hope some one listens to me this time. https://stonecoldtruth2011.wordpress.com/