A growing list of people working daily at the Simcoe St. courthouse are not going to sit idle while the city determines if the ground they work on is toxic.

City council will soon receive a petition,The Examinerhas learned, urging it to examine the potential health risks associated with a major coal tar contamination now, not within one year as planned.

“Does the city expect individuals to wait a year upon the completion of the work plan in order to take precautionary measures?” reads the petition, signed by “concerned individuals at 70 Simcoe St.”

Despite the discovery of coal tar seepage into the Otonabee River last November, the issue only came to the public’s attention two weeks ago after city council received a staff report advising councillors of potential liability.

Local lawyer Joleen Hiland, who spearheaded the petition, said courthouse workers were never informed about the seepage into the water.

“Why weren’t we told about the seepage in November of last year?” she said.

While the city has known about the soil contamination under the courthouse and surrounding areas, it was long believed the situation was stable and hadn’t reached the water.

The public has been told testing throughout the years at the courthouse has found no issues with the building’s air quality, however, many long-term workers have complain about high rates of illnesses ranging from chronic headaches to miscarriages to cancer.

City council approved pulling $500,000 from a reserve fund Monday to study the city’s coal tar contamination and develop an action plan for remediation.

The city plans to hire consultants to once again examine the extent of the contamination,

evaluate the flux of contaminates seeping into the river and assess remedial options or risk management measures applicable to the site and surrounding areas.

But Hiland said the staff report council based its decision on didn’t mention the health concerns for those working in the courthouse.

“Nothing in the report or action plan addresses the immediate health risks and concerns posed by the contamination and/or any immediate plans to ensure those individuals who are regularly working on this site are not exposed to health risks linked to coal tar and possible carcinogens,” the petition states.

Coal tar is a byproduct of the coal gasification process historically used to produce naphtha gas from coal. This process was heavily used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The byproduct is a mixture made up mostly of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons known as PAHs, which have been known to cause cancer.

The Simcoe St. contamination is the remnants of a coal gasification plant operated at the site for almost 80 years from the mid-1880s to the mid-1950s.

The petition asks city council to explain why the public wasn’t told about the seepage into the water last November and what steps council is prepared to take to ensure the safety of those regularly working at the site.

The petition will be given to Town Ward councillors Ann Farquharson and Dean Pappas and will be presented to city council, Hiland said.

As of Thursday afternoon, 54 people had signed the petition.

via City urged to act now on coal tar – Peterborough Examiner – Ontario, CA.