The Ontario Ministry of Environment is expected to examine any recommendations Tradeport provides to clean up a pond and an adjacent ditch at the Hamilton Airport that has been linked as a primary source to the contamination problem along the Upper Welland River and Lake Niapenco in Binbrook.

MOE officials met June 8 with Hamilton representatives and Tradeport officials to discuss the ministry’s water and sediment test results on the river conducted last month, said Jennifer Hall, senior regional communications advisor. The group also talked about monitoring the pond where perfluorooctansulfonic acid (PFOS) was found, and possible long-term clean up options.

“The ministry requested the parities work together to develop a full remedial action plan,” said Hall. Tradeport has agreed to hire an environmental consultant to examine if there are any immediate actions the facility can take to prevent further migration of PFOS off the property, she said.

Tradeport was expected to provide the ministry with its clean-up plans and options last week. They are also expected to outline the timelines for providing a long-term clean up plan, she said.

“The ministry will review the consultant’s recommendations and approve any measures prior to implementation,” she stated.

Glanbrook Coun. Brenda Johnson, who first told councillors about the contamination problem at Lake Niapenco earlier this year, rejected any proposal that would keep the PFOS in place.

“Bottom line, it’s there, let’s get rid of it,” said Johnson. “What do we do about Lake Niapenco? We have to work with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority to find out their wishes.”

Councillors have approved a recommendation to hire a consultant, at Tradeport’s expense to determine the timeline of when the PFOS contamination began.

“We want our own independent testing done,” she said.

The Environment Ministry’s study of PFOS in the Welland River and Lake Niapenco found PFOS concentrations were highest in the Hamilton Airport pond and down stream of the pond along a ditch that runs into a culvert underneath Airport Road. PFOS has been used in firefighting foam, which was used when firefighters were trained at the Hamilton Airport in the early 1980s, when the federal Ministry of Transportation owned the facility. The city took over the airport in the late 1990s. PFOS was added to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in May 2009.