Environment Hamilton turns 10 this year. The Spectator ran a large feature describing the organization’s inspiring history and its founders:
Environment Hamilton came to be after a battle with the city over contamination in Red Hill Creek.
But 10 years later, the group isn’t just about saving the city’s polluted waters. It’s about promoting local agriculture and becoming energy efficient. It’s about recycling programs in schools and addressing issues facing the city.
They’ve knocked heads with the municipality, tried to expose environmental problems and helped empower people go green.
It all started after Lynda Lukasik, executive director of Environment Hamilton, led residents in a mission to deal with the old Rennie Street Landfill, which was leaking toxic chemicals into the Red Hill Creek.
Lukasik laid private charges under the federal Fisheries Act and the Ministry of Environment followed, laying charges under the Ontario Water Resources Act.
Prior to the group’s push, the city was monitoring the landfill because a large portion of the site was going to be excavated during construction of the Red Hill Valley Parkway.
That monitoring gave Lukasik and others what they needed to take action.
“It was clear from the information in some of those documents that there was an awareness of this problem with the contamination — that’s what actually helped us in knowing to test for PCBs … it was referenced in their report,” Lukasik said.
The city ended up paying $480,000 in penalties, which included a $300,000 fine under the federal Fisheries Act for violating section 36 (3), which prohibits the deposit of any harmful substance into water frequented by fish. There was a provision for sharing the fine and Lukasik, as a private informant in the matter, was handed a cheque for $150,000.
Some of that money was used to start Environment Hamilton in 2001 as a registered not-for-profit organization.
Their mandate remains the same as it did 10 years ago: provide Hamiltonians with the knowledge and skills they need to enhance and protect the environment around them.
