[Calgary4LIfe]

I am not sure why people are so interested in the remediation costs as to how it affects the taxpayer.

My own sentiments is that remediation is needed, regardless if this area becomes CalgaryNEXT, a bunch of condos, a greenspace, or even absolutely no development. Am I correct? With contamination now being found across the river (and I can assume, all the way down the river to 'x' - no idea if creosote will be soluble or be able to drift for that length all the way to the ocean), it sounds like it is just spreading, and the eventual costs will only increase.

Also, I would expect more people being affected (and increased illnesses) related to the spreading contamination, not to mention the wildlife (seeing as the Bow is a major river that flows right into the Hudson Bay, IIRC) that would probably be negatively affected with time.

To me, remediation is something that should have happened decades ago. Yes, there will be an impact on taxpayers here in Calgary. Even if the money will be 100% federally allocated (which I really doubt), that money will be pulled from other areas that also require funding. Either way, people somewhere will feel the sting of the remediation costs.

I just don't think it is really justifiable adding the cost of the remediation to the cost of the project and then basing a decision on the total dollar value. For me, this project will cost everything that KK said it would, + infrastructure costs (which I am really keen on getting a good estimate on before deciding if this project is viable or not), but remediation is something that should happen regardless of any development.

What I did get the most apprehensive about is hearing that the costs of remediation may be much lower than previously thought. To me, it kind of sounds like there is some shortcut (containment that may eventually fail 'x' amount of years down the road? Only partial remediation? Other??) instead of cleaning it up completely. I haven't gone through all 84 pages of this, but I haven't seen anyone else be concerned about it, so perhaps I am overthinking it or don't know enough about it (and I really don't know what is involved in remediating the area, or creosote in general). Maybe there really are more recent advancements and techniques that make the cleanup much more cost-effective, but I just want the city to make sure that corners are not cut, and the cleanup occurs to the highest level possible.

I don't want to hear about people being sick or the creosote spreading because corners were cut 10, 20 or 30+ years from now.