Coughing at
Contrecoeur

Health questions surround a controversial
East-End housing project

SUBURBS AND INDUSTRY:
Faubourg Contrecoeur development

by JESSICA HEMMERICH

“I wouldn’t want to live around them. No, these are not healthy things to be around,” says Dr. Judith Patterson, a geologist and expert in the atmospheric affects of fossil combustion at Concordia University.

She’s discussing the forest of smokestacks surrounding the Faubourg Contrecoeur, an 1,800-unit housing development situated at the corner of Sherbrooke E. and Contrecoeur, which advertises a peaceful suburban lifestyle but is surrounded by refineries and factories that emit toxic substances.

The Faubourg Contrecoeur— in the news most recently because its developer, Construction Frank Catania & Associés, bought the land it’s on for $4.4-million even though it was valuated at closer to $31-million—is situated in the middle of an industrial sector that includes oil refineries, cement quarries, tar factories, chemical plants and other industries that are known for their toxic releases. The industries report emissions of over 10 carcinogens to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), including arsenic, asbestos, benzene, cobalt, cadmium, ethylene, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other chemicals linked to asthma, birth defects, bronchitis, pneumonia, emphysema, mutation, mania, pulmonary edema, neurodegeneration, anemia and ozone depletion, to name just a few.

After having been shown where the residential project was being built and having seen the Environment Canada records concerning the toxic emissions of the nearby refineries, Dr. Patterson cannot believe the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal (SHDM) is planning to build homes in the area. “This is where they should be building a recycling plant, this is no place for people to live,” she says.

UNSAFE GROUND?

When asked about the safety of the Faubourg’s potential residents, Catania spokesman Philippe Roy maintains that “adequate actions were taken in order to minimize the risks and the inconveniences due to the proximity of industrial activities in the area.” He says proper riskreducing equipment, such as warning sirens, are installed, maintained and tested at the different industries in the area. There is a good chance they’ll be needed: in April, the area saw two major fires break out, one at the Faubourg Contrecoeur site. Residents have been evacuated from their homes on several occasions or have been told to stay indoors and keep their windows tightly shut.

Roy also says the soil under the Faubourg Contrecoeur was properly decontaminated and passed all necessary criteria. However, Daniel Green, co-president of green group Société pour vaincre la pollution, says certain pollutants may get into the groundwater several feet beneath the foundations of the site’s buildings and emit harmful vapour through even the smallest gaps or cracks. Green says that industrial fallout, accidents and fires can re-contaminate both soil and groundwater. Green also says that, “There’s a very high probability that purchasing property in the East-End of Montreal increases your chances of being exposed to polluted air.” He believes that the city should not promote the construction of residential areas in the east end, but if they have to, “there has to be a mutual understanding between residents and developers concerning the surrounding industries.” Green and Coralie Deny from the Conseil régional de l’environment de Montréal (CRE) are also both concerned about municipal regulations concerning air quality and pollution, which haven’t been updated in over a decade. “They have to be updated to the realities of today,” she says.

“Residents in these areas are making more and more connections regarding poor air quality and public health,” she says. She is worried that municipal and provincial governments are putting these matters on the backburner.

PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE

According to a report by the Office de consultation Publique de Montréal (OCPM) summarizes a public consultation on the Faubourg Contrecoeur project held between May 14 and June 21, 2007 which was attended by over 600 participants. The report states that nearby residents are “preoccupied with the health and well-being of future residents who would be even closer to the sources of nuisance. Certain residents condemn the fact that a residential project was even proposed at this proximity of the industrial sector of Montreal-East without having the impacts of air quality on current and future residents evaluated.”

At the site’s sales office, potential buyers are being told that because of the prevalent wind direction, the Faubourg Contrecoeur is unaffected by toxic emissions. However, according to the Réseau de la Surveillance de la Qualité de l’Air (RSQA), the air quality in the area in which the Faubourg Contrecoeur is situated is consistently worse than the rest of the island of Montreal.

And, while Catania spokesman Roy says the site won’t be affected by industrial smells and emissions, the OCPM report that he provided the Mirror with reads, “the odours created by the industries are also a source of nuisance for some.”

PLAYING AMONG SMOKESTACKS

On its Web site, Catania says it has “quality of life at the heart of its concerns.” But the Shell oil refinery alone reports emissions of 62 toxic substances to the NPRI. There are 22 other industries within a few kilometres of each other that report similar results.

Given that the Mercier- Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough in which the Faubourg Contrecoeur is being built currently has a large residential area, new residents may like to know that the neighbourhood they’re buying into leaves children facing higher health risks. An October 2008 article published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences “found an increased rate of hospitalizations for respiratory conditions among children living near petroleum refineries in Montreal.” This study found that “annualized rates of hospitalizations for respiratory health conditions among children two to four years of age were approximately 25 per cent higher than rates for Montreal island children from 1996–2004,” and may make parents think twice about allowing their kids to play in playgrounds in the shadow of smokestacks.

Concordia’s Patterson says she’d “feel safer living next to a nuclear station.”