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Server Time:
2024-05-07 00:59:36
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 Intrinsic
      
Location: Collingwood
Gender: Male
 |  | Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
< on 6/22/2009 7:22 PM >
|  | | | By THE CANADIAN PRESS – 4 hours ago
TORONTO — Sixteen abandoned Cold War radar sites in northern Ontario will be cleaned up over the next six years at an estimated cost of more than $100 million.
The province will provide $73 million to clean up toxic materials at all 16 radar sites along the coasts of James Bay and Hudson Bay. The federal government will contribute up to $30 million to help clean up 11 of the most highly contaminated radar stations.
The sites, part of the old Mid-Canada advance warning line, are contaminated with PCBs, hydrocarbons, mercury, and asbestos.
Local First Nations people will be hired to help eliminate pollutants at the radar stations, which haven't been used since the mid-1960s.
Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield says the sites must be cleaned up to help conserve the unique ecology of Ontario's vast boreal region.
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Intrinsic
Location: Collingwood
Gender: Male
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 2 on 6/22/2009 7:35 PM >
| | | | After you've been to one or two of them, they kinda all look the same. But the chance to see a whole whack of them before they come down, that'd be pretty cool.
Unfortunately it's one hell of a drive to get to the majority of the ones scheduled to be demolished.
Asbestos... mmh!
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vapula
 
Location: kitchener, ontario
Gender: Male
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 3 on 6/22/2009 8:06 PM >
| | | | shit does this include edgar?
.....wah? |
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kowalski
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 4 on 6/22/2009 8:24 PM >
| | | | Posted by vapula
shit does this include edgar?
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So, you think Northern Ontario means Owen Sound and Barrie?
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Axle
Location: Milton, ON
Gender: Male
Sieg oder Tod
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 5 on 6/22/2009 8:34 PM >
| | | | Posted by vapula
shit does this include edgar?
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Edgar was a part of the Pinetree line, and hasn't been a radar station since the 1960s when it was decommissioned and sold to the Ontario Government for use as an Adult Occupational Center.
Celer at Audax
Para la Victoria Siempre Alemanes! |
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Intrinsic
Location: Collingwood
Gender: Male
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 6 on 6/22/2009 8:42 PM >
| | | | Posted by vapula
shit does this include edgar?
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As Axle pointed out, no.
Primarily the locations along the James and Hudson's Bay coasts were Mid-Canada warning lines. Edgar would have been part of the Pine-Tree line.
The closest location would be Ramore.
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Axle
Location: Milton, ON
Gender: Male
Sieg oder Tod
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 7 on 6/22/2009 8:58 PM >
| | | | Posted by Intrinsic
The closest location would be Ramore.
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Ramore spent most of its operational life as a Pinetree station, it did however act as a Relay Station to NORAD in North Bay from Mid-Canada lines up until 1974.
Ramore also was a USAF built/operated station until the 1960s when it was turned over the RCAF control. (But more of Ramore was built to RCAF Specs, expect the radar towers those were USAF spec)
Celer at Audax
Para la Victoria Siempre Alemanes! |
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Boffo
Moderator
Location: Smithers, BC
Gender: Male
HONK! HONK!
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 8 on 6/22/2009 9:13 PM >
| | | | I don't think you can even drive out to these locations.
I know to goto Polar Bear Provincial Park you have to fly out to it.
Here's a lockpick. It might be handy if you, the master of unlocking, take it with you. |
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PhotoSeeker
Location: Sudbury
Gender: Male
MikeOnline
| |  | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 9 on 6/22/2009 9:51 PM >
| | | | And as a small, additional point, there was, apparently, an MCL picket antenna at Ramore, but not the same location as the Pinetree site. It was on the opposite side of the highway and, I believe, rehabilitated by the government last year.
If my information was correct, it was located at 48.374625°, -80.267658°
Lots of Urban Exploration goodness at https://urbexobsession.com |
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Intrinsic
Location: Collingwood
Gender: Male
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 10 on 6/22/2009 9:54 PM >
| | | |
Here's the tender for the Ramore clean up, directions, and other details. It also mentions it being 10 km south of Ramore.
http://www.dgmarke...-notice.do~3941184
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Lord
above and beyond
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 11 on 6/23/2009 12:53 AM >
| | | | I know a pilot.
I'll put in for gas!!
ROAD TRIP!!!!
=D
I will defeat that which was once untouchable only so that I may now move on |
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PhotoSeeker
Location: Sudbury
Gender: Male
MikeOnline
| | | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 12 on 6/23/2009 2:12 AM >
| | | | I've been wanting to go to Winisk for some time now. *sigh*
Lots of Urban Exploration goodness at https://urbexobsession.com |
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Air
Location: Canada
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 13 on 6/23/2009 3:05 AM >
| | | | 2009
"Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario"
2012
"gov't spends $200 million and only half the clean up has been completed. The rest went to consulting fees."
"The extraordinary beauty of things that fail." - Heinrich von Kleist |
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hilite
Gender: Male
don't destroy my sweater....
| | | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 14 on 6/23/2009 3:08 AM >
| | | | Ya, it would be cool to do a fly in UE, or skydive to an abandonment.
And when you finally disappear, We'll just say you were never here. |
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PhotoSeeker
Location: Sudbury
Gender: Male
MikeOnline
| | | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 15 on 6/23/2009 11:01 AM >
| | | | Some do come equipped with their own air strips.
I think it's Katimavik (youth group) that camped at Winisk periodically.
If you haven't seen pics of this place, it looks great, complete with mini control tower by the airstrip.
Lots of Urban Exploration goodness at https://urbexobsession.com |
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GreyDeath
Location: Ontario
Gender: Male
The Darkness is coming...
| |  | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 16 on 6/23/2009 1:10 PM >
| | | | Posted by HI-LITE
skydive to an abandonment.
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Count me in!
-Me!
Im not stupid, Im Canadian! |
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Intrinsic
Location: Collingwood
Gender: Male
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 17 on 6/23/2009 4:20 PM >
| | | | Cold War-era radar sites to get $103M cleanup
Tanya Talaga
Queen's Park Bureau
It has taken nearly 40 years, but 16 abandoned radar sites that were part of the Mid-Canada line set up to monitor the Soviet air threat during the Cold War will be cleaned up over the next six years at a cost of $103 million, the Ontario government says.
The sites were built in the mid-1950s but abandoned by the Canadian military in the 1960s. The military left behind garbage including fuel tanks, radar towers and toxic materials that First Nations people have wanted removed for decades, said Ontario's Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield at a news conference today.
"First Nations communities have long been concerned about the possibility of the contaminants affecting the environment. It is unfortunate facilities built to repel one type of threat ended up posing a very different threat themselves," Cansfield said. "It must be done. It has been left too long."
Eight of the 16 sites are in Polar Bear Provincial Park, the largest, most northern park in Ontario. The federal government will contribute $30 million to assist the clean-up at 11 sites that are highly contaminated. The remaining $73 million comes from Ontario. Cansfield said the clean-up effort will provide jobs and opportunities for First Nations people. Some sites are contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hydrocarbons, mercury and asbestos.
"There is an extraordinary sadness when you see what has been left on the land. The oil drums, equipment," Cansfield said. "Millions of birds every year migrate to the north for nesting. It is absolutely critical we return the ecosystem. The only way we can do that is by working with First Nations."
Chief George Hunter of Weenusk First Nation says the federal government abandoned the bases and put the health of his people at risk. "We have a lot of health problems. We have been living there for a long time. A lot of our people are dying of lung diseases and cancers. When the military left the base they never gave us any warning what the contaminants were," Hunter said. "People were salvaging stuff unknowingly."
Weenusk is found on the southern shore of Hudson Bay. Shorebirds are declining in numbers or are gone from the area, said Hunter. The military left an entire community behind - an airport, a hospital, communication towers, sleeping barracks.
"There are disposal sites we do not know about," said Hunter. "We used to have a lot of helicopters that crashed, got wrecked; they are just buried there. We need to dig up what is under the tundra."
While northern First Nations leaders welcome the move, New Democratic Party MPP Howard Hampton (Kenora-Rainy River) said this announcement is just "spin" and ignores real issues in the north such as the public health crisis of swine flu.
http://www.thestar...rio/article/654994
[last edit 6/23/2009 4:22 PM by Intrinsic - edited 1 times]
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Intrinsic
Location: Collingwood
Gender: Male
| | Re: Govts pledge $103 million to clean up abandoned radar sites in northern Ontario
<Reply # 19 on 6/23/2009 4:40 PM >
| | | | That's 995 km, which is not unheard of for diehard travellers.
In other words, I'd be down for it. 
Another article...
["PEAWANUCK, Ont.: It rises like a brown mountain out
of the muskeg and moss of the Hudson Bay lowlands in
the far north of Ontario, where an estimated 50,000
rusting, leaking fuel barrels - a toxic remnant of the
Cold War - have poisoned the land of the aboriginal
people who live there. The stain on the landscape is
part of Site 500 of the Mid Canada Line, a string of
102 radar stations built by Ottawa in the 1950s to
help detect a Soviet nuclear attack over the pole. It
was a mega project in its day, costing $228 million,
the equivalent of more than $1.5 billion in 2005
dollars. The Communist attack never happened and by
the mid-1960s the line was obsolete and abandoned,
without ever being cleaned up. Remediation has been
delayed by haggling between different levels of
governments over responsibility, and fed by what
northerners call southern neglect. 'Politicians in
Ottawa, they don't see it. They don't have to put up
with it every day,' said Stan Louttit, grand chief of
Mushkegowuk First Nation, which hosts one of the old
stations. 'It's an environmental travesty up north.'
Site 500 is the largest of 17 stations in Ontario,
sitting on the land of the Weenusk First Nation along
the shores of Hudson Bay. It includes a junk yard of
abandoned vehicles, rusting and stripped, the remnants
of an airport with a tattered control tower and a
hangar jammed with rubble. There are also the old
barracks, some of which were scavenged by the locals
to build a school, not knowing the walls were full of
asbestos. Signs on the old buildings warn, in Cree and
English, of contamination. Studies by Ontario's
Ministry of Natural Resources have found the soil is
laced with oil, pesticides and PCBs. Elizabeth
Koostachin's eyes grow misty when asked about Site
500. The 71-year-old has lived in the shadow of the
radar station for most of her life. For generations,
her family maintained trap lines in the area, until
she said they were ruined by the project. 'Before the
construction the land was very beautiful,' she said in
an interview, 'but now it's been destroyed.' Her
husband, John George Koostachin, died of cancer in
2003. She blames long-term exposure to the
contaminants. There have been no comprehensive studies
that draw a scientific link between toxins from the
radar station and health problems among the people of
the Weenusk First Nation. But the residents believe
there is a connection and are demanding proper
research."]
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