In 2000, after Dairy Producers Cooperative Creamery had operated in the middle of the former Regina Imperial Oil Refinery (IOR) for 20 years, they moved to their new creamery in Saskatoon. As a side note…this was around the same time carcinogenic petrochemicals, lead, and other substances, had become a major issue within the ground of the former Calgary (IOR) redevelopment.
Site of the Calgary Imperial Oil Refinery
Not surprisingly Dairy Producers found they were unable to sell their contaminated property holdings in Regina, which was experiencing contamination seepage through their foundations that was somewhat controlled by exhaust fans, so in order to salvage millions of dollars of investment in their Regina operation it was determined they act as good corporate citizens and donate their entire 22-acre facility, buildings, and all, to a non-profit organization.
Children playing happily on the contaminated site of the old Regina Imperial Oil Refinery.
How this connection was initiated may forever be a mystery, but the Dairy with some fancy accounting, made this multi-million dollar donation to the Regina Food Bank, and in doing so the food bank was left the privilege of operating within the contaminated atmosphere abandoned by the Dairy. The facility was perfect for the food bank, regardless of the strange gaseous smell; there were coolers in the smelly basement key to healthy food storage, as well as loading docks, offices, and various other buildings scattered around the property that could be leased or used as adult training schools, and even a child daycare centre.
Regina Food Bank on Winnipeg Street. On the site of the contaminated property
Seems the motivation behind such a bountiful corporate donation was never considered, why look a gift-horse in the mouth? Certainly, with all these property assets surely the Regina Food Bank would be the richest non-profit organization ever, maybe in the whole world. Except, for some reason, they have been unable to sell any of their holdings, which was tried with a number of their prime acres fronting Winnipeg Street.
The First Years Learning Center Inc. was rezoned to operate in a refinery, and over the years has overseen the health and safety of very young children playing happily within the contaminated lead dust, and hazardous ground conditions.
First Years Learning Centre playground located on contaminated soil
To date, with no remediation effort prompting the Regina Food Bank, and without any comprehensive engineer testing to reference, they arbitrarily take the posture that there is no contamination affect relative to their food and daycare operations. Certainly, to think a 60 plus year old oil refinery would not be contaminated is a miracle, if not something much greater. Clearly the Regina Food Bank is in liability denial, and is complicit with the City of Regina under a cone-of-silence, as their workers, customers, and daycare children are being subjected to chronic long-term ailments typically associated to such contaminated environments.
Regina Imperial Oil Site 1918
This FaceBook project is intended to bring public awareness to this issue, which the City of Regina has effectively swept under the carpet for nearly 40-years now.
It is time the City and Imperial Oil took this matter seriously by completing a comprehensive Phase II soil sampling of the entire area with the objective to identify and classify all different zones of contamination concentrations in order to determine if area’s safety is in jeopardy, or compromised in any way.
It is insanity for a single property owner in the area to initiate Phase II sampling and do any remediation necessary, when the contamination condition of adjacent properties is allowed to simply migrate back into the newly remediated property.
Basically, owners of the redeveloped refinery property, in and around this area, are locked in a property value quandary by the City’s cone-of-silence, and abuse of property tax assessments being used to distract attention away from the area’s real contamination problems and avoid full-blown stigma.
Certainly, the cost for Phase II testing over the entire area would be borne by the contaminator Imperial Oil. However the big issue hanging over the City is personal health liability regarding neglectful handling by the City’s lose and free rezoning practices pertaining to a dairy, food bank, daycare, local businesses, and the construction of a Transit Center – falsely claimed as worth of over 30 million, while sitting directly over contamination ground conditions, never remediated.
In fact, the fire department has been ordered to ignore the area’s dangers. Basically the City’s liability fear pertains to any health issue relative to the 20-years of dairy workers, and the over 30-years of transit workers…all working within a contaminated environment, which was known to the City.
There is also a local property tax issue regarding the years of misleading property valuation practices, done as a distraction tactic.
In order to get a true picture of this problem, you are asked to please contact the Regina Fire Chief and specifically ask why the fire department has laid-back and failed to make the former Imperial Oil Refinery area a health and safety investigation zone, relative to the existing abandoned underground pipelines, tanks, cisterns, sludges, and the foundation infrastructure buried throughout the area.
In this area there are known contaminates such as: phenol, cyanide, lead, and other petrochemicals substances, including PCB oil residue spread over the site.
You will find the Fire Chief has been told by City Hall to ignore the (IOR) issue, which is contrary to their safety mandate, and oath of office.
Regina Imperial Oil Site 1918
These are very serious contamination substances that the City has turned a blind-eye, and is allowing to progressively contaminate two underlying aquifers that discharge directly into the Wascana water system, effectively contaminating the entire community of Regina, and anyone enjoying Wascana Park watered with contaminated water. “I Love Regina”