PUBLIC NOTICE

Deconstruction of the former Fish plant and two related buildings in Kegaska

Public Comments Invited

December 24th, 2021 – Transport Canada must determine whether the proposed Deconstruction of the former Fish plant and two related buildings in Kegaska project, located at the Kegaska wharf is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

To help inform this determination, Transport Canada is inviting comments from the public respecting that determination. All comments received will be considered public and may be posted online. For more information, individuals should consult the Privacy Notice on the Registry website.

Written comments must be submitted by January 23rd, 2022  to: aea-eaa@tc.gc.ca.

The proposed Project

A fish plant as well as two smaller buildings, a small building for a generator and a shed for waste are present on the Transport Canada (TC) property in Kegaska. This fish plant has not been in operation for several years. This plant did not initially belong to TC, however, efforts were carried out by TC in 2015, with the help of Justice Canada, to identify the owners of these three buildings that had not been regularized. As no entity claimed ownership, a Deed of Abandonment was signed by the Kegaska Fishermen's Committee on April 27, 2016, at which time TC assumed ownership of these buildings.

Since no maintenance has been done on these buildings for several years, they are now considered unsafe, not conform and are not required for TC operations. TC has secured the fish plant to eliminate fire hazards and forbid its access, had the generator and the petroleum product tank removed from building, and requested that the waste be removed from the shed. As these three buildings are in poor condition and not in use, the implementation of this project will completely eliminate the ministry's liability for these buildings. In addition, there will no longer be any expenses related to inspection and maintenance. Also, since the site is restricted and there is a lot of commercial and fishing activity, the space gained through demolition will allow for safer operations and pedestrian circulation.

The objective of the project is to remove existing structures and potential contamination in order to meet environmental requirements.