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According to government analysis of testing done by an environmental firm, contamination has not migrated to private properties near a site on Hymus Blvd. in Pointe-Claire which illegally stored polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) for decades. And the Quebec Environment Ministry remains committed to getting the site decontaminated, but the exact date of that work is still to be determined.

Experts from the Quebec Environment Ministry and the Montreal public health department flanked Pointe-Claire Mayor Morris Trudeau in council chambers Monday to field questions from the public about a long-awaited report detailing the extent of soil and groundwater contamination in the area. Testing by the environmental firm Donovan Experts-Conseils Inc. was done between September 2016 and January 2017.

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Despite the positive news about the contamination being contained for the most part to the property itself, the experts were unable to allay some residents’ concerns about the possibility of toxic air quality caused by contaminated dust and the evaporation of polluted water. Montreal Public Health Department soil expert Monique Beausoleil told the gathering that the real risk was when PCBs were still in storage at the site. A fire would have triggered an environmental disaster, but once the containers were removed and an initial study completed, the risk was contained.