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Alberta Environment said in April it’s not in the business of doing remediation work, or helping pay for it. However, the provincial election shifted the NDP into power in May, and, on Sunday, Premier Rachel Notley said she wasn’t aware of the government being approached about helping to pay for the land’s environmental liability.

“We haven’t had any discussions on that as of yet, or I haven’t been involved in any,” she said.

Coun. Evan Woolley, whose ward includes the West Village area, said it’s not clear who would pay to clean up the contaminated site, but he welcomed the work being done by the land corp.

“They will start a piece of work that really digs into the full range of the challenge that we have, what needs to be done, and what are the problems,” he said.

Earlier this year, the land corp. sought firms with experience in creosote contamination remediation through a request for qualification.

By the end of August, the city-owned agency will choose one consultant from 14 respondents to study the environmental contamination in the West Village, according to Veres.

The firm chosen for environmental consulting services will examine existing reports, and recommend what to do moving forward regarding the West Village’s environmental issues, Veres said.

While reports on the area’s creosote problem have previously been commissioned by the city, the issue hasn’t been recently examined— despite the 2013 floods, stories of creosote seeping across the river into the basements of nearby homes last year, and talk that a potential new Flames mega-complex could be housed on the land.