Transport Canada (TC) has recently completed Transportation Assets Risk Assessments to Climate Change studies at key facilities across Atlantic Canada. Results will be presented for five ferry terminals in Saint John, New Brunswick; Digby and Caribou, Nova Scotia; and, Wood Islands and Souris, PEI. The TC-owned and operated terminals support critical marine links for inter-provincial transportation, trade and tourism in the region. These assets are increasingly vulnerable to climate and weather-related impacts. Climate change is expected to have serious and ever-increasing impacts on infrastructure through sea level rise, increasing storm intensity and a number of other climate-related parameters. These risks must be identified to make sound asset management decisions. The risk assessments were conducted across the sites following consistent metrics and methodology that included the following steps:

• Site-specific climate change projections;
• Risk assessment using baseline and projected climate-infrastructure interactions, using the Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) Protocol. The work identified operational and infrastructure components that may be at risk of failure, loss of service and/or deterioration from climate change and extreme weather; and,
• High-level recommendations on remedial action plans to inform asset management and funding by TC. The study addressed both short-term climate change risks (which, in many cases, may be relatively minor) for continued structure maintenance, and long-term risks in the design of the replacement solutions.

The results were compared across the sites to inform priorities for action. Wind-related delays and cancellations were found to represent the dominant risks based on existing conditions, generally followed by occurrences of flooding due to combined high tides, rain events and insufficient drainage. Assets nearing the end of their useful life would require a rebuild for a new lifetime that would, in many cases, include the period later this century when the high-end of climate change impacts seriously affect their structural integrity and operation. In the medium-term to long-term, sea level rise is expected to become the dominant risk across most of the sites. The uniform rating method allows for an objective comparison of risks, which vary depending mostly on site elevation and tidal range. For example, for fixed ferry ramps designed for a given tide range, the impact of sea level rise may be proportionally greater for areas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (with lower tide range) than for the Bay of Fundy. In the long term, most sites will need to be raised. Before that becomes necessary, dimensions and specifications of future ships must be established for design of wharves, ramps and/or vehicle loading bridges. The sequencing of new construction must also consider other interdependent assets, including but not limited to, marshalling yards and buildings. The design of future infrastructure should use climate projections (notably extreme sea level and wave heights) commensurate with desired lifetime and risk tolerance.

Vincent Leys, Coastal Engineer, CBCL Consulting Engineers
Vincent Leys is a Coastal Engineer with CBCL Consulting Engineers based in Halifax. Over the last two decades, his work has covered a wide range of coastal conditions and infrastructure challenges. He has extensive experience throughout Atlantic Canada's coastal communities and harbour infrastructure, which require functional solutions to meet the challenges of dynamic processes and rising sea levels.

Estuaries are the most environmentally productive, ecologically vital and economically important compartment of the marine ecosystem despite being the final destinations of organic pollutants. The majority of organic pollutants end up in these ecosystems where freshwater from rivers meets saline water of the sea. Gravity induced settling is accelerated in estuaries due to the slower movement of particles that results in sedimentation. Sediment is the valuable environmental media, archiving current and historical information corresponding to environmental conditions. Organic pollutants such as fossil fuels and its derivatives are particle reactive materials that travel distances in the riverine ecosystems into estuaries. A quick way to evaluate the health and cleanliness of estuaries is to investigate the gas chromatographic spectra of the aliphatic and certain pentacyclic triterpanes (hopanes of C27-C34) in the sedimentary environment. The presence of terrestrial hydrocarbons is usually dominant over the marine input showing the interaction of natural and anthropogenic influences. A contaminant free estuary is dominated by odd number aliphatic hydrocarbon with a clear absence of hopanes. As per United Nation Environment Program (UNEP) and in general, a total of 10 ug/mg of aliphatic hydrocarbons in dry sediment from the range of C16 to C36 indicates a clean environment. The hydrocarbon input is evaluated through average carbon length of alkane spectrum and traces of anthropogenic activities is identified by carbon preference index throughout an alkane gas chromatography analysis. The shape of the chromatogram easily evaluates the fossil fuel contamination through the interpretation of the unresolved complex mixture (UCM hump). Using this technique the UCM pattern remains and fluctuates within the F3 fraction (F16-F34). When using this technique biogenic interference can serve as a challenge but can be removed by either mathematical deduction or by the application of the biogenic interference calculation (BIC). A single data shot of the alkane fraction is used to identify if natural degradation is occurring where concentrations of pristane and phytane fluctuate against C17 and C18 alkanes. Historical data of the general pattern of alkanes identifies the ecosystem recovery process after major contamination. Alkane data however is an inexpensive evaluation technique though it may not efficiently work for pore water samples associated with sediments where particles are fully eliminated in water samples.

Mahyar Sakari, Ph.D., Laboratory Supervisor, AGAT Laboratories
Dr. Mahyar Sakari is an environmental chemist and a Laboratory Supervisor at AGAT Laboratories. He specializes in the characterization and quantification of petroleum hydrocarbons in crude oil and the environment in addition to his expertise in ecotoxicology and environmental contaminants. Dr. Sakari completed his PhD in Environmental Forensic at the University of Putra Malaysia and held the position of Postdoctoral Fellow at the National University of Malaysia, studying hydrocarbons and radionuclides in the marine sedimentary environment. His experience with transboundary movement of pollutants and stable isotopes led to his involvement in a joint project with Malaysian Antarctica Program (YPASM) in collaboration with British Antarctica Services, studying historical hydrocarbon deposition in ice cores. Dr. Sakari was served as an assistant professor at the State University of Sabah, a consultant and advisor to environmental companies (NOBES, EKOMAR and SCIENS), governments (Iran and Malaysia), the Anzali wetland restoration program (JICA-Japan) and the Regional Expert in Caspian Environment Program (CEP). He is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK, and an Environmental Professional (EP- ECO Canada) and is the author of several research papers, technical reports and book chapters.

The Randle Reef Sediment Remediation Project is the planned clean up of a severely contaminated portion of Hamilton Harbour in Lake Ontario. Randle Reef is the largest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contaminated sediment site (695,000 m3) on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes and the clean-up project consists of the construction of an engineered containment facility (ECF) as well as the dredging and placement of contaminated sediment from outside the facility into the ECF. The project consists of three stages:

Stage 1 - Construction of the ECF;
Stage 2 - Hydraulic dredging and subaqueous thin layer capping of the contaminated sediment outside the ECF; and,
Stage 3 - Capping of the ECF.

The concept for the Randle Reef Sediment Remediation Project was developed in 2003 and incremental design work and consultation was completed over the following years. Funding and partnership agreements for the project were established in 2013. Funding for the $138.9 million project is provided by multiple parties including Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, the Hamilton Port Authority, Stelco, the cities of Hamilton and Burlington and the Region of Halton.

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) tendered and awarded the Stage 1 ECF Construction contract in 2015, and the work was completed in 2018. In June 2017, PSPC tendered and awarded the Stage 2 Dredging contract to the joint venture of Milestone Environmental Contracting from Ottawa, Ontario, and Fraser River Pile & Dredge from New Westminster, BC. A service contract was awarded in 2018 to Riggs Engineering from London, Ontario, for Stage 2 construction, contract administration and resident site services.

Stage 2 site preparation began in the fall of 2017 with equipment mobilization in 2018. A custom-built hydraulic cutter suction dredge has been manufactured for the project, and a temporary water treatment facility with a capacity of 680 m3/hr has been set up to treat the dredging decant water. Dredging began in 2019 and is scheduled to be completed, along with the thin layer capping, in 2020.

This presentation will provide background on the Randle Reef Sediment Remediation Project, report on the progress and status of the Stage 2 dredging contract, and provide an update on the planned Stage 3 project.

Dave Lawrence, Senior Project Manager, Public Services and Procurement Canada
Dave Lawrence is a professional engineer who has been with the federal government for over 29 years with stints at Parks Canada and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). He is currently a Senior Project Manager with the Environmental Services and Contaminated Sites directorate of PSPC, Ontario Region.

The advent of high-resolution site characterization (HRSC) technologies has lead to a paradigm shift in contaminated site management. HRSC technologies are diagnostic field tools that leverage sophisticated analytical methods in the field to rapidly produce scale appropriate data in real-time. The speed of assessment and high density of representative data empower the implementation of strategic, cost-effective site management plans.

One such technique relies on the use of in-situ laser induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy for the assessment of petroleum hydrocarbons in soils and groundwater. This application involves driving a fluorometric probe into the subsurface while gathering real-time, continuous data on the spatial distribution, speciation, and relative concentration of hydrocarbons at the centimetre scale. This technique reduces the uncertainty associated with site characterization leading to significant cost and time savings.

Given the strengths of this approach, expanding the capacity of this technology to address additional environmental challenges is of critical importance. While designed for detection of hydrocarbons in unconsolidated materials, this analytical technique can potentially be adapted for a wider range of environmental assessment applications.

Recent research has been undertaken to explore the potential for this technique to spatially delineate organic-rich industrial sediments contaminated with dioxins and furans. This work is predicated on the ability of this approach to collect unique optical “signatures” of materials based on their physiochemical properties. To test this hypothesis, lab and fieldwork has been carried out at a stabilization basin which has received industrial wastewater over the past 50 plus years in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Preliminary lab and field-testing on sediments within the basin are presented as proof of concept for this application. Comparative analysis of system performance to standard gravity cores is presented. This system appears to have significant potential to vertically delineate the presence or absence of contaminated sediments. This will assist in producing more accurate volume estimates for remedial dredging operations with implications for similarly contaminated environments undergoing assessment and/or remediation.

Ben Sweet, Environmental Scientist, Technical Lead, SCG Industries Limited
Ben Sweet is the technical lead for SCG Industries Limited’s high-resolution site characterization tools and services. He has completed his Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Acadia University and a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick. Ben is a key member of SCG team playing a major role in research and development, remedial action planning, pilot testing, technical design, and contaminated site data interpretation.

In these roles he has completed numerous projects across North America, conducting both large and small-scale remediation projects and high-resolution site characterization investigations. Ben strives to ensure SCG’s clients are equipped with the latest innovative technologies and strategies to help cost-effectively address their environmental liabilities. Ben has presented at numerous conferences and been involved in technical workshops for both government and private organizations.

In 2018, a marine sediment sampling program (MSSP) and screening level sediment risk assessment was conducted for the Red Bay small craft harbour on the southern coast of Labrador. The purpose of the work was to assist Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in determining whether risks associated with sediment contamination in the Parcel C2 waterlot are acceptable, as this site is a candidate for divestiture. The MSSP was conducted following recently developed guidance for MSSPs in Newfoundland and Labrador, and was aligned with guidance from the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan process, including recent guidance for working harbours. The “Tier 1” approach included collection of marine sediment, benthic community, and tissue samples both on- and off-Site. Despite moderate sediment contamination by PAHs at two locations close to the finger pier, other lines of evidence (particularly effects-based measures such as benthic community and comparisons to tissue bioaccumulation benchmarks) do not indicate evidence of impairment. Risks for higher trophic receptors (including humans) were also determined to be negligible. This case study illustrates several aspects of risk management common to small craft harbours, and shows how decision making for these sites can be aligned with national and regional guidance for sediment management.

Gary Lawrence, Senior Environmental Scientist, Golder Associates
Gary Lawrence is a senior environmental scientist with over 23 years of experience in aquatic risk assessment, with an emphasis on sediment quality. He has co-authored provincial and national guidance documents on ecological risk assessment, and has worked on numerous federal harbour risk assessments across Canada.

During the summer of 2016, the run aground MV Kathryn Spirit had listed at an angle of 18.5 degrees. This situation posed extremely urgent risks to the environment and to the publics health and safety. The vessel, whose stability and structural integrity was precarious, made more so by the significant amount of water it was taking on, contained hazardous materials, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and larger than expected quantities of petroleum products, as well as materials containing asbestos and lead paints. The construction of an embankment (80,000 tonnes of stone) was carried out during the winter of 2016-2017 in order to stabilize, secure and isolate the vessel from its environment. The dismantling of the 4500-mt carcass was planned for the fall of 2017, to be completed before the winter of 2018.

Kathryn Spirit DJV (KS DJV), a joint venture, opted for a dismantlement strategy which, first and foremost, aimed at straightening the vessel (from 20 degrees to less than 5 degrees) to provide a safer work environment and increased environmental protection, since dismantling would be achieved above the water level. Once the access to the vessel was secured, an inspection revealed that the engine room area was completely flooded and that a thick layer of oil was floating on the surface. KS DJV proceeded to pump the petroleum products (floating phase) to allow access for the divers to inspect the interior of the engine room and identify and seal the water inlets. Following partial sealing, remediation activities began. To do this, the water and petroleum products were drained, treated and disposed of. Then the rockfill used to stabilize the hull of the vessel was removed. After five weeks of effort, the vessel began to float again and returned to about 5 degrees just before the winter frost arrived. Subsequently, the pumping of water in the engine room and the dirty surface cleaning activities began. In parallel, the dismantling of the ship accommodations were be carried out. The engine room was emptied of its equipment and the dismantling was carried out from the back to the front, with care taken to recalculate the stability of the ship frequently. Water infiltration and the risk of contaminant leakage were issues that remained under tight control throughout the work. When the dismantling was completed, the embankment was removed using mechanical shovels equipped with GPS, so as to remove only the rockfill while leaving in place the highly contaminated sediments already present on the bottom of the Lake St. Louis. Close monitoring of the excavation depth was carried out on a weekly basis, by means of a sounding survey, and the suspended solids were also monitored daily.

During the summer of 2016, the run aground MV Kathryn Spirit had listed at an angle of 18.5 degrees. This situation posed extremely urgent risks to the environment and to the publics health and safety. The vessel, whose stability and structural integrity was precarious, made more so by the significant amount of water it was taking on, contained hazardous materials, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and larger than expected quantities of petroleum products, as well as materials containing asbestos and lead paints. The construction of an embankment (80,000 tonnes of stone) was carried out during the winter of 2016-2017 in order to stabilize, secure and isolate the vessel from its environment. The dismantling of the 4500-mt carcass was planned for the fall of 2017, to be completed before the winter of 2018.

Kathryn Spirit DJV (KS DJV), a joint venture, opted for a dismantlement strategy which, first and foremost, aimed at straightening the vessel (from 20 degrees to less than 5 degrees) to provide a safer work environment and increased environmental protection, since dismantling would be achieved above the water level. Once the access to the vessel was secured, an inspection revealed that the engine room area was completely flooded and that a thick layer of oil was floating on the surface. KS DJV proceeded to pump the petroleum products (floating phase) to allow access for the divers to inspect the interior of the engine room and identify and seal the water inlets. Following partial sealing, remediation activities began. To do this, the water and petroleum products were drained, treated and disposed of. Then the rockfill used to stabilize the hull of the vessel was removed. After five weeks of effort, the vessel began to float again and returned to about 5 degrees just before the winter frost arrived. Subsequently, the pumping of water in the engine room and the dirty surface cleaning activities began. In parallel, the dismantling of the ship accommodations were be carried out. The engine room was emptied of its equipment and the dismantling was carried out from the back to the front, with care taken to recalculate the stability of the ship frequently. Water infiltration and the risk of contaminant leakage were issues that remained under tight control throughout the work. When the dismantling was completed, the embankment was removed using mechanical shovels equipped with GPS, so as to remove only the rockfill while leaving in place the highly contaminated sediments already present on the bottom of the Lake St. Louis. Close monitoring of the excavation depth was carried out on a weekly basis, by means of a sounding survey, and the suspended solids were also monitored daily.

Patrick Turgeon, Englobe 

Martin Blouin, Canadian Coast Guard
Captain Martin Blouin has graduated in 1985 from the Canadian Coast Guard College in Nautical Science. He has more than fifteen years of experience as a Navigation Officer for the Canadian Coast Guard. For the last twenty years, Captain Blouin was responsible for the environmental response unit for the Québec region and since 2016, for the Central and Arctic regions. With a degree in civil engineering and a Master's degree in applied sciences from the Université de Sherbrooke, Mr. Turgeon has more than 22 years of experience in project management and in environmental science. Project Manager at Englobe Corp. since 2006, he has been involved in the development and execution of major projects (traditional, design-build and PPP) and over the last 13 years, he has managed more than $ 165 million in water restoration / remediation work.

The Montreal Port Authority (MPA) is considering developing a container port terminal on its property in Contrecoeur, approximately 40 km east of Montreal. Earth observation technologies (EOTs) will be used to monitor the environmental aspects of the work. The objectives of this study are to:

• Better understand the capabilities of EOTs by satellite in support of the optimization of environmental site monitoring;
• Measure the effectiveness of environmental mitigation and protection measures; and,
• Ensure the conformity of the work and its monitoring, both locally (site of the future installations) and regionally (area of influence on which the work could have an impact).

The following environmental variables were selected to try to meet the objectives:

• Monitoring of suspended solids

Dredging activities are likely to resuspend sediment in the water column. It is envisaged to use satellite imagery combined with other sources of information (point or continuous sampling station, UAV, etc.) to monitor the evolution of suspended matter concentrations (SS) and their dispersion downstream of the work (turbidity plume).

• Coastal evolution

The development of infrastructure such as a wharf or a manoeuvring area for boats is likely to modify the hydrodynamic conditions of the environment. These changes could affect the evolution of the seabed and shoreline.

• Herbarium and fish habitat monitoring

On the Contrecoeur MPA territory, there are several potential fish habitats. These have been the subject of experimental fisheries to describe their use. These fisheries were conducted along the banks of the St. Lawrence River, in the main streams and ditches, as well as in the riparian marshes. The inventories identified several fish species, including species valued for sport fishing, such as northern pike, walleye, yellow perch and smallmouth bass.

• Impacts on wetlands downstream of the site

The development of infrastructure such as the port terminal at Contrecœur could have an impact on the wetlands downstream of the site, the Islands of Sorel and Lake St-Pierre (RAMSAR site).

The evaluation of the potential use of EOTs is an integral part of the St. Lawrence Plan's orientations aimed, among other things, at promoting the sustainable management of water levels and inputs in a context of climate change and whose objective is to produce information and tools to support decision-making. The St. Lawrence Plan brings together several stakeholders from different levels of government (federal, provincial, municipal), in addition to organizations working to protect the environment.

Marie-Hélène Michaud, Environmental Specialist, Public Services and Procurement Canada

Marie-Hélène Michaud, biologist with a Master's degree in oceanography, is an environmental specialist at Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). She has worked for more than 15 years in the private and public sector on projects in the St. Lawrence ecosystem, including dredging projects and the rehabilitation of ports infrastructures. Her role at PSPC is to provide advices and support to client departments to ensure that projects initiated by them are conducted in accordance with applicable federal and provincial environmental regulations.

Transport Canada’s five-year Transportation Assets Risk Assessment (TARA) initiative funds the assessment of climate risk for federal transportation assets. Since its 2017 launch, $6M in project funding has been approved for climate risk assessment and instrumentation projects for airports, highways, bridges, and ferry terminals, as well as research projects that seek to identify and address gaps and barriers to assessing climate risk.

Through TARA initiative implementation, Transport Canada delivered and advised on numerous climate risk assessment contracts, climate data and impact analyses, and climate risk assessment workshops, resulting in an early list of lessons learned relating to climate risk assessments for transportation assets. These lessons focus on how to select the appropriate tool for the assessment, what decisions need to be made at the outset of a project, and how to structure your work to get a product that can be used for decision-making. Transport Canada has the objective to share these lessons learned with the broader transportation sector. Accordingly, the TARA team has been involved in numerous corresponding presentations, including at various national and international conferences on transportation resilience and adaptation.

Allison Kader, Policy Analyst, Transport Canada
Allison Kader has over two years of experience delivering Transport Canada's Transportation Assets Risk Assessment (TARA) initiative. This includes managing contracts and statements of work, evaluating climate data and impact analyses and participating in climate risk assessment workshops. In addition, Allison works with project leads and consultants to assess the performance of the risk assessment projects to identify lessons learned and recommend practices. Transport Canada has the objective to share these lessons learned with the broader transportation sector. Accordingly, Allison has been involved in numerous corresponding presentations, including at various national and international conferences on transportation resilience and adaptation.