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The Canadian government has identified 142 contaminated sites wherepollutants need to be contained or eliminated because of along-term or immediate threat to human health or the environment. That's according to a CBC News analysis of information compiled bythe Treasury Board, one of the departments responsible formaintaining an inventory of sites. Much of the data is availableonline, but CBC News obtained additional information. The 142 sites are only those that have reached step eight in a longprocess that federal departments and agencies must follow to assessand develop plans to clean up or contain damage posed bycontaminants. Step eight is what's called "remediation/risk management strategy,"which includes identifying the contaminants in soil or groundwater,and developing a plan to remove or treat them. There needs to be adetailed contingency plan in case the contaminants are releasedinto the environment. Contaminated sites dot the Canadian landscape, ranging fromdecommissioned Distant Early Warning sites that form the so-calledDEW line in Canada's far north, to native reserves, to sites closerto major cities, such as Montreal's Lachine Canal and Ottawa'sMacdonald-Cartier Airport. Some work is underway at all 142 sites. The government announced more than $14 million last month to clean up 21 DEW line sites last used in 1993. The 142 sites are but a handful of the thousands of potential sitesrequiring clean up that have been identified since the departmentbegan tracking them in the 1990s. In the 2004 budget, thegovernment set aside $3.5 billion to assess and develop plans toensure these sites cease pose no risk to human health and theenvironment. So far, the government has spent about $1 billion. In 2005, the government developed what it called the FederalContaminated Action Plan to ensure that the departments responsiblefor most of the contaminated sites develop regular plans and reporton their progress. Abandoned mines Abandoned mines in the North such as the Giant Mine just outsideYellowknife in the Northwest Territories pose some of the biggestproblems. The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development hasnoted that while the four departments had made progress, there wasstill a lot of work to do. The Canadian government identified 142 contaminated sites as oflast September where pollutants need to be contained or eliminatedbecause of a long-term or immediate threat to human health or theenvironment. That's according to a CBC News analysis compiled by the TreasuryBoard, one of the departments responsible for maintaining aninventory of sites. Much of the data is available online, but CBCNews obtained more complete data. The 142 sites are only those that have reached step eight in a longprocess that federal departments and agencies must follow to assessand develop plans to clean up or contain damage posed bycontaminants. Step eight is what's called "remediation/risk management strategy,"which includes identifying the contaminants in soil or groundwater,and developing a plan to remove or treat them. There needs to be adetailed contingency plan in case the contaminants are releasedinto the environment. Contaminated sites dot the Canadian landscape, ranging fromdecommissioned Distant Early Warning sites that form the so-calledDEW line in Canada's far north, to native reserves, to sites closerto major cities, such as Montreal's Lachine Canal and Ottawa'sMacdonald-Cartier Airport. Some work is under way at all 142 sites. The government announced more than $14 million last month to clean up 21 DEW line sites last used in 1993. The 142 sites are but a handful of the thousands of potential sitesrequiring clean up that have been identified since the departmentbegan tracking them in the 1990s. In the 2004 budget, thegovernment set aside $3.5 billion to assess and develop plans toensure these sites cease pose no risk to human health and theenvironment. So far, the government has spent about $1 billion. In 2005, the government developed what it called the FederalContaminated Action Plan to ensure that the departments responsiblefor most of the contaminated sites develop regular plans and reporton their progress. Abandoned mines Abandoned mines in the North such as the Giant Mine just outsideYellowknife in the Northwest Territories pose some of the biggestproblems. The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development hasnoted that while the four departments had made progress, there wasstill a lot of work to do. Many of the contaminants come from petroleum stored in undergroundstorage tanks. In the 2008 report, the commissioner gaveEnvironment Canada an "unsatisfactory" mark for failing to forcethe four departments to deal with petroleum storage tanksconsidered to be "high-risk." Environment Canada, the audit concluded, "has done limitedinspections of petroleum storage tanks on federal facilities toensure that departments were registering them. The risk posed bythese storage tanks is serious. Limited pollution can cause major problems. For example, onegallon of gasoline can render 1 million gallons of water unfit forhuman consumption. The environment commissioner will also report Tuesday on thegovernment's progress in meeting its 2020 emissions-reductiontargets, and will make his third and final report on Canada's theKyoto Protocol. The Conservative withdrew from the Kyoto agreementin late 2011. This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on theArctic, a collaborative partnership between public and privatecircumpolar media organizations . Contact David McKie at david_mckie@cbc.ca. an "unsatisfactory" mark for failing to force the four departmentsto deal with petroleum storage tanks considered to be "high-risk." Environment Canada, the audit concluded, "has done limitedinspections of petroleum storage tanks on federal facilities toensure that departments were registering them. The risk posed bythese storage tanks is serious. Limited pollution can cause major problems. For example, onegallon of gasoline can render 1 million gallons of water unfit forhuman consumption. The environment commissioner will also report Tuesday on thegovernment's progress in meeting its 2020 emissions-reductiontargets, and will make his third and final report on Canada's theKyoto Protocol. The Conservative withdrew from the Kyoto agreementin late 2011. This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on theArctic, a collaborative partnership between public and privatecircumpolar media organizations. 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