The GSWA is concerned with the number of rail accidents that have taken place in Northern Ontario over the past few years. The current rolling stock of tanker cars carrying hazardous materials is aging, and even a retrofitted version of the tanker cars carrying bitumen caught on fire in the Gogama rail accident on March 7, 2015.
The increased surface area of the new roadway will more than triple the amount of surface (storm) water entering into the storm water drainage system in the Ramsey Lake Watershed. Presently, open ditches service some of this area and provide for a level of natural filtration and infiltration of runoff. In the proposed extension of the original project, ditches would be replaced by underground pipes leading directly to Ramsey Lake, thus reducing natural filtration.