About 100,000 tonnes of contaminated soil will not be removed under a plan to close a controversial soil-storage site near Shawnigan Lake, Green Party MLA Sonia Furstenau has been told.
Furstenau said the plan, approved by the provincial government, could jeopardize the water in the lake, and she is leading a call for removing the soil.
Shawnigan Lake-area resident Calvin Cook said technology exists to clean the contaminated soil on site. “It’s disappointment,” he said of the decision. “We know that soil can be treated, so what you’ve got here, in my opinion, is a long-term liability.”
Furstenau said the plan calls for capping the contaminated soil with a new layer of non-contaminated soil.
The site, developed at a former quarry, has been a source of contention among many area residents for years. They worked to get Cobble Hill Holdings’ soil-storage permit revoked over fear that contaminants would leach from the Stebbings Road location into the lake, which is a source of drinking water for about 12,000 people.
Furstenau was elected as MLA after being part of the grassroots fight against the quarry operation.
The quarry has not been able to accept soil since 2017 when its collection permit was cancelled.
Cobble Hill Holdings is challenging the permit cancellation in a lawsuit.
The suit alleges wrongful exercise of authority by Mary Polak when she was B.C. environment minister under the Liberals.
Furstenau said the closure plan does not give people what they want. “It means that the risk to that water, the potential risk to that water, remains,” she said.
Instead, the provincial government decision will only mitigate the risk, Furstenau said. “It’s not acceptable.”
Environment Minister George Heyman said approval of the plan came after a number of amendments. “We’ve made the decision following a review of the final closure plan submitted by the company in question.”
He said there was consultation with independent professionals, as well as input from the community. “And in addition to that, in finally approving the plan I’ve placed a number of additional conditions on the plan including enhanced environmental monitoring [and] complete independent oversight of the work at all times to be conducted by ministry staff or professionals that we choose.”
There will also be two shallow groundwater-monitoring wells to further assess the area.
Heyman said the goal is to have no environmental damage and ensure drinking water is protected.
If available information changes, the ministry will respond to it, he said.
Furstenau said the quarry issue dates to 2012, and Heyman doesn’t seem to appreciate the entire history.
“From the very beginning the community and experts hired by the community and lawyers hired by the community have identified problems at every stage.”
She did not comment on whether the Shawnigan Lake decision would raise friction between the NDP and the Greens. The parties have an agreement that keeps the minority NDP government in power.
“Ultimately, you need a government that says protecting drinking water is first priority, and that’s not what’s happening here,” Furstenau said.
Cobble Hill Holdings did not respond to a request for a comment.
