Province pulls controversial Shawnigan Lake soil dumping permit

The B.C. government has cancelled the waste discharge permit that allowed a quarry upstream from ShawniganLake to receive and store contaminated soil.

Environment Minister Mary Polak saysCobble Hill Holdings Ltd. failed to provide documents proving the company had financial security in the form of an irrevocable letter of credit.

"The company was given 15 business days to provide three required documents and submitted only two prior to the deadline given," said Polak in a statement.

"Cobble Hill Holdings has been provided multiple opportunities to respond to outstandingnon-compliancesand has repeatedly missed deadlines with respect to its permit requirements."

Operations were already suspended

Shawnigan Lake residents have been concerned the contaminated soil was poisoning their drinking source. The Ministry of the Environment has said that their water testing never showed contamination levels above the legal limit.

On January 24, aB.C. Supreme Court justice set aside an earlier court ruling that allowed operations to continue at the quarry onStebbingsRoad near Shawnigan Lake.

Shipments of contaminated soil were stopped at the time after B.C.'s Environmental Appeal Board was ordered to conducta review. Now that the permit has been pulled, thereview will no longer be necessary.

"This is what our community of Shawnigan has been fighting for years and we have been relentless in this fight and we have been determined. We have deserved this outcome as a community," said Sonia Furstenau, the area director for Shawnigan Lake and the Green Party candidate in CowichanValley.

"There is nocoming back with new paper work. There is one step that still needs to happen, which is the soil needs to be removed from the site."

Provinceoverseeing site cleanup

Polak says Ministry of Environment staff are now working to determine how cleanup will take place.

"That will be depending on what staff determines is appropriate for... the disposition of the material ...," said Polak.

There are concerns from the province that Cobble Hill Holdings does not have the financial ability to clear the land of thecontaminants.

Cowichan Valley NDP MLA Bill Routley says the province is responsible forensuringthe land is cleared and itshould require the company to immediately do it.

"You can't just wait until the pollutants start drifting into the water. It needs to be dealt with," said Routley.