Dear Sir:
I was in attendance of the regional district meeting on Oct. 19 and was disappointed in the outcome regarding the proposed Forceman Ridge landfill. It seems some of our representatives on the regional board are bent on creating a new scar on the landscape.
While I am not a big fan of referendums in this case I think it is only fair. Six of the twelve directors are appointed from the various communities and as such do not have much invested in the location, with the exception of the Terrace Mayor Dave Pernarowski and city councillor Bruce Bidgood who I am sure will be happy to close their dump in favour of Forceman Ridge.
This process has been going on for quite some time now and I am sure many talented and intelligent people have spent many hours going over the various issues.
However common sense does not seem to prevail. Much is said about how the new dump will be run – liners for leachate collection, biological treatment, area for storage and sorting of recyclables. Where have these processes been for the last 20-25 years?
Recycling has been an issue in this area for as long as I can remember. Somewhere someone decided recycling has to pay for itself. It will cost, the payoff is the environment.
I remember going to meetings about the Thornhill Landfill 20 plus years ago. Many of the same issues were brought up then. If this dump goes ahead I predict history will repeat itself.
The technology exists to clean up the existing landfills. Get serious about recycling. Show some courage and try to heal the scars by renewing the mandate of the existing landfills.
Robert Todd, Terrace, BC