By Brad North
Recent correspondence from Ms. Diana Penner, the chair of ‘Residents Advocating for a Sustainable Inclusive Environment’ (otherwise known by the acronym NIMBY) has renewed both my faith in the scientific method and my deep distrust of anyone saying that ‘public opinion’ is on their side.
Having overseen the City of Terrace solid waste program and the pre-closure needs of the landfill (among other things) for 15 years, I feel compelled to respond to the nature of Mrs. Penner’s correspondence. This special interest group maintains that they, the uninformed public, was not represented and yet are somehow in a better position to provide the answer to the problem: keep dumping beside the Kalum River as is the case now with the City of Terrace landfill location.
However, the public is being fully represented: by qualified professionals employed on behalf of the public specifically for this purpose - surely this is the process we expect from our tax dollars. Yet after 17 years of independent studies by qualified professionals, this group intimates in their ignorance that no independent studies have ever been done, and instead ask when they will start.
Kitimat did not ‘withdraw its support’ for the project, it is simply cheaper for them to stay where they are because their site is gravel all the way down, and so, because no leachate has been found on the surface, no upgrades have so far been triggered by environmental statutes. Additionally, Terrace to Forceman Ridge is not “long distance trucking”, it is local transport.
The new site, buffered by a transfer station, creates incentive to recycle and compost (notoriously difficult to generate in our region) and thereby reduces emissions in those areas. Still ignored by both the group and the public is the carbon footprint of transporting most local area recyclables to the lower mainland, and often on to India and China. Seriously.
The natural clay base at the Terrace site (said by Ms. Penner to be an advantage) is sloped to the west, and directs leachate to the Kalum River. This has been mitigated by a low-tech correction (which I implemented with the blessing of the environment ministry) as long as the landfill does not grow beyond the treatment capacity.
Continued use of the Terrace site would cause it to leap from Ms. Penner’s ‘brownfield’ to an active waste site, toxic to the nearby river and downstream inhabitants.
This would trigger upgrades in not only design and construction (millions of dollars) but also upgrades to monitoring and treatment (more millions), groundwater management, gas collection, etc. The footprint of the landfill cannot increase, so it would have to go up even further. And up, and up, for at least 50 years.
The Kitimat-Stikine regional district did not spend $800,000 “to convince the public” (as Ms. Penner claims); the studies were undertaken to ethically ascertain the suitability of the proposed site. To suggest otherwise is disingenuously inflammatory if not actually libelous. While employed by the city, I was impatient with the time taken to study the site, and the excruciating level of detail involved.
Older now, I am glad it was done that way. To then have a group stand up and say that it wasn’t even done just, well, boggles me.
The regional district had the studies done by independent, qualified environmental and engineering professionals, who trained for and entered their chosen professions because of their concern for the environment, and whose livelihoods would be risked by violating their professional ethics. Further to this, the process was meticulously overseen by the excellent professionals in the environment ministry.
We would all do well to listen to their carefully reasoned conclusions, and regional district official Roger Tooms’ excellent synopsis. This, after all, is why we paid for it. The wild voices in our heads have never served us well.
The synopsis from regional district official Roger Tooms, as well as a letter from Diana Penner, can be viewed at http://www.terracestandard.com/news/187588151.html
Brad North has worked in the Terrace area all his adult life. Recently retired, he is now a happily unemployed local musician.