Work is about to begin on the Cache Creek Landfill Extension, a 60 hectare piece of property next to the current landfill.
The Extension was announced in January 2010 when it received approval from the BC Environmental Assessment Office.
Belkorp vice president Russ Black was in Ashcroft on Monday to explain the work done so far to the Ashcroft Council.
Belkorp is still working on getting the Operational Certificate for the Extension, but they are “99 per cent” of the way to getting it, Black told the Council.
In the middle of the process, said Black, the Ministry came out with new landfill guidelines, which included double composite liners. Which was great news for Belkorp, he said, because they had already designed the Extension to have quadruple liners - twice the new criteria.
Black said the extra protection was a personal issue for him.
“I have a lot of comfort in having double the standard,” he said.
He convinced the board to pay the the added protection, saying it isn’t something that can be added after the fact.
He said they may be jumping the gun a little, but they plan to start moving dirt for the Extension within a couple of weeks. Most of the work for the Operational Certificate is complete, there are still some components of post-closure security that have not been agreed to yet by the province.
The earth moving is part of Stage !A - the first of six stages. Stage 1 is the initial construction.
He said they also need to realign the Forest Service Road as requirerd by the Environmental Certificate. Black said they don’t have to do it right away, but Wastech needs access, and so work on that will also begin in two weeks. He said there shouldn’t be significant impact on traffic, but there will be traffic control in place to keep vehicles moving.
Putting animal byproducts in the Extension had been considered, but Ashcroft Council’s opposition to it made them decide to remove it from the Operational Certificate. If they decide to consider that again, it will have broad public consultation, he said.
At the moment, they’re doing baseline water sampling from the Bonaparte River and surrounding groundwater. They also have several sampling wells placed around the Extension.
There is already a Cache Creek Landfill Extension Implementation Committee in place. It had its first meeting on Sept. 4 in Cache Creek.