Another example of government incompetence

[flamingfingers]

B.C. residents claim water at risk from government-approved landfill site
W5: Trouble In Paradise
W5: Residents in B.C. claim their water is at risk from a government-approved landfill site, upstream of the renowned Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island.

Stephen Grant, W5
Published Friday, March 4, 2016 4:00PM EST

Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island is a pristine body of water that provides recreation, awesome views and clean drinking water to 12,000 people. But just up the hill from this slice of paradise is a contaminated landfill site that’s threatening the community’s way of life.

In August of 2013 the B.C. government granted South Island Aggregates a permit to dump 100,000 tonnes of contaminated soil a year for the next 50 years. The permit allows for a long list of chemicals including, dioxins, furans, hydro carbons, metals, arsenic, and lead.

The granting of the permit to operate the landfill immediately caught the attention of Sonia Furstenau of the Shawnigan Lake Residents Association. Furstenau questioned the decision by the government, and in an interview with W5 said, “It's uphill from the drinking water source, and you don't put contaminated landfills up from the drinking water source.”

Despite the on-going assurances of the government, in mid-November 2015 after heavy rains, the community’s worst fears were realized. The Environment Ministry issued a no drinking and bathing advisory for anyone near Shawnigan Lake due to a suspected non-containment of surface water from the South Island Aggregates site.

The rest is here:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/b-c-residents- ... -1.2803970

[Smurf]

Check donations to the Liberal party from South Island Aggregates or it's owners. I'll bet that will shed light on the situation. Remember party friends and supporters are much more important that general public.Time something is done about some of these disasters and someone finds out why the government seems to be somehow frequently involved .

[Donald G]

Unread postby Smurf » 2 minutes ago

Check donations to the Liberal party from South Island Aggregates or it's owners. I'll bet that will shed light on the situation. Remember party friends and supporters are much more important that general public.Time something is done about some of these disasters and someone finds out why the government seems to be somehow frequently involved .

I think that that type of thing has been going on with almost every government. at every level, since "Sir John A" and a few of his cronies were identified as having taken large political kickbacks from the building of the trans Continental Railway. Sad but true.

[Donald G]

I wonder why every article of "government incompetence" in BC is opened with an NDP opinion ?? It is getting almost as bad as it did during the last election campaign. An unending tirade of finding fault without offering an alternative didn't help then. Won't help now.

[Hurtlander]

I wonder why every article of "government incompetence" in BC is opened with an NDP opinion ?? It is getting almost as bad as it did during the last election campaign. An unending tirade of finding fault without offering an alternative didn't help then. Won't help now.

Where exactly was the "NDP opinion" in the above article from W5 ?
Here's a simple alternative to the above story you were concerned about; it's easy, don't contaminate the water supply with toxic waste...
For goodness sakes Donald, why must you always equate holding the governments feet to the fire as being an NDP initiative...

[Donald G]

Unread postby Hurtlander » 9 minutes ago

Where exactly was the "NDP opinion" in the above article from W5 ?

WADR W5 did not open the latest in a never ending number of threads opened finding fault with the Clarke Government. It was opened by an NDP fanatic as evidenced by over 100 similar real and imagined "fault Christie" strings opened by the same small NDP advocacy group during the last election, the last K-W by-election and continuing up until the present time.

[Ka-El]

I wonder why every article of "government incompetence" in BC is opened with an NDP opinion ??

Stephen Grant with W5 and CTV News is a NDP opinion?

[Ka-El]

, why must you always equate holding the governments feet to the fire as being an NDP initiative...

The irony of suggesting someone else has a partisan agenda. The word hypocrisy comes to mind.

[maple leaf]

WADR W5 did not open the latest in a never ending number of threads opened finding fault with the Clarke Government. It was opened by an NDP fanatic as evidenced by over 100 similar real and imagined "fault Christie" strings opened by the same small NDP advocacy group during the last election, the last K-W by-election and continuing up until the present time.

Why don't you ever find a staunch Liberal supporter exposing the faults of their government ?There is never ending threads started ,because there is never ending cases of malfeasance from this government,seems like something different comes up every day,hence another thread about the latest case .

[Ka-El]

Why don't you ever find a staunch Liberal supporter exposing the faults of their government ?

I would suggest it is the same degree of partisanship as exhibited by Stephen Harper's supporters - and we all know how that worked out. The only thing that prevented the NDP from winning the last election in BC was Adrian Dix - and Dix is gone.

[Urbane]

Despite the on-going assurances of the government, in mid-November 2015 after heavy rains, the community’s worst fears were realized. The Environment Ministry issued a no drinking and bathing advisory for anyone near Shawnigan Lake due to a suspected non-containment of surface water from the South Island Aggregates site.

It's seems like a no-brainer that this permit should never have been issued. Those who made the decision to issue the contract should be out of work now. Furthermore, if this company did make any contributions to the Liberal Party (anyone know?) then we move from incompetence to malfeasance.

[Donald G]

Just as Canada being the best country in the world to live in does NOT mean that we are free of criminals, BC having the best government of the alternatives available at the time of the election, does not mean that there are not individual dishonest politicians among the many elected to govern us. All people should be judged by their actions.

[Donald G]

Postby Ka-El » Today, 10:19 am

I would suggest it is the same degree of partisanship as exhibited by Stephen Harper's supporters - and we all know how that worked out. The only thing that prevented the NDP from winning the last election in BC was Adrian Dix - and Dix is gone.

It is that kind of simplistic thinking that causes the NDP to fail to get elected so often. Dix was only one of several serious problems that resulted in the NDP not getting elected in BC when almost all of the polls showed that a large number of people were willing to support change in BC ... as long as it did not involve the limited NDP thinking being displayed at the time.

Even on a federal level the NDP were conned into supporting the Liberals by limiting their support platform to attacking PM Harper. NDP incompetence vs "other party" competence at both the Federal and Provincial levels ??

[Ka-El]

I would suggest it is the same degree of partisanship as exhibited by Stephen Harper's supporters - and we all know how that worked out. The only thing that prevented the NDP from winning the last election in BC was Adrian Dix - and Dix is gone.

It is that kind of simplistic thinking that causes the NDP to fail to get elected so often.

wooosh

[erinmore3775]

Unfortunately the Shawnigan Lake water contamination has little to due with the provincial NDP. However, it has everything to due with how the current government handles environmental self reporting of industrial and mining sites. This has parallels to the Mount Polley mine disaster.

"Since last May, trucks have been rolling into a site near Shawnigan Lake to unload cargo: soil dredged from a Port Moody property in the Lower Mainland.
Under provincial regulations, the soil isn’t hazardous; if it were, it would have to be disposed of in a provincially approved hazardous waste facility. But it is “contaminated,” meaning the amount of, say, salt, lead or mercury it contains exceeds numerical standards set out in B.C. legislation."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/worried-residents-head-to-court-over-drinking-water-concerns-shawnigan-lake/article28359674/

" Island Health issued a do-not-use-water advisory Friday due to “a suspected overflow of water” from the landfill site owned by Cobble Hill Holdings Ltd. The company has a permit to accept and store up to 100,000 tonnes of contaminated soil a year at its Stebbings Road quarry uphill from Shawnigan Lake.
The advisory warned people against drawing water from the south end of the lake for drinking, bathing, personal hygiene or food preparation."
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/shawnigan-lake-water-warning-brings-calls-to-close-soil-landfill-1.2112510

The W5 feature outlined clearly the concerns of the residents and the "safety features" in place to ensure that the South Island Aggregates project contains all water and run off on its site. However, questions and concerns remain. This government has not been transparent and forthcoming with information concerning Mt Polley and it has mirrored the same with Shawnigan Lake/South Island Aggregates.