B.C. Environment Minister cancels waste discharge permit at Shawnigan Lake
VICTORIA — British Columbia’s environment minister cancelled a waste discharge permit for the company operating a dump site for contaminated soil that has been the subject of years of protests and court actions by local residents.
Mary Polak said Thursday she took the unprecedented step of invoking the Environmental Management Act to revoke the permit for Cobble Hill Holdings for its failure to meet disclosure requirements on out-standing non-compliance issues.
She said this is the first time a B.C. minister has used Section 18 of the act to cancel a discharge permit.
Last month, the Environment Ministry suspended the permit for the company’s operations in an old quarry near Shawnigan Lake, about 25 kilometres north of Victoria on Vancouver Island.