FROM PAGE A8

landfill were never in dispute and the local resident who reported the incident also had photographic evidence of the dumping, charges were never brought.

Waste Management Municipal Section Head Ernie Lawson recalls that at the time his department made the decision not to prosecute a statement was made that it would not look good having one level of government prosecute another.

He adds that though ERCO was not prosecuted the instance prompted Waste Management to look more closely at the overall problem of dumping hazardous wastes at landfills by incorporating a system of logging details of such wastes.

ERCO has since added storage tankers to its plant for collecting toxic wastes with a view to dumping them at a landfill designated for hazardous waters. at Arlington, Oregon.

Environmentalists in federal agencies, as well as private consultants working in hazardous wastes and local wildlife groups,express frustration at such an at- titude by Waste Management.

It is generally considered that Waste Management has the clout through its permit system to clean up the environment to a greater degree than other agencies.

But consistently expressed criticisms are that the department is more con- cerned with “keeping its nose clean” by avoiding controversy and maintaining a low profile.

Lawson counters by detailing instances where Waste Management has brought charges, such as the court action against the district of Surrey relating to the discharge of leachate into the Fraser River from the landfill there.

Recently, two charges were brought by Waste Management against Kopper International, of Burnaby, relating to a spill of oil and PCP into the Fraser River from a water treatment plant last November.

Waste management comes under provincial junstiction. Though landfill permit applications are referred to Fisheries and EPS, there 1s no binding accord between the two government levels whereby Waste Managc. ment is Compelled to incor

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porate the federal concerns as conditions to awarding pollution control permits.

The final decision is made at the provincial level, unless a ruling to the contrary is sought in the courts and a judge makes an order to the applicant.

Coordinator of studies for the local EPS office, Otto Langer, says that disagreements between EPS and Waste Management are not rare and stem from different philosophies between the two agencies.

“We don't always disagree but we disagree more often than rarely,” he says. “We have different perspectives of what water quality is all about.”

“We are trying to protect fish,” Langer says. “They are trying to administer an act.”

Lawson sees Waste Management objectives differently. “Our objective is to protect the environment and control pollution,” he says, adding: “We're not set up to eliminate pollution but are trying our best to control it.”

There are occasions when EPS or

Fisheries recom- mendations to Waste Management are ignored

and concerns by the federal agencies over possible pollution consequences are sufficient that the matter ends up in court, with a request for an order to be made to landfill applicants.

This was the case in situations at Richmond Landfill and the Ven-Dev landfill at Fraser Mills, Langer say

‘We told Management Ven-Dev wouldn't work but they aren't in a binding agreement where they have to accept our decision. They allowed the landfill to proceed and the leachate turned the stream black and we prosecuted with cooperation from a citizens’ group.”

Langer does not rule out such legal action occuring some time over concerns at North Van's Premier Street Landfill.

EPS is anxious about the history of problems there with leachate from the dump entering Lynn Creek and North Van Distnct's overall plan to continue dumping at the landfill for the next 20 years or more. Local EPS officials would like to see the landfill phased out as soon as possible.

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EPS officer Gordon Thompson considers the site is altogether unsuitable for dumping because it is right on the bank of Lynn Creek.

He thinks that calamities such as the Halloween washout which led to a large section of the landfill collapsing into the creek, which is still littered with garbage from the incident, are not only likely but bound to occur again.

Thompson says the water level of the creek that day was not even a 10-year-high, never mind a record. Past experience at the site with

ERNIE LAWSON

Head of Waste Management Municipal Section

problems of leachate which he says is significantly toxic, has made him sceptical about whether the creek can ever be adequately safeguarded.

Such doubts anger Waste Management head Lawson in fight of extensive negotiations between his department and _ Federal Fisheries and his efforts to ensure protection of the fish habitat. He says he cannot agree that further washouts are inevitable.

That aside, he points out that North Van _ District doesn't even have the authorization necessary for 20-year dumping at « the landfill because the area covered by its pollution control permit may be filled within five years.

Longer term dumping than that would require an additional permit for a final section in the north-east corner of the area so that the height of the landfill could

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rise to the cemetary grounds, rather than sloping down to finish off at a significantly lower level.

District Mayor Don Bell and Municipal Manager Doug Welsh were not even aware of the permit situation when questioned about it by this reporter last fall.

Welsh responded that if District didn’t have a permit for the final proposed landfill area it would inform Waste Management of its intended plan and receive the necessary poitfution control permit.

But Waste Management's Lawson says awarding such a permit--may not be nearly such a simple formality as District officials anticipate.

Any application to extend the pollution control area would require ai “full assessment”, he says.

“Taking into account the current public interest in the matter, I think it would be an application which would receive a lot of public scrutiny and the decision would be a little more open to question at this point of time.

Public awareness has increased to the point where Lawson anticipates there would be considerable opposition to extending the permitted dumping area at Premier Street.

“Certain segments of the public are extremely con-

- cerned about pollution now,

as they rightly should be,” he says, adding that there are clearly problems at the Premier Street Landfill.

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into the final landfill area in five years, Lawson says it would need to apply for a permit within “two to three years at the outside, maybe somewhat sooner,” because he thinks it might take so long to process.

“It would take a very minimum of four to six months to consider the application and if there was extensive public opposition it could take longer than that”.

He doesn't attempt to comment on whether or not a pollution permit would be awarded, saying the ap- plication would have to be considered on its own merits.

But he adds it is not a forgone conclusion § that District will be able to implement its 20-year plan for the landfill and that the views of local residents will play an important part in the decision.

“Public input is required in pollution control legislation and the public does have an opportunity for input in any application,” he says.

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Disputes over pollution philosophies

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