The following was released on Andrew Weaver’s website, December 1, 2015.

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Andrew Weaver, MLA for Oak Bay Gordon Head and Deputy Leader of the BC Green Party is calling on Island Health and the Ministry of Environment to immediately shut down operations at the contaminated soil processing facility near Shawnigan Lake, in response to a CVRD report released today.

“The release of the engineering report raises very serious concerns regarding the safety of the ongoing operations.” said Andrew Weaver. “There has been a profound and pervasive dereliction of duty within the Ministries of Environment and Energy and Mines. The citizens of the region have collectively lost confidence in the ability of the BC Liberals to look out for their safety.”

The report, commissioned by the Cowichan Valley Regional District, identifies serious concerns about surface runoff and throughflow potentially becoming contaminated but not adequately being contained or treated. In particular, it concluded that “runoff storm water sourced from the SIA site is bypassing the sediment pond (i.e. by flowing under it) and is being discharged directly onto the land owned by the CVRD.” This occurred despite the fact the BC Government mandates that all surface water is required to be “contained on the property and treated in accordance with the permit”.

[sam id=”15″ codes=”true”]The report cites a lack of clarity regarding provisions related to the infiltration of surface water and suggests that “stormwater from a facility that handles contaminated soil should be managed in a way that allows for contaminant sampling and controlled discharge.”

“How the BC Liberals issued an operating permit in light of the very serious findings of the CVRD report is beyond me.” said Andrew Weaver. “The permit should be immediately rescinded, operations ceased, and a full independent investigation initiated.”

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Resources

• Original release
• Engineering report commissioned by CVRD (Linked here)
• Mary, we have a problem (blog by Sonia Furstenau, Shawnigan Lake Area Director)

All SPN stories on Shawnigan Lake

• Green MLA seeks answers as an engineer report finds no conflict of interest re contaminated soil at Shawnigan
• Minister Polak cancels contaminated soil permit, Shawnigan Lake
• Dumping toxic soil near Shawnigan Lake temporarily halted
• Plain English report of April 6 court events; Second Shawnigan Lake court ruling expected on Friday, April 15
• Cowichan watershed-protection community celebrates victory
• ICYMI: W5 probes contaminated soil dump uphill from Shawnigan Lake in “Trouble in Paradise”
• NDP critical of increasing carbon emissions under Clark’s leadership
• SRA update on the contaminated soil dumping happening near Shawnigan and Sooke water reserves
• Stand with Shawnigan on January 6, 2015
• CHEK News covers the nine arrests at Shawnigan Lake, on Tues Dec 22
• Hacktivist group Anonymous turns attention to Shawnigan Lake
• Andrew Weaver, MLA, calls for immediate stop to toxic soil dumped near Shawnigan/Sooke water reservoirs
• BC Gov designates Vancouver Island the provincial toxic dumping ground; Shawnigan Lake, Sooke Lake water reserves at risk

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