Manitoba Minister Accepts Auditor General’s Report into Contaminated Sites, Landfills
11/14/2007
by -- ESAA
www.esaa.org
Winnipeg, MB - Plan Launched to Ensure Licensing; Solid-waste Manager Appointed to Lead Efforts
November 7, 2007 - Conservation Minister Stan Struthers today accepted the auditor general’s report on the audit of Manitoba Conservation’s management of contaminated sites and landfills, and announced that Manitoba will ensure proper permitting and licensing of all of the province’s landfills.
“We agree with the auditor’s position that large landfills that have permits, which have been grandfathered since 1991, need review and licensing,” Struthers said. “We will move forward with the recommendations to licence landfills and to ensure proper remediation, monitoring and assessment of contaminated sites.”
The report acknowledges the action taken since the auditor’s last contaminated sites report in 2005. It also recognizes the progress of the government’s accounting for the liability of contaminated sites. However, the auditor general’s report provided 55 recommendations to help strengthen management of contaminated sites and landfills.
The minister announced further action to address recommendations relating to landfills and contaminated sites. The plan includes the following action:
- hiring a solid-waste manager to lead environmental assessment efforts of landfills;
- committing to legislative review of landfills;
- working with municipalities and government bodies to ensure they are properly tracking and accounting for their liabilities;
- continuing to improve record keeping and tracking of contaminated sites and landfills;
- working with the City of Winnipeg to implement a methane-capture program at the Brady landfill; and
- ensuring review and licensing for large landfills, including the Brady landfill in Winnipeg, which were allowed in 1991 to be grandfathered into the Environment Act without having to go through a licensing process. Brady was permitted again in 1993 with no expiry date, and no licensing process under the Environment Act. The province will work with the City of Winnipeg to ensure Brady landfill is licensed with a proper public review within the next year.
Since 2005, the provincial government has already addressed many of the recommendations of the auditor general including:
- expanding by five the number of staff and establishing an inter-departmental committee that is focused on environmental assessment and remediation of contaminated sites;
- identifying and recording $162 million in environmental liabilities and developing a new, separate process to track and identify government-owned sites, as recommended by the auditor general;
- reviewing regularly the status of orphaned and abandoned mines, though the auditor general states, “the province is not legally responsible for remediation,” to ensure the timely update of information and ensure remediation plans are in place;and
- amending the Dangerous Goods Handling and Transportation Act that reinforces the ‘polluter pays’ principle by improving departmental cost-recovery options. Provisions in the legislation include both third-party costs and the cost of using government employees, equipment and/or materials for environmental cleanup purposes. The legislation also improves the department’s ability to require reimbursement of cleanup and accident-response costs from people who mishandle dangerous goods including a non-judicial process for intercepting payments to these people.
(Source: ESAA, November 16, 2007, www.esaa.org)
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