Post by IAMCAPER on Jun 14, 2005 8:07:53 GMT -4
The Cape Breton Regional Municipality faces a whopping $15.3-million bill to properly close a number of old landfills at Caribou Marsh, Sydney Mines and other areas that have been sitting idle for almost 20 years.
Councillors who learned about the looming costs at an audit committee meeting Monday morning were left wondering where the CBRM will find the money. The $15.3-million estimate is also just a ballpark number that could be off by as much as 40 per cent, according to a report.
“The only question is ho, ho, ho, hum, where is all the money coming from,” Coun. Gordon MacLeod joked.
“It’s ludicrous.”
Deputy Mayor Claire Detheridge, chairperson of the committee, said the landfills have not been closed before today because of the cost and the CBRM’s financial struggles.
“You know what the financial state here is like, and it is all dollars and cents.”
Landfill closure typically requires a waterproof cap and collection and treatment of leechate water and methane gas.
Finance director Rick Farmer said the provincial government requires the CBRM to have a plan ready by March 31, 2006, showing where it will get the money to properly close the old landfills.
Engineering director Kevin MacDonald will be invited to the next meeting to inform the committee about any talks that may have occurred with the province about the deadline.
Engineering consultants ADI Ltd. said in a preliminary 2001 report the landfills were used for disposal of municipal solid waste and construction debris although some were also used by Devco to dispose of mine waste.
The former landfills that must still be closed include: Woodbine in Caribou Marsh, sites on Tobin Road, Butt Street, Shore Road, Vickers Lane and Church Street in Sydney Mines, North Sydney landfill, Louisbourg landfill, Dominion landfill and New Waterford landfill. They date back to the days before the opening of a new regional incinerator to burn garbage in 1987.
Closure costs are highest for Woodbine and the existing county site, where the estimate is $5 million for each, and New Waterford, where it is $4.3 million.
Landfills will also require monitoring wells.
Farmer said he was informing the committee about the landfill closure costs because the CBRM is required by public sector accounting guidelines to show such liabilities on its books even in a year when it may not plan to spend the money.
He suggested there may be some money available from Devco to help remediate those landfills containing mine waste as well as municipal garbage.
The CBRM has been burning garbage at a regional incinerator but will being shipping its 40,600 tonnes of household garbage a year to a second generation landfill in Guysborough starting Jan. 1.
The provincial government should contribute to the cleanup costs of the old landfills since it is setting the guidelines, said Detheridge, suggesting there is little appetite on council for a tax increase to cover the costs.
“We are going to have to become magicians not politicians,” she said
Councillors who learned about the looming costs at an audit committee meeting Monday morning were left wondering where the CBRM will find the money. The $15.3-million estimate is also just a ballpark number that could be off by as much as 40 per cent, according to a report.
“The only question is ho, ho, ho, hum, where is all the money coming from,” Coun. Gordon MacLeod joked.
“It’s ludicrous.”
Deputy Mayor Claire Detheridge, chairperson of the committee, said the landfills have not been closed before today because of the cost and the CBRM’s financial struggles.
“You know what the financial state here is like, and it is all dollars and cents.”
Landfill closure typically requires a waterproof cap and collection and treatment of leechate water and methane gas.
Finance director Rick Farmer said the provincial government requires the CBRM to have a plan ready by March 31, 2006, showing where it will get the money to properly close the old landfills.
Engineering director Kevin MacDonald will be invited to the next meeting to inform the committee about any talks that may have occurred with the province about the deadline.
Engineering consultants ADI Ltd. said in a preliminary 2001 report the landfills were used for disposal of municipal solid waste and construction debris although some were also used by Devco to dispose of mine waste.
The former landfills that must still be closed include: Woodbine in Caribou Marsh, sites on Tobin Road, Butt Street, Shore Road, Vickers Lane and Church Street in Sydney Mines, North Sydney landfill, Louisbourg landfill, Dominion landfill and New Waterford landfill. They date back to the days before the opening of a new regional incinerator to burn garbage in 1987.
Closure costs are highest for Woodbine and the existing county site, where the estimate is $5 million for each, and New Waterford, where it is $4.3 million.
Landfills will also require monitoring wells.
Farmer said he was informing the committee about the landfill closure costs because the CBRM is required by public sector accounting guidelines to show such liabilities on its books even in a year when it may not plan to spend the money.
He suggested there may be some money available from Devco to help remediate those landfills containing mine waste as well as municipal garbage.
The CBRM has been burning garbage at a regional incinerator but will being shipping its 40,600 tonnes of household garbage a year to a second generation landfill in Guysborough starting Jan. 1.
The provincial government should contribute to the cleanup costs of the old landfills since it is setting the guidelines, said Detheridge, suggesting there is little appetite on council for a tax increase to cover the costs.
“We are going to have to become magicians not politicians,” she said