A B.C. Supreme Court decision barring a Vancouver Island facility from accepting any more contaminated soil won't affect Port Moody's Pacific Coast Terminals (PCT).
The decision, which concurred with the Cowichan Valley Regional District's position that the South Island Resource Management facility at Shawnigan Lake contravened zoning bylaws, included an injunction barring any further importing of contaminated soil.
PCT, which had trucked about 80,000 tonnes of contaminated soil to the facility to make way for its potash expansion, delivered the last load late in 2015.
Wade Leslie, PCT's vice-president and general manager, confirmed the company no longer needs to remove any soil from the site, saying that phase of the project is complete.
But a second court ruling could put PCT and other companies that have delivered contaminated soil to the site on the hook for removing it.
Sonia Furstenau, the elected Area Director for Shawnigan Lake, said they're awaiting the decision from a 21-day judicial review of the B.C. Environmental Appeal Board's decision to uphold SIRM's permit from the Ministry of Environment. That hearing wrapped up in February.
"One of the reliefs sought there is for the companies to remove soil that's been brought in," Furstenau said.
South Island Resource Management said in a statement it is complying with the decision and the property owner, Cobble Hill Holdings, is considering an appeal.
"It is important to understand this decision deals with only one aspect of our operation," SIRM said. "We continue to operate the mine and manage the material already on the site."
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@spayneTC
