The City of Terrace and Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine received a combined $8 million in provincial grants to remediate an old landfill site and expand the region’s new waste facility.
On Thursday, the B.C. Ministry of Municipal Affairs announced $5 million for the City of Terrace to remediate the recently-closed Terrace landfill. The money will be used to reduce the risk of contaminated water leaking into the environment and reduce greenhouse gases released at the site.
"The City of Terrace is excited and welcomes this funding announcement of $5 million to assist in the remediation work at the recently closed Terrace landfill," Terrace Mayor Sean Bujtas said. "This work has been identified by our staff as our number-one priority, and this funding allows us to redirect the other recently announced $4.633 million into other key infrastructure within the community."
The Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine also received $3 million to help expand the Forceman Ridge Waste Management Facility and provide additional capacity for the region. The Kitimat-Terrace area is the site of LNG Canada’s $40 billion project to build a liquified natural gas export terminal, and is also the terminus of TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline, which is expected to be complete this year.
"When Forceman Ridge was commissioned in November 2016, the first cell of the landfill was expected to have a 12-year lifespan,” regional district chairperson Philip Germuth said. “The pressures of large development projects in the region have increased the filling rate for the cell faster than capital funding can be collected. This provincial funding will help the (regional district) keep up with waste produced by these projects and reduce the capital burden on area residents."
The funding was provided through the provincial Critical Community Infrastructure Fund.
