Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT LIARD (Mar 19/99) - The garbage has been piling up outside two camps for oil and gas industry workers near Fort Liard over the past two weeks.

The hamlet has denied Beaver Enterprises, who runs the camps, from depositing anymore of its camp-generated garbage in the hamlet dump, located approximately 15 kilometres from the community.

This has left Shane Parrish, general manager for the Fort Liard Valley Band's Development Corporation, feeling quite frustrated.

"This is just typical of government mentality. They don't know how to respond to industrial development," he said.

John McKee, the hamlet's senior administrative officer, said the hamlet would normally be willing to sell dump services, but it simply doesn't have the capacity to accommodate the residents' garbage as well as that from the Beaver Enterprises employees. The dump currently has a two-year capacity as it is, he added.

"We're just creeping up there," he said, adding that the volume of garbage from the community itself has increased significantly over the past few years. "We don't have the resources to do it."

Parrish argued that the dump is designed to serve a purpose and should be used accordingly.

"That's what they're there for, you fill them up and then you start another one," he said, adding that the garbage near the camps will soon become a health hazard.

McKee noted that the hamlet would gladly sell dump services to Beaver Enterprises if the extra capacity could be found. Funding for that is dependent upon the territorial government, he said.

Liza McPherson, regional manager for Municipal and Community Affairs, was to have visited Fort Liard Tuesday to look into the situation.