Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Kimmirut (Oct 16/00) - What to do with the equivalent of 20,000 barrels of PCB-contaminated soil?

That's the burning question on the minds of officials at the department of Indian affairs and Northern development since the clean-up project on Resolution Island began in earnest three years ago.

And now that a good portion of the 5,000 cubic metres of toxic dirt is on its way to being containerized, the time has come to make a decision about what form of remediation is best.

DIAND officials responsible for the clean-up of the island compiled an environmental impact statement and presented it to the Nunavut Impact Review Board during public hearings in the communities of Kimmirut and Iqaluit.

Under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, the NIRB must assess all environmental projects in the territory. Public hearings were conducted in Kimmirut and Iqaluit because the south Baffin communities are close to Resolution Island.

"We want to do is correct some of the damage done to Nunavut," David Livingstone, a DIAND employee on hand for the presentation in Kimmirut, told the audience of about 50 people.

After extensive research, Livingstone and his colleagues said they decided the safest and most effective method of removing and disposing of the soil was to ship it south to the Bennett treatment facility in St.Ambroise, Quebec to be incinerated.

While that method will take three years to complete and is the most expensive -- it could cost up to $12 million -- DIAND officials said they felt it was the safest option available.

"Resolution Island is not a forgiving place. It is not a place for experimentation, particularly when tried and true options are available," said Livingstone.

"None (of the options) are as proven or as low-risk to the people of Nunavut as our preferred option," he said.

Speaking on behalf of NIRB members, Elizabeth Copland said the board would carefully review the environmental impact statement and the information gleaned from the public hearings.

She said they would make a recommendation to DIAND Minister Robert Nault within 30 days.

Under Article 12 of the land claim, the minister is responsible for final approval. If DIAND's preferred method is rejected, the process will begin again. Copies of the statement are available from DIAND.