Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Fort McPherson (Feb 04/02) - A $2-million cleanup of an old garbage pit contaminated with DDT begins this month at an isolated site, 105 kilometres south of here.

The pit, located on the Yukon side of the border at the confluence of the Caribou and Peel rivers, was used by Shell Canada in the mid-1960s.

The pit was covered when Shell did its final cleanup of the site in 1975, but within the last decade, garbage was exposed by the changing course of the Peel River. Tests of soil indicated DDT levels of 79 parts per million, well above the 0.7 ppm for parks and residential areas.

Rat River Development Corp., owned by the Tetlit Gwich'in Council, built a winter road in January.

"Hopefully by the end of March, we'll have everything cleaned up," said Fort McPherson band Chief Abe Wilson. Soil and garbage from the pit will be put into containers and shipped to a Southern toxic waste treatment plant.

Tests of the water and fish around the site came up negative for DDT.

DIAND and Shell Canada are sharing the cost of the project.