Written by Debra Lynn
B.C. government Assistant Deputy Minister, Laurel Nash, presented a Neucel site update at a Village of Port Alice council meeting back on Nov. 8.
Those attending included Mayor Kevin Cameron, village council, staff, as well as Beth Thompson and one other resident as spectators. The village has been meeting regularly with the Ministry of Environment and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the mill trustees, to receive updates about the Neucel site. The events of the Nov. 8 meeting were relayed to the North Island Gazette by Thompson, because she felt “the information was important to the whole community.”
Deputy minister Nash informed the meeting that the Neucel mill site will likely be stabilized by March 2024.
Pricewaterhouse ran into several surprises that, according to Nash, were “environmental catastrophes.” When they removed a retaining wall of the 100-year-old mill, they discovered that it was contaminated with asbestos. The toxic material had to be bagged and shipped to Drayton Valley, Alberta, to be disposed of—a total of 120 truckloads.
During the question period, Coun. Dave Stewart asked why the asbestos had to be shipped so far away. Nash said that they put it out to approximately 10 entities to deal with and nobody wanted it. No municipal landfill on the island was willing to accept the material due to the fact that the quantity of hazardous waste required a high level of expertise to handle and dispose of properly.
A water treatment plant was also installed on site near the settling ponds. Because they had effluents in them and keep filling up with water, the water needs to treated until the settling ponds are eventually removed.
Although foreshore demolition is considered critical, it will need to wait because of restrictions pertaining to working from the water. Price Waterhouse is going to try to do as much as possible from shore.
Over the years, residents had permission from Neucel to use the property for their golf course. When the trustees came in, they told the golf club members that they could continue using it; however, in the end, the whole mill site may need be sold to recoup the monies that the roughly $110 million demolition has cost so far.
Nash’s presentation also noted the receiver may be looking to dispose of two Totem Way properties, those being located at 200 & 300 Totem Way.
Neucel owns these two properties, and rather than dispose of them, the ministry said it is possible the trustee will work with the Village of Port Alice to transfer the sites to the village.
Coun. Russell Murray asked if the province was going to go after the owners of the mill for the cost of the demolition and bankruptcy. Nash indicated that, because the owners are offshore, there is not really anything they can do. Given what happened at this mill, and other similar situations throughout the province, special legislation is being written to deal with foreign investments.
No decisions have been made regarding the future of the site, including future ownership. The site is currently in the hands of the province and the trustees.
Port Alice Village council meetings are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month at 6:00 p.m. in the village office, (except July, August and December). Meeting agendas are posted on the village website at portalice.ca, and on the bulletin boards inside and outside the village office.
* this article has been updated Jan. 18 with more information regarding Totem Way, the golf course, and a clarification about hazardous waste handling