The City of Moose Jaw has had permission since 2012 to build a new landfill adjacent to the old one, but municipal officials have been slow to move on the project, a city councillor argues.
For the past eight years, city administration has provided city council with reports during budget discussions about expanding the landfill east of the current location. The reports have also discussed how the Ministry of Environment has agreed to amend the municipality’s permit to operate the landfill as long as a liner is installed in the expansion area since a shallow aquifer exists underneath.
The landfill’s future is part of an overall Solid Waste Management Plan that city administration has been working to create during the past five years. The municipality’s public works, infrastructure and environment advisory committee discussed the plan’s status during their recent meeting, with the minutes forwarded to city council’s Oct. 19 regular meeting for approval.
The minutes indicated a consultant’s report about the Solid Waste Management Plan has not been completed, which frustrated Coun. Brian Swanson, who pointed out city administration had told him months ago that a report was “imminent.”
“We’re into a second consultant on that,” he said. “Early in our term, we sat in that room (adjacent to council chambers) and did a consultation with an engineer about the landfill. That was three years ago. This report on the landfill as part of the Solid Waste Management Plan is long overdue.”
In the past, if council members approved a project that required engineering expertise, it would ask the engineering firm to speak to them about the initiative, Swanson continued. That has since stopped, which he thought was unfortunate since council now approves projects without the opportunity to ask questions.
Swanson then held up several reports dating back to 2012 that council had received during budget discussions about the landfill expansion. Almost all of them included the same information:
- the Ministry of Environment approved the expansion in 2012 and would amend the permit to operate as long as a liner was installed since an aquifer was below;
- the new landfill would have a 25-year lifespan;
- the city’s engineering department had spoken several times with the ministry; and
- the engineering department had spoken several times with consultants.
“I keep bringing these points every year and we keep getting the delay about the consultant report,” said Swanson, “and it’s my firm belief that the agenda is for a new landfill somewhere else, even though we have the available land with an existing weigh station (and) existing scales that would be as the long-term plan.”
This will be a matter for the new council, especially since constructing new landfills is a volatile issue that won’t make the city friends with anyone, he continued.
“There is an agenda that is not privy to us. I don’t care if I rub people the wrong way. This is an example of how things are operated wrong here,” Swanson remarked.
Swanson believed the engineering department will produce a report saying the city should buy land from the rural municipality, which he believes will create enemies with RM officials and landowners. He also believed the report would suggest the new landfill will somehow become profitable if the City of Moose Jaw spends millions more than anticipated to build it.
In an email to the Moose Jaw Express, the municipality said, “The City is currently completing its Solid Waste Management Master Plan in collaboration with our consultant. No decisions on the future of the landfill will be contemplated before the Master Plan is complete, and construction on a new landfill cell will not occur until it is needed.
“Ongoing analysis of airspace remaining at current deposit rates estimate the landfill will be able to continue to take waste until the end of 2025.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Nov. 16.
