Crews work to control fire at the Westar landfill about 8 km east of Medicine Hat on Nov. 29, 2013.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Eight years after a fire at the Westar Landfill, a reporting date on remediating the site east of Medicine Hat has been extended for several weeks.
The Alberta Environmental Appeals board told the News this month that since both parties are actively negotiating, a three-year deadline that eclipsed on Wednesday had been extended until January 2022.
Officials with Alberta Environment and Parks stated the ministry continues to “work closely with Westar to resolve this issue.”
“Currently, Westar has fulfilled many of its commitments related to the environmental protection order requirements, and Alberta Environment and Parks continues to work directly with them on addressing the remaining requirements,” read a statement.
No other information is being released.
The landfill near the junction of highways 41 and 41A burned for six weeks in late 2013, sending up black smoke that hung over the area and Medicine Hat as fire crews dug out the burning refuse and pumped in 6,000 gallons of water per minute.
Residents from 16 nearby residences were evacuated, and Cypress County officials said the total effort, including the hiring a specialized firefighting company, cost about $2 million.
No charges were laid, but an Environmental Protection Order was issued requiring watering monitoring, an engineering plan to remediate the site, and that Westar initially secure the waste material and plan to eventually return it to the pit.
In 2016, Alberta Environment officials told the News the landfill’s owners were working toward meeting requirements of the order. Immediate concerns had been resolved and there was no imminent risk to the public.
However, the file has remained open after reporting date extensions from 2015 to 2018, and then most recently to Nov. 30, 2021.
The News attempted to contact Westar and its officials, but all contact information appears to be out of date.
