Resolutions

Therefore be it resolved that the SUMA urge the provincial Ministry of Environment to initiate a review of the terms and conditions being applied on all operating permits.

Response: The ministry has been working to complete site suitability risk assessments at all active landfills in the province classifying them from Class A (high risk) to Class C (low risk). This site classification system is used to establish the conditions for the permit. In the past the sites for landfills were often selected form sub-optimal farm land or land adjacent to water bodies. This has been proven to be problematic as these locations tend to represent a high risk for leaching of contaminants to surface or ground water. Landfills that present a higher level of risk to the surrounding environment require more protective measures and monitoring to ensure adverse environmental impacts are avoided. In these cases it may well be that moving to a low risk location or transitioning to the use of regional landfill operations may be more cost effective. Such recommendations are only made when long-standing compliance issues at operational landfill sites have occurred and the cost benefit is apparent. Saskatchewan’s environmental protection is currently under review. As part of that process a review of permitting practices and the conditions on landfill permits will be completed.