Tr'ondek Hwech'in too late to move Dawson sewage lagoon: government
The Yukon government says it's too late to change its decision to dig Dawson City's new and much-needed sewage lagoon next to the town's baseball diamonds, despite a recent proposal from the Tr'ondek Hwech'in Han Nation to locate the lagoon on land it owns across the river.
Mount Lorne NDP MLA Steve Cardiff made one last plea Tuesday to have the government look at the Tr'ondek Hwech'in offer, which it made out of concern that the site by the ball diamonds was too close to First Nation housing.
"The government's plan to put a sewage lagoon at the entrance to Dawson City will no doubt provide a wonderful first impression for visitors," Cardiff said, with a touch of sarcasm, in the legislative assembly Tuesday.
"Will the minister recommend to his department that it seriously consider the Tr'ondek proposal even if it means having to request one more delay from the court?"
The government and the Town of Dawson have been scrambling to build a sewage-treatment plant since the territorial court fined the town $5,000 in 2003 for dumping raw sewage into the Yukon River.
The court also ordered the town to start treating its sewage by the end of 2008. A court hearing has been set for June 28 for both parties to show what progress has been made.
"We don't have time; the end of June is coming," Community Services Minister Glenn Hart said. "We have to have our application to [the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board] in order to look like we're moving forward on this project before the judge."
Kriss Sarson, the Yukon government engineer heading the Dawson lagoon project, said putting the lagoon across the river would cost more money anyway.
"Going to the First Nations land— being higher in elevation and requiring road access, power, and all the utilities and services— it would more likely substantially be more expensive than the current budget we have allocated to it," Sarson said Tuesday.
"We'd [need] more work to figure it out, because we haven't done any work on it in reference to what the additional costs would be."
Besides, he added, the Tr'ondek Hwech'in land is not city land, and "having a lease arrangement could be a little challenging," he said. "Like any agreement like a lease or any contract, it can be broken."
Building the sewage lagoon is expected to cost about $14 million, and Sarson said it won't be ready until at least 2011.