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The Year Ahead: Dirty dirt fight to continue in new year

It’s no secret what Shawnigan Residents Association president Calvin Cook’s priority is heading into 2016.
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SRA president Calvin Cook

It’s no secret what Shawnigan Residents Association president Calvin Cook’s priority is heading into 2016. Like many in Cowichan’s south end, it’s the preservation of Shawnigan’s drinking water by forcing the shutdown of South Island Aggregates’s Stebbings Road soil treatment facility and landfill.

“I’m hopeful that in 2016, in January, in the judicial review, that the judge will hear all the evidence that was supposed to have been presented during the Environmental Appeal Board rulings and understand that this risk is unacceptable and overturn that permit,” Cook said. “We feel we have a very, very strong case but in the interim, material is being brought into the site. We feel strongly that the permit was obtained through fraudulent activity and therefore it’s not a valid permit and we’re looking forward to that opportunity to going into court to prove that.”

Cooks dares not make a prediction on the outcome.

“At this point we feel we have a strong case but certainly I wouldn’t want to make any predictions. The only prediction I can say is that our community, the citizens down here in the south end are firmly opposed and will be opposed to that permit forever. It’s in the wrong spot and that’s one prediction I can make with almost 100 per cent certainly is that our opposition will never change.”

 



Sarah Simpson

About the Author: Sarah Simpson

I started my time with Black Press Media as an intern, before joining the Citizen in the summer of 2004.
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