A.12- the Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 13, 2000 Polluted dirt now is clean TERRACE’s most visible contaminated site is no longer considered danger- ous. After four years of treat- ment, large piles of soil from the CN Rail site be- side the overpass are dis- sappearing. “The contamination. has been reduced by treatment so it’s acceptable to take to a landfill now,” said en- vironment ministry pollu- tion prevention officer Alex Grant. It’s being gradually taken to the Prince Rupert | landfill, where it’s being used for caver, he said. The soil was contami- naled by oil taced with pentachlorophenol. The oil had been used as a wood preservative by SOIL that had been piled up and covered in plastic for nearly four years is no ‘longer considered contaminated. finished yet.” That’s because some of the contamination seeped underneath CN’s mainline tail line and will- be mon- itored for a lengthy period: to ensure it doesn’t mi- grate further: . The ministry is also monitoring a similar soil: clean-up operation at the former Co-op bulk plant, which the new linear park has been built around. the old MacGillis and Gibbs Co. pole yard in the 1970s, CN Rail later bought the property and subdivi- ‘ded some of it to a number of businesses on the north side of Keith Ave. The environment mini- stry required CN. ta dig up and treat the soil as well as continue monitoring the flow of contaminated ma- terial, in surrounding ground water. Chemicals, fertilizer and natural bacteria added to the soil gradually broke down the contaminants, said Grant. - Just over half of the ari- + ginal 6,000 cubic metres of soil is now gone, “Officially the sroperty is considered still. under remediation,” Grant said, “We're not saying they’re + Nisga’a get set for vote PREPARATIONS are now underway for the first-ever Nisga’a Nation elections this fail. Nisga’a citizens will vote for a new presideni, secretary-treasurer, chairman and chairman of the coun- cil of elders Nov. 8. Those elected posts will make up the backbone of the Nisga’a Lisims Government. Nisga’a Nation president Joe Gos- nell has said he will not run again. Voters will also cast ballots for Jocal representatives wherever they live, In the four Nass villages, that means electing a chief councillor and other councillors equivalent to the mayor and council for each vil- lage. _Nisga’a people who live in the three urban areas — Terrace, Prince Rupert and Vancouver — will vote for an urban local representative as well as for the four executive positions in the central government. Enumerators have been conduct- ing a census in all areas over the past few weeks, said Corinne Mc- Kay, the Nisga’a government’s chief electoral officer. The census counts all residents in the villages, she said, because the total population — not just those eli- gible to vote — determines the num- ber of councillors to be elected. “They represent all residents of the communily,” McKay said, ex- plaining why non-Nisga’a people and everyone fram babies to elders is being counted. “There are services our govern- ubscribe Today} . TERRACE: ment can provide to those people because they reside in the Nass val- ley. That’s the purpose of the census.” Rather than candidates stepping forward, a series of nomination meetings ave planned in each com- munity to identify candidates. Those happen in the last two weeks of September, with the one in Terrace planned for Sept. 27. Nominees then. have until Oct. 10 to accept or decline the nomination. McKay said that system is similar to the style of elections used by the former Nisga’a Tribal Council. “People of the Nisga’a Nation are accustomed to attending a conven- tion and submitting a nomination for a candidate to run fer office,” she - explained. DEPARTMENT _ OF HIGH: SPEED -: [ISSUED F “OR Tecence Residents | {FISSUED ON WON rues mh WED arurs of Fr Gen As hAut connection {vow | telus. net A consistently fast lwteenet, SPEED: TAAVELLED