TERRACE, B.C. – The Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine (RDKS), the regional government for the area including Terrace and Kitimat, has been hit with a penalty of nearly $43,000 for repeated environmental and safety violations at its landfill in Iskut.
A recent decision from the province’s Environmental Management Act director details a years-long history of non-compliance at the facility, which previously led to five bears being destroyed by conservation officers.
According to the decision, the RDKS repeatedly failed to maintain the electric fence surrounding the landfill at its required minimum voltage of 6,000 volts. This failure, which occurred on 12 documented occasions between 2022 and 2024, “presents, at a minimum, a risk of harm to human health and the environment through bears accessing and entering the facility,” the director wrote.
It was similar failures in 2020 at the same landfill that resulted in conservation officers having to kill five bears that had gained access to the site.
Inspectors also found that the RDKS failed to control scattered litter, with garbage found strewn both inside and outside the fence line. The regional district also failed to maintain a proper fire break around combustible materials and did not keep an adequate log book of its operations.
The director’s decision noted that the regional government was given 10 warnings over five years and that the repeated nature of the violations led to the increased penalty.
“There is no evidence that [the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine] exercised due diligence to prevent the contraventions,” the decision stated.
The RDKS has 30 days to appeal the penalty.
