An open letter to Premier Darrell Pasloski

Darrell:

We are writing to see if some action can be taken in the issuance of a hazardous waste storage permit to Double Cross Motors, 15 Maple Street, in Whitehorse.

The fact that this permit was issued, in the middle of a residential neighbourhood, has been confirmed by the minister’s office and the Director of Environmental Protection, Jon Bowen.

We have been aware of this situation since the 3rd of June and, to this date, the department has not rescinded the permit and had the property cleaned to appropriate environmental regulations. The reason given is, despite the fact that the department issued the permit without even checking where the property was located, that the regulations have no consideration for removing a permit. According to Jon Bowen, “We continue to pursue options for resolution of this issue in light of the fact that we cannot unilaterally rescind/reissue a permit even if an “administrative error” was made. There is a legal process in the Act for cancellation of a permit and that is the process we must follow; there is no “shortcut”.”

You may wish to remind him that, if he is worried about the legal ramifications of just arbitrarily removing the permit and ordering the property cleaned, he may more wish to consider the legal ramifications of issuing the permit through gross negligence and incompetence of his department. We are not willing to allow these unacceptable situation to continue much longer and wish that something be done within a very short period of time.

—
Doug Rutherford
Whitehorse, YT, Canada