The Mamquam Blind Channel will be dredged "sooner or later," according to West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky MP John Weston.
The assurance was delivered after questions from the Chamber of Commerce luncheon crowd at Pepe and Gringo's Tuesday (May 18).
Weston said he has managed to get the Department of Fisheries (DFO) mandated dredging window extended for a year after a hard-fought battle, which means the work would need to be completed before February 2011.
The DFO determines when it's environmentally safe to deposit dredged material in an area occupied by a species of concern, such as during non-breeding periods.
Despite the fact that the Government of Canada is no longer funding dredging, Weston said he's confident it will get done through other avenues.
"So many people told me it was time to give up but instead what I proposed to [Mayor] Greg [Gardner], and what we've done, is to create the Mamquam Dredging Action Group and we have been meeting on an intermittent basis."
The group was formed in October "to move away from taxpayer-driven to stakeholder-driven funding," said Gardner at the time. It brings together the Squamish Nation, Gardner, Weston, local developers, marina owners and Squamish Tug to discuss funding options.
"Greg and council are willing to consider some sort of harbour authority forum," said Weston. "It could accept contributions from users or stakeholders in order to get this done."
The meetings have led to a district-funded study to determine the commercial value of dredging as potential mitigation to dredging costs.
"We have the results for that study but staff has advised me that the commercial value of the dredge material is less because it's not pure gravel, there's some silt in it," said Gardner.
"There is still some value but the exact value in indeterminate and it's certainly not the same value as pure gravel."
He said originally there were thoughts it could offset as much as 50 per cent of the cost, but it won't come anywhere near that.
"The approximate cost of the dredging is $1 million and that's a significant amount."
Gardner said council members have echoed Weston's sentiment that those who use the channel could contribute to the dredging fund.
However, there is one very vocal opponent to the dredging in Squamish. Local environmentalist John Buchanan said he is concerned that with money issues, Squamish does not have the capacity to complete the dredging process properly and that mercury could be released in the process.
"Yes, the soils above low tide levels have been remediated to certain levels on the Nexen lands, but the surrounding sediments underwater have never being addressed," said Buchanan in a letter to The Chief.
"The outfall from the Squamish river system has encased the mercury so that mercury levels on the surface have dropped. Any disturbances of the lower sediments, pose the risk of releasing contaminants into Howe Sound."
Weston said he didn't recall having discussion about mercury, but he did say he assumed appropriate precautions would be taken.
"In the process of any action that would take place a concern like that would trigger some sort of assessment," said Weston.
"It should be done in accordance with fisheries and environmental standards, which I assume would incorporate any concerns about mercury."
Weston said he was meeting with Gardner on Friday (May 21) to discuss the next steps.
