Friday, December 5, 2014

Likely, BC State of Local Emergency rescinded

Courtesy of the Cariboo Regional District: 

Today, the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) has rescinded the State of Local Emergency declared in Electoral Area F, the Likely Community Area. 

The State of Local Emergency was instituted by the CRD on August 5, 2014 in response to the tailings pond breach at the Mount Polley Mine site, due to concerns about the stability of the tailings plug at Polley Lake and to enable the necessary resources to be coordinated and used in the protection of people’s lives, safety and welfare, and to limit damage to properties and the environment.  The order was lifted today based on an assessment completed by Golder Associates, that the plug is now deemed stable.

Although the Order to Restrict Access to the entire area is being removed by the CRD, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) orders to restrict road access from public use will remain in place.  The Ministry advises that due to the continued heavy industrial traffic operating in the area during remediation, in the interests of public safety, the following roads will remain closed:

-        Horsefly-Likely Forest Service Road (FSR) (aka “Ditch Road”) from the junction with Horsefly-Polley FSR to the Mitchell Bay recreation site.
-        Horsefly-Gavin FSR (aka “Gavin Road”) from the west side of Mount Polley’s operations through to the junction with the Ditch Road.
-        Horsefly-Polley Lake FSR in its entirety (access to Polley Lake recreation site).

The Ministry is committed to restoring public access as soon as possible.

The CRD’s Emergency Operations Centre is now closed. 

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