The Deer Lake incinerator is still scheduled to close on Nov. 30 but council has asked government for an extension on the deadline.

“I don’t know if we’ll get it but we’ll try,” said Coun. Kerry Jones at council Monday night.
“We need to proceed immediately with the site work and closure of the incinerator on an emergency basis in order to enable the Town of Deer Lake to meet the deadline imposed by the Department of Municipal Affairs and the Department of Environment and Conservation,” said Jones.

“The incinerator site will soon become a landfill. We’re seeking a short-term extension to just give us a chance to get the work done and remediate the site so we can start work on our landfill,” said Mayor Dean Ball.

The town is moving toward a regional waste management strategy by 2016,” Ball said. “The 30,000 metres squared landfill will be used until that date.
“The engineering has been done on our site that we have now. With commencing this project in late 2009, early 2010, we have enough room to accommodate the communities of Deer Lake, Reidville, Cormack, Howley, part of White Bay and the southern side of Bonne Bay including Gros Morne Park. If use of the landfill site continued for six years, we’d have enough land on site right now to see us through. It is enough to accommodate the communities.”

Looking into the future, Ball said the cost of waste management will be “drastically affected” in the next two years.

“To what extent I guess it’s still unknown. Nobody knows at this point.”

Ball said the town is feeling a great sense of urgency to start the transition from an incinerator site to a landfill.

“We certainly don’t want to be caught in January and February stock piling garbage until we can do something with it in the spring. This is why it’s such an urgency and this is why we’re going to be declaring this an emergency so we can begin work on this as soon as possible. I’m talking days not weeks. In order to get this moving, we need to act now,” said Ball.

The urgent message from the mayor was answered with questions and requests for clarification from council.

“I understand that it’s a lot to take in ... It’s unfortunate that new council has to deal with this in such a short timeframe,” said Ball.