According to Jeff Gabert from communications, there is no set time line for the clean up of the disused Shell site in downtown 亚洲天堂 Lake.

Gabert said there is still more testing to be done at the site, which will take as long as necessary to insure the site is properly remediated. 鈥淚t is important not to have a time line and not to rush along with this type of work,鈥� he said.

Further drilling was recently conducted at the site as part of the remediation process in order to determine what kind of contaminants exist on the property.

Gabert said, 鈥淲e have conducted further drilling at the site and we are planning to move forward with remediation ... we need to understand what type of contamination is present so that we can make the right plan for remediation of the site. The Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake is involved as well as Husky Oil Ltd. and the so it is a team effort.鈥�

The 亚洲天堂 Lake Shell station officially closed its doors on Dec. 3, 2008 and in 2009 a demolition permit was issued. The structure was demolished in 2010 and the Ministry of Environment has since restricted any future use by imposing a detailed site investigation requirement.

Suntanu Dalal, Ministry of Environment media spokesperson said, 鈥淭he Ministry鈥檚 decision restricts future land use until Shell Canada has applied for and obtained either; a determination that the site is no longer contaminated, a voluntary remediation agreement, an approval in principle of a remediation plan, or a certificate confirming the satisfactory remediation of the site.

The adjacent site on the corner of Hwy. 16 and Government St. is also under remediation, which started in January of 1994.

Dalal said that considerable remediation of the site was previously completed between 1994 and 2005 and that remediation is still ongoing.

Gabert said the recent testing at the Shell site has nothing to do with the province鈥檚 announcement that a clean up of the brownfield sites in 亚洲天堂 Lake will be expedited.

He said the drilling work was scheduled to occur and that Shell Canada has not had any discussions with the province about expedited remediation.

As for what may be possible for future use  of the site, Gabert said it is still too early to tell.

鈥淲e know that this is a useful piece of land and there is some options being discussed,鈥� he said, adding that he can鈥檛 disclose what those options are.

鈥淭he drilling has been completed and we are waiting for the results  so we can decide what the next steps will be in the process. This could mean that further work at the site will proceed, but we won鈥檛 know until the data from the monitoring wells come back.鈥�

There is several monitoring wells already at the site and the Ministry of Environment had recently requested more testing from different locations on the site.

鈥淲e had to put in new monitoring wells at different levels. We had some in place but the Ministry of Environment asked for more wells based on the previous drilling results.鈥�

鈥淲e can鈥檛 just take data from the wells for a few weeks. We need a full year of testing, or more. Seasonal changes effect the data and we need to get a good firm data set. The B.C. Ministry of Environment has strict standards and that鈥檚 what the people of B.C. demand ... and for good reason. We are focussing on the site and we appreciate the patience of local residents,鈥� Gabert added.