The City of Cranbrook claims an independent testing company has deemed the dirt used for a recent monster truck event was clean.
The dirt was one of the alleged issues that WorkSafeBC is fining the city over.
WorkSafeBC said the dirt used in the event was taken from the wastewater lagoon property and was not tested for contamination.
But the City said it was clean fill dirt stored at a higher elevation than the lagoons.
“The dirt used for the Monster Truck event was removed from a natural forested area for a road project extending 30th Avenue to connect to the College of the Rockies. The City’s dirt-handling practices and stockpiling of the material complied with the Environmental Management Plan at the time,” said city officials.
“This clean dirt was stored on the dry land upstream and at a higher elevation than the lagoons on the same property for four months of cold winter before it was trucked and piled in October, and used for the event in February. The risk of contamination travelling from the lagoons uphill, across land, to the clean dirt pile during the four months of winter is extremely low.”
City staff noted an independent testing company tested the remaining samples from the same dirt pile used for the event and the results came back clean.
The air system and seating areas at Western Financial Place were also tested for contaminants which, according to the City, came back clean as well.
The WorkSafeBC orders are deemed closed, meaning no further action is required by the City.
City officials added that they will continue to make changes for future events based on this order.
The City is still in the appeal process with WorkSafeBC and will be conducting a separate independent third-party investigation to determine the facts.
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