The massive Site C work camp near Fort St. John is getting a second life instead of heading to a landfill.
B.C. Hydro said it will relocate most of the 1,700-person camp to house workers building the North Coast Transmission Line across northwest B.C.
B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix says the decision follows a year of pressure from local communities concerned the facility would be demolished and fill up the region's landfill.
"What to do with it was a significant question in particular for people in Fort St. John," Dix said.
"There was concern that too much of it was going to end up as some sort of landfill. That was a concern and we want to use it. It's an excellent facility that can be reused."
The work camp was first built and opened along the Peace River in 2016 for the Site C dam, which became fully operational last year.
B.C. Hydro says the camp will close March 31. Its 21 three-storey dorms as well as offices and other infrastructure will be taken apart this spring and moved to multiple sites between Prince George and Terrace.
Construction on the North Coast Transmission Line is expected to begin this summer, and will supply power to a growing liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry on the north coast, including the proposed Ksi Lisims project near Prince Rupert.
Dix says moving the camp avoids the need to build new worker housing.
"It's going to be huge for people in the northwest, just as Site C has been huge for people in the northeast. Very significant event, lots of workers, lots of impact," Dix said.
"It's great to see that it'll continue to be in the north, in this case building the northwest."
B.C. Hydro says about 85 per cent of the work camp will be relocated and reused for the power line project, a number sustainability advocate Glyn Lewis called "fantastic."
"We're moving in the right direction. I'm glad to hear the provincial government heard the voices of local communities and local folks who just say this is wasteful and shameful."
Still, he says, the situation highlights a broader problem of how infrastructure projects are designed in the province, from housing to major work camps.
Lewis says governments need to encourage more ways to prevent construction and demolition waste from filling up landfills at the outset of planning.
Once the camp is cleared from the Peace River, the site itself is slated to become home to an Indigenous cultural centre.
B.C. Hydro says the centre will showcase Indigenous history in the Peace region, and display artifacts found during Site C construction.
The centre is expected to be complete in summer 2027.
-with files from Matt Preprost · CBC News
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