The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development released a progress report of the Crown Contaminated Sites Program earlier this month.
The report details work done over the past two years to investigate and remediate sites that have been contaminated by historic industrial activities.
The contaminated sites program was created in 2003 to manage the remediation of high-risk contaminated sites on crown land in order to protect human health and the environment.
The program has investigated a total of 87 sites which includes 19 sites where remediation is complete the ministry said in a press release.
There are two sites in the program that are in the area: the former Cronin mine which is approximately 30 km northeast of Smithers and the former Two Mile Creek mill which is a few kilometres from Hazelton.
The report said remediation at Two Mile Creek was completed in 2008 and the site is being monitored on a semi-annual basis.
There are no immediate plans to remediate the former Cronin mine site a ministry spokesperson said via email.
“On-site investigations have taken place and the site is currently not accessible by road as a number of bridges have washed out,” said a ministry spokesperson. “The human health risk assessment concluded that actual site risks for recreational users of the site are minimal. Signs have been installed at the site to warn the public of the presence of contamination.”