Judge gives thumbs-up to Dawson lagoon plans

A Yukon judge gave the Town of Dawson City a passing grade on its progress in building a court-ordered sewage treatment facility.

Territorial Judge Heino Lillies was in Dawson Thursday and Friday to conduct a judicial review of the lagoon, which he had ordered to be built after the town was fined in 2003 for dumping raw sewage into the Yukon River.

"The important thing here was to show the court that everyone has been showing due diligence, and the project is going forward, and we are complying with Judge Lillies' initial court order," Mayor John Steins told CBC News on Friday.

"But all in all, he was very pleased that things were progressing well."

Steins said Lillies put off questions about a new completion deadline, but he expects the matter to resurface at the next court hearing in six months.

Engineers with the project have said they cannot have the lagoon built by the end of 2008, the deadline Lillies had imposed on the town. They have been seeking a three-year extension.

If the court was not satisfied with Dawson's progress in building the lagoon, the town could havefaced fines of up to $5,000 a month.