A proposed new regional landfill in the southern Interior has won environmental approval, giving it a revived shot at becoming the future home for Metro Vancouver's waste.

The Highland Valley Centre for Sustainable Waste Management got the green light from environment minister Barry Penner Monday after a review by B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Office.

Teck Cominco wants to build the $112-million state-of-the-art landfill at its Highland Valley Copper Mine near Logan Lake.

The 140-hectare site would have a capacity of 55 million tonnes of garbage, or 600,000 tonnes per year—enough to take over for Metro's near-full Cache Creek regional landfill that closes in 2010.

Penner's environmental approval came despite opposition from at least one local First Nations group, the Nlaka'pamux Tribal Council.

Similar objections from area First Nations had prompted the province in 2005 to block environmental approval for Metro's own proposed landfill at its Ashcroft Ranch property.

That obstacle ultimately led Metro's board, faced with the impending closure at Cache Creek, to decide early this year that new landfills can't be built fast enough and to instead seek to temporarily export garbage to the U.S. while moving to build as many as six new waste-to-energy plants.

Penner earlier this year directed Metro to reconsider all options, including Interior landfills and a potential waste-fueled energy plant on Vancouver Island.

The speed of Highland Valley's approval and its success in vaulting aboriginal opposition was "interesting," according to Metro Vancouver waste management committee chair Marvin Hunt.

"Depending on how fast they can have it up and operating we may be able to make use of that instead of going to the States," he said. "That's a possibility that might be looked at."

But Metro will still proceed next year with a detailed process to explore the potential for waste-fired power plants, he added.

Whether Metro uses the site or not, Hunt said a new regional landfill is needed to serve many other towns in southern B.C. where local landfills are nearing capacity.

Highland Valley's certification is contingent on a series of conditions, including installation of a triple liner to contain and treat leachate as well as a landfill gas management system to recover methane and generate energy.