There go those fish and everything thats coming upstream is dead!

The guy reports the condition of the tailings pond to MOE and gets fired. Welcome to Christy Clarks BC mining initiative.
 
http://www.cfjctv.com/story.php?id=21109
Crews are cleaning up at New Afton mine just south of Kamloops after a tailings pond leak. An official with New Gold confirms 20 cubic metres, or 20,000 litres, of slurry leaked out of a pipe valve and onto the company's property last night. The pipe is used to switch the effluent from a storage area to the tailings pond. Clean up efforts are underway, and it's not known how long it will take to fully clean up the leak. A company spokesperson couldn't say what chemicals are contained in the slurry from the mine. An Environment Ministry spokesperson says there is no concern about groundwater contamination. The leak was contained to a ditch on the company's property and is being excavated.
 
http://www.theprogress.com/news/270068931.html?mobile=true

Estimated 1.5 million sockeye bound for fouled Quesnel Lake

By JEFF NAGEL
August 5, 2014 · 3:54 PM
20 Comments

Scene of the Mount Polley mine tailings spill. / YOUTUBE / CRD VIDEO
An estimated 1.5 million migrating Fraser River sockeye salmon are destined for Quesnel Lake, which has now been contaminated by the Mount Polley mine tailings pond spill.

The Quesnel system sockeye make up a major portion of what's hoped to be a record run this year, according to Craig Orr, executive director of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

"This is one of the greatest environmental disasters we've had on the Fraser," Orr said. "Some of the effluent will be getting in the Fraser. The big question is how concentrated, how harmful it will be. Some of these compounds have short term impacts and some have much longer term impacts."

While the Quesnel Lake stocks are among the Fraser's most abundant, Orr is particularly concerned that other much weaker stocks that spawn in other tributaries of the Fraser could be harmed.

"People have to be concerned about not just what it means for the returning fish but for the juveniles rearing in the lake right now," he said. "We don't know if it's going to accumulate in their bodies or potentially affect their olfactions, their ability to find their home waters."

Resident fish at risk include threatened bull trout and plentiful rainbow trout.

The huge spill of tailings effluent tore down Hazeltine Creek, which is where endangered Interior coho salmon are supposed to spawn in a few weeks.

Gord Sterritt, executive director of the Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance, said the group, which represents 23 First Nations from Williams Lake to the Fraser's headwaters, had already raised concerns that planned releases of effluent into the creek by mine operator Imperial Metals might harm the coho.

Chinook salmon also spawn near the outlet of Quesnel Lake at the Quesnel River.

"Those fish will be holding or just about to enter the spawning grounds pretty quick," Sterritt said. "We're pretty concerned about what the toxic elements are going to do those fish. And then there's the scouring of the debris pile that is potentially going to be moving down the lake and into the river."

Contamination that reaches the mainstem Fraser could affect fish spawning hundreds of kilometres away, such as in Stuart Lake near Fort St. James.

Sterritt said he's fielding calls from First Nations as far downstream as Lillooet that are alarmed about the potential impact on their food fisheries.

"People are already talking about not fishing because they don't know what the toxin levels are going to be in those fish when they ingest them."

Imperial Metals president Bryan Kynoch described the effluent as "relatively benign."

He told a news conference Tuesday the effluent nearly meets drinking water standards and the main threat to fish is from the silt, which he said is settling rapidly.

Sto:lo fishery advisor Ernie Crey said there remains widespread concern in aboriginal communities.

"Eventually, this stuff will wend its way into the Fraser," he said.

Orr noted the spill came just three days after provincial government approval of the new KSM gold mine near the headwaters of the Nass River.

"It's the same type of mine structure with a lot of tailings placed very close to fish-bearing waters."Estimated 1.5 million sockeye bound for fouled Quesnel Lake

By JEFF NAGEL
August 5, 2014 · 3:54 PM
20 Comments

Scene of the Mount Polley mine tailings spill. / YOUTUBE / CRD VIDEO
An estimated 1.5 million migrating Fraser River sockeye salmon are destined for Quesnel Lake, which has now been contaminated by the Mount Polley mine tailings pond spill.

The Quesnel system sockeye make up a major portion of what's hoped to be a record run this year, according to Craig Orr, executive director of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

"This is one of the greatest environmental disasters we've had on the Fraser," Orr said. "Some of the effluent will be getting in the Fraser. The big question is how concentrated, how harmful it will be. Some of these compounds have short term impacts and some have much longer term impacts."

While the Quesnel Lake stocks are among the Fraser's most abundant, Orr is particularly concerned that other much weaker stocks that spawn in other tributaries of the Fraser could be harmed.

"People have to be concerned about not just what it means for the returning fish but for the juveniles rearing in the lake right now," he said. "We don't know if it's going to accumulate in their bodies or potentially affect their olfactions, their ability to find their home waters."

Resident fish at risk include threatened bull trout and plentiful rainbow trout.

The huge spill of tailings effluent tore down Hazeltine Creek, which is where endangered Interior coho salmon are supposed to spawn in a few weeks.

Gord Sterritt, executive director of the Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance, said the group, which represents 23 First Nations from Williams Lake to the Fraser's headwaters, had already raised concerns that planned releases of effluent into the creek by mine operator Imperial Metals might harm the coho.

Chinook salmon also spawn near the outlet of Quesnel Lake at the Quesnel River.

"Those fish will be holding or just about to enter the spawning grounds pretty quick," Sterritt said. "We're pretty concerned about what the toxic elements are going to do those fish. And then there's the scouring of the debris pile that is potentially going to be moving down the lake and into the river."

Contamination that reaches the mainstem Fraser could affect fish spawning hundreds of kilometres away, such as in Stuart Lake near Fort St. James.

Sterritt said he's fielding calls from First Nations as far downstream as Lillooet that are alarmed about the potential impact on their food fisheries.

"People are already talking about not fishing because they don't know what the toxin levels are going to be in those fish when they ingest them."

Imperial Metals president Bryan Kynoch described the effluent as "relatively benign."

He told a news conference Tuesday the effluent nearly meets drinking water standards and the main threat to fish is from the silt, which he said is settling rapidly.

Sto:lo fishery advisor Ernie Crey said there remains widespread concern in aboriginal communities.

"Eventually, this stuff will wend its way into the Fraser," he said.

Orr noted the spill came just three days after provincial government approval of the new KSM gold mine near the headwaters of the Nass River.

"It's the same type of mine structure with a lot of tailings placed very close to fish-bearing waters."<iframe width="620" height="349" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3ArY-7irIEE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...ings-pond-breach-helicopter-flyover-1.2727531
RAW VIDEO
Mount Polley Mine tailings pond breach: helicopter flyover
Cariboo Regional District video provides sobering view of extent of environmental damage
CBC News Posted: Aug 04, 2014 9:19 PM PT Last Updated: Aug 05, 2014 6:52 AM PT


Mount Polley Mine tailings water 'very close' to drinking quality, company says
Mount Polley Mine tailings pond breach called environmental disaster

On mobile? Click here for aerial video of the huge spill
The Cariboo Regional District has released troubling video of what locals are already calling an environmental disaster following the release of five million cubic metres of effluent from a tailings pond at the Mount Polley gold and copper mine near Likely, B.C., on Monday.

Mount Polley mine tailings pond breach called environmental disaster
This YouTube video released by the CRD provides a sobering view of the extent of the damage.

Possible causes of the release are still under investigation.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/M1YgX2jXnpA?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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http://www.vancouversun.com/busines...efforts+stop+Mount+Polley/10206637/story.html
Imperial Metals defends efforts to stop tailings discharge


BY GORDON HOEKSTRA, VANCOUVER SUN SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

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Imperial Metals defends efforts to stop tailings discharge

Waste material and water from the Mount Polley mine tailings pond spills from Hazeltine Creek into Quesnel Lake on Aug. 5.
Photograph by: JONATHAN HAYWARD , THE CANADIAN PRESS
Imperial Metals says it’s taking significant steps to stop the discharge of effluent and sediment from the collapse of its Mount Polley mine from entering Quesnel Lake.

The company says it has built dikes, installed a new sump to collect water from the breach of the dam and used aerial seeding to prevent erosion at the mine site in central B.C.

It also plans to install a barrier called a silk curtain at the mouth of the Hazeltine Creek to prevent sediment from entering the lake.

However, these steps have not satisfied the B.C. Ministry of Environment, which issued a warning last week to the company for continuing to discharge effluent after the collapse of the tailings dam Aug. 4.

In response to the Environment Ministry’s warning, Mount Polley Mining Corp. general manager Dale Reimer said they have been working “diligently” on sediment and water discharge control.

“We have as far as reasonably possible abated the discharge from the (tailings storage facilities) and continue to do so,” said Reimer in a six-page letter to the Environment Ministry.

“We have assembled a large team of qualified and experienced professionals to assist us with this work and we have resourced and implemented their recommendations,” said Reimer.

He also said the company has stayed in constant communication with the Environment Ministry.

In his letter, Reimer called on the province to tell the company immediately if there is more it can do or could have done to protect the environment.

Environment Ministry officials could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

Environment Minister Mary Polak earlier said the province was not convinced that what Imperial Metals has in place to prevent discharge of effluent was going to be sufficient if there was a significant rain event.

The Environment Ministry said the advisory sent last week — telling the company to take prompt action to abate all discharges — was the first step of an escalating enforcement response to a violation of the Environmental Management Act.

Mount Polley’s tailings dam collapse released an estimated 24 million cubic metres of tailings containing potentially toxic metals and water into Hazeltine Creek, Polley Lake and Quesnel Lake.

While the water is gone from the four-square-kilometre tailings storage facility, the finely ground-up mine rock also contains water that seeps out.

While tests have shown that water in Quesnel Lake meets drinking-water standards, there have been some metal levels that haven’t met aquatic life guidelines.

Testing of tailings have shown low but “potentially significant” arsenic and selenium concentration that will need monitoring, the environment ministry has said.

First Nations, residents and environmental groups have raised concerns about the effect of the spill on water quality in Quesnel Lake, particularly on salmon, and have called for an immediate cleanup of the tailings.

Some local residents refuse to drink the water.

Likely resident Richard Holmes, a consulting biologist who does work for local First Nations, said he thinks the company may be doing the best it can but the bigger issue is that they were not prepared for the level of destruction.

Another huge issue will be determining what level of cleanup is acceptable, he said.

“First Nations and local residents are going to demand a lot more than what the mine is going to want to provide,” said Holmes, a 38-year resident of Likely.

Imperial Metals has also been asked by the province to examine how returning spawning fish can be accommodated in Hazeltine Creek and its tributary Edney Creek. Hazeltine Creek is home to spawning Coho salmon and rainbow trout.

Polak has said a cleanup plan is being reviewed in consultation with First Nations and the Cariboo Regional District. When the plan is complete, it will be made public, she said.

ghoekstra@vancouversun.com

Follow me: @Gordon_Hoekstra

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technol...s+discharge/10206637/story.html#ixzz3DW2ibozH
 
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2014/09/2...eadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=220914

Mount Polley's Sister Mine: We Must Do This One Right
Red Chris mine is expected to yield a vast fortune. But how to insure against another catastrophe?
By Wade Davis, Today, TheTyee.ca

The highest levels of corporate integrity and responsibility should be the standard for any new mine in Canada, and especially for one with as much potential as Imperial Metals' Red Chris project, situated at the heart of the Sacred Headwaters in remote northwestern British Columbia. Imperial Metals has acknowledged that all exploration, regulation and construction costs will be reclaimed within two years of the mine's anticipated three decades of active production.

If true this immense and certain profitability ought to allow both the company and the government to push the limits of excellence on every front, assuring the public at every step in the process that costs and/or expediency will never deflect them from their goal of building an exemplary mine. It is in the interests of all of the mining industry and both federal and provincial governments that such high standards be set for Red Chris. Civic and corporate responsibility aside, self-interest alone would suggest that Imperial ought to build a great mine.

Consider the optics of Imperial's immediate dilemma. Todagin Mountain, site of the Red Chris mine, is home to the largest concentration of stone sheep in the world, a resident population that attracts remarkable numbers of predators. A wildlife sanctuary in the sky, the massif looks west to Edziza, sacred mountain of the Tahltan; north to the Grand Canyon of the Stikine, internationally known as the K2 of white water challenges; east to the Sacred Headwaters, birthplace of the Stikine, Skeena and Nass Rivers; and beyond to the Spatsizi, widely recognized as the Serengeti of Canada.

Building an open pit mine on Todagin, which overlooks the nine pristine lakes of the Iskut/ Stikine headwaters, is the height of industrial audacity, seen by many as being as ill-conceived a gesture as drilling for oil in the Sistine Chapel. In time it may well be considered an act of folly comparable to the building of the Glen Canyon dam on the Colorado River, today widely viewed by all sides of the political spectrum in the United States as having been an egregious public policy decision.

Changing prospects in the region

There are other issues to concern the provincial government. The construction of the Northwest Transmission Line (NTL), the extension of the provincial power grid without which Red Chris could not be developed, perhaps made sense in 2006 when there were five major industrial projects being proposed for the remote region. But since then the global economy has endured the worst blow since the Great Depression. In 2012 Shell Canada withdrew from its much anticipated coal bed methane development in the Klappan. The promising and highly promoted Galore Creek copper and gold project imploded due to fiscal challenges and uncertainties. Fortune's play for anthracite in the Sacred Headwaters has very weak legs, especially in the wake of the recent Supreme Court's Tsilhqot'in decision; the Tahltan are universally opposed to the project.

AltaGas's run of the river hydro project at Forrest Kerr is a going concern. But the public will be hard pressed to understand why well over $700 million of public funds were spent to extend the provincial grid to facilitate a private power company's efforts to sell back electricity to the state. People are especially uneasy to learn that $130 million of this initial funding came from the federal Green Infrastructure Fund, money set aside by Parliament ostensibly to "green" our national economy. The official rationale for the inclusion of these funds was the government's desire to get 350 Tahltan people at the small community of Iskut off of diesel to reduce their carbon footprint, albeit at a per resident cost of close to $400,000. This will surely be difficult to sell to anyone, let alone a skeptical public, especially for a government that prides itself on fiscal responsibility.

...continued...
 
The Mount Polley factor

If the optics of Red Chris were poor before the Mount Polley disaster, the public perception now is truly dreadful. Red Chris would not be feasible without the extension of the power grid to Bob Quinn Lake, in total an $886-million expenditure that appears increasingly as a public subsidy for a single mine. In the construction of the power line right-of-way, the equivalent of 14,000 logging trucks of wood were simply burned rather than brought to market, making a mockery of the government's announced goal of reducing Iskut's carbon footprint.

It has also been widely reported that only the personal support and investment of Murray Edwards, owner of the Calgary Flames and Canada's 18th richest man, has allowed Imperial to stay afloat. In the immediate wake of the Mount Polley disaster, he and Imperial's second largest shareholder, Fairholme Capital Management, which together own 53 per cent of Imperial (although the lion's share is held by Edwards and his various financial entities), offered an emergency infusion of $100 million, an investment that held off bankruptcy. For Edwards to have willingly increased his stake in Imperial, even as the company copes with the Mount Polley disaster, suggests that he must have great faith in the value and long-term economic potential of the Red Chris mine.

On the eve of the recent provincial election, with the Liberals clearly behind in the polls, Edwards hosted a private dinner for Premier Christy Clark at the Calgary Petroleum Club in Alberta that brought in $1 million for her campaign. Nothing illegal in this, but it is hardly something to reassure the British Columbian public, given that Red Chris is at least for the moment the only industrial project aside from Forrest Kerr to benefit from construction of the NTL.

Then comes Mount Polley. The provincial government and Imperial made a major mistake by not immediately taking responsibility for what anyone with access to the Internet could see was a major disaster. Imperial waited 24 hours to make a public statement. Company president Brian Kynoch offered to drink the water from the slurry as soon as the "solids come out." Imperial described the collapse of the dam as a "breach" when everyone could see on YouTube that it was a complete structural failure. To refer to the material pouring out of the reservoir as simple sands and sediments, and to suggest that the water was safe to drink, belied what people could readily see online -- a massive slurry of toxic sludge roaring downstream toward one of the most celebrated deep water salmon lakes in the world, the place of origin of fully a quarter of the Fraser River run, which in 2014 was anticipated to be the largest return in the history of British Columbia.

In point of fact the dam failure at Imperial Metals' Mount Polley mine resulted in the discharge of 10 billion litres of industrial water and 4.5 million cubic metres of solid materials tainted with heavy metals. That's enough water to fill 2000 Olympic-sized swimming pools; enough waste to cover all of Vancouver's Stanley Park with a metre of toxic sludge. In 2013 alone Imperial discharged into its Mount Polley containment pond 406,122 kilograms of arsenic, 177,041 kilograms of lead and 3,114 kilograms of mercury. What possibly possessed Bill Bennett, minister of energy and mines, to compare the disaster to one of the thousands of snow avalanches that occur in the province every winter?

PolleyBreachAerial_600px.jpg
The massive failure of Mount Polley's tailings pond dam, owned and administered by the same company behind Red Chris mine in the Sacred Headwaters, has created a crisis of confidence about the safety of Red Chris that opens an opportunity to do the project correctly.

There is yet another serious concern. By good fortune the deposit at Mount Polley is highly unusual in being alkaline with relatively low levels of sulphide minerals. Most similar deposits are high in sulphide minerals which make their tailings much more acidic, and in the event of leakage or structural failure, harmful to aquatic life. In its first two decades of operation Red Chris will generate 192 million tonnes of waste rock, of which 86 per cent will have to be managed as being Potentially Acid Generating (PAG). Another 51 million tonnes of ultra low-grade ore will also be treated as PAG, as will the 83 million tonnes of low-grade ore that will be stockpiled during the first decade of operations and later reclaimed and milled in years 11 through 18. Should a failure occur at Red Chris similar to what happened at Mount Polley, the consequences could well be far more serious.

The Mount Polley disaster compounded mistrust of Imperial Metals in the Iskut valley at the foot of Todagin, mistrust that had grown from a series of quite unnecessary and unhelpful decisions and actions taken by the company's people on the ground. The disastrous tailings pond breach only makes things worse.

The Iskut elders blockaded the Red Chris project for one simple reason. They believe that Imperial misled them, offering false assurances as to the safety of the proposed mine on Todagin. In a public forum and in private meetings they were told by Imperial that the tailings facility at Red Chris would be completely safe, precisely because it was being built to the design and engineering specifications of Mount Polley. They were assured that Mount Polley could never fail.

Then they saw what happened, as did all Canadians. They heard media reports that employees at Mount Polley had quit high-paying jobs because management refused to listen to their concerns about the safety and integrity of the dam. They learned that independent consultants hired by Imperial had expressed similar concerns only to be ignored. They learned too that the insurance policies held by the company were insufficient to cover the costs of the cleanup. Imperial's coverage is a mere $15 million; the cleanup of the two most recent major tailings pond failures comparable to that of Mount Polley, at the Aznalcóllar mine in Spain in 1998 and at Kingston in Tennessee in 2008 cost $350 million and $600 million, respectively.

The Iskut elders also know that the facility being built today on Red Chris, like that of Mount Polley, has no liner, a cost saving decision that in the wake of Mount Polley seems negligent and parsimonious in the extreme. They know too that below the Red Chris site lie the nine incomparably beautiful lakes of the Iskut headwaters, among the best trout fisheries in the country. They were shocked to read Imperial press releases issued in the immediate wake of the disaster stating that nothing would impede the construction of the Red Chris mine. The company's first reaction was not to reach out to the public, but rather to reassure the markets.

An opportunity to do it right

In short there is only one way out for Imperial and the Clark government -- integrity and transparency, and a sincere apology backed by a firm financial commitment to do everything possible to make Red Chris the safest and most ecologically benign mine ever constructed. Tahltan employees must be treated with respect. Training programs need to be implemented. Imperial must lead with technical and engineering innovations that however costly will reassure the public and guarantee safety at the site.

Second, Imperial needs to come clean as to its long-term plans for the mine. Permits to date have been issued based on a projected production of 30,000 tonnes of rock a day for some thirty years. Yet in messages to its stockholders Imperial flaunts plans to increase production five fold to 150,000 tonnes a day once the mine is up and running. This would imply a mine of a scale vastly larger than the one originally proposed to the community and currently approved by the provincial environmental assessment process.

To date Imperial has seemed largely deaf to public concerns. To cite but one example, the plans for Imperial's transmission line from Bob Quinn to Tatogga Lake called for a narrow band of forest to be left standing along the roadside, "leave strips" that would insulate the Stewart-Cassiar, one of the most scenic highways in the province, from the industrial right of way. Imperial failed to honour this obligation, choosing instead to clear the forest to the very edge of the highway. Explaining the oversight to a stunned government inspector, Imperial cited "contractor error." A simple gesture of leaving 20-30 metres of standing trees would have mitigated the visual impact on those who travel or live along that highway. Imperial must act differently, must do far better, if it is to recover from what is at the moment a major public relations disaster both for the company, the mining industry and the Liberal government.

The Red Chris mine is going to happen. The deposit is significant and Murray Edwards' financial commitment is solid. Once a project is certain to go the question is not if but how. We are at this point with Red Chris so we must work together to ensure that the mine will be an industrial jewel, that its rewards will be shared with the Tahltan people and that the sacrifice of this mountain will somehow yield for all Canadians benefits as substantial as those that I have accrued over the last 35 years whenever I have walked the flanks of Todagin and watched the eyes of children fill with wonder as they encounter stone sheep and grizzly, wolf and wolverine, black bear and mountain goat.

Above all there must never be a repeat of the Mount Polley mining disaster.
 
Oh Crap....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...ars-ago-says-ndp-leader-john-horgan-1.2779355

Mount Polley dam tension crack detected 4 years ago, says NDP leader John Horgan

10- to 15-metre tension crack noted in inspection report found in Williams Lake library, says Horgan

A four-year-old report on Mount Polley's tailings pond, which collapsed this summer, notes that inspectors found a tension crack in the earthen dam, and NDP leader John Horgan says he wants to know why the report was hidden away. Horgan said Friday that the document, "collecting dust" a library shelf in Williams Lake, noted a 10- to 15-metre long tension crack in the dam.

In a press release, Horgan said the information contradicts statements made by Environment Minister Mary Polak, in which she said the government had made public all the information available about the mine. "The Liberal government knew for four years there were problems with this tailings pond, but they deliberately suppressed the information," Horgan said. "Four years later, the tailings pond dam failed, and 25 million cubic metres of effluent spilled into the watershed."

Horgan said the report indicates that the company, Imperial Metals, and the ministry knew there was the potential for disaster at the tailings pond. "The public needs to know what else has been hidden about this disaster. And they also need to know whether there are problems at other earthen dams that the government has either covered up or chosen to ignore," Horgan said.

Horgan said the NDP has filed a number of Freedom of Information requests for mine inspection reports, and that the government has been fighting the release of the requested document.
 
Glad you voted for the Liberls?
 
Was not intended for you GLC. Was intended for people who voted for the Liberals.
It is now being shown that the Liberals are not to be trusted.
The FN have to fight this as they are the only group with the clout to do so.
 
OldBlackDog said:
Was not intended for you GLC. Was intended for people who voted for the Liberals.
It is now being shown that the Liberals are not to be trusted.
The FN have to fight this as they are the only group with the clout to do so.
Click to expand...

Oops, I thought it was directed to me. Glad you cleared that up and thanks.
Agreed with what you said and I would call these leaders clowns but......
I don't want to be disrespectful of the ancient craft of face painting and making merry.
 
 
http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/10/14/B...ce=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=141014
In Wake of Mount Polley, Union Wants New BC Safety Regime
Ministry defends miners' exclusion from WorkSafeBC.
By David P. Ball, Today, TheTyee.ca
Share article via email Print this article
Mt Polley Bulldozer
Its operator lucky to be alive, a bulldozer sits on the edge of a precipice only hours after the Aug. 4 collapse of Mount Polley's mine tailings dam. Screen capture from Cariboo Regional District video.

Related
Mt. Polley Debacle: BC Miles behind US on Mine Danger Info
Public here barred from records freely available in US to help avert disasters.
Imperial Metals Faces Scrutiny over Other Mines' Safety
Corner-cutting, cost savings a 'pattern of behaviour,' mining consultant alleges.
Mine, Dam Inspections Dropped Since 2001
Documents show government aware of dam safety concerns, including tailings ponds.
Read more: Energy, Labour + Industry, BC Politics
It took a spate of deaths in Nanaimo's coal mines to create a ministry devoted to regulating the industry in 1877. Since that era, the provincial department's authority over mine health and safety has endured -- and subsequent worker protection laws explicitly excluded mines to this day.

But after the near slaughter of workers by the Mount Polley mine tailings dam disaster this summer, the union representing many miners in B.C. is warning about worker safety in the industry.

Thirteen B.C. mine workers have been killed on the job since 2000, according to annual Chief Inspector of Mines reports. The worst year was 2006, when four died from oxygen deprivation at the Sullivan mine near Kimberley, B.C.

Over the same period, a total of 423 people were injured at mine sites, averaging 33 a year.

GUIDELINES: WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT (EXCERPTS)
WorkSafeBC's prevention jurisdiction does not extend to mines to which the Mines Act applies.

All activities conducted in relation to mining within the boundaries of a Mines Act permit area fall within the [occupational health and safety] jurisdiction of [Ministry of Energy and Mines].

Examples include: mining drilling and exploration; construction and blasting on mine property; operation of mining company labs and mobile equipment at a mine site; roads on mine property; and processing facilities, power lines and pipelines that service the mine and are situated within the mine boundaries.

Sites outside of the mine permit area that are designated as "mines" by the Chief Inspector of Mines will also fall under MEM's OHS jurisdiction.

WorkSafeBC has jurisdiction over OHS with respect to areas, machinery, equipment and buildings that are not used to service or in connection with a "mine" as defined above. This includes, for example, access roads outside of the mine boundaries, and timber removal operations that are not connected to the mining activity (even if they are carried out within the mine boundaries).

Source: WorkSafeBC

But the number of "health and safety orders" handed out by inspectors is staggering: 26,563 such directives were issued since 2000 in response to violations. That works out to an average of about 37 orders every week.*

The United Steelworkers union's regional director vividly remembers his reaction when he saw an early photo of the Mount Polley breach on Aug. 4: A lone bulldozer perched on the edge of the newly collapsed precipice, its tailings impoundment drained behind it and emptied into the watershed.

"We're just damn lucky the 'dozer wasn't where the dam failed, because we'd have lost a person instantly," Stephen Hunt recalls. "We were that close to losing someone. That's what I'd call in mining talk a 'near miss.'"

Shift safety oversight to WorkSafeBC: union

Since the collapse, there has been ongoing concern about the environmental damage caused by the disaster -- mine owner Imperial Metals since increased its estimate to 25 million cubic metres of potentially toxic tailings spilled -- as well as impacts on First Nations and residents of nearby Likely, B.C.

An independent review panel is continuing its investigation of what caused the failure, one of the worst mine tailings accidents in Canadian history.

However, little has been reported about worker health and safety at the mine, or the industry in B.C. more broadly, despite the sector being considered one of the more dangerous in which to work.

The guidelines for the province's Workers Compensation Act state that "WorkSafeBC's prevention jurisdiction does not extend to mines to which the Mines Act applies."

Because of the dangers faced by workers in the industry, Steelworkers want to see the Workers' Compensation Board (WorkSafeBC) granted authority over the mining sector.

"The Ministry of Energy and Mines is not like the Workers' Compensation Board -- it's not arm's-length," Hunt alleged. "We lost faith in the Ministry of Energy and Mines' ability to do real, tangible health and safety inspections and issue orders a long, long time ago.

"Why would you want to bring another health and safety authority in that has the authority to penalize you on the spot, has more teeth than the Mines Act, and is arm's length from government?"

The Ministry of Energy and Mines declined an interview request, but a spokesman stated that WorkSafeBC excludes mines because departmental inspectors "have expertise in the mining industry."

"Mine health and safety inspectors are involved in all aspects of the mining cycle from the exploration phase through to final reclamation," explained Jake Jacobs in an emailed statement. "This total involvement is a key component in ensuring safe working mines. The integration of health and safety with mine permitting ensures worker safety is accounted for during the planning phase of a mine operation."

Spike in 'near miss' reports

Under the Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines in B.C., mine managers must report all "dangerous occurrences" on their site to an inspector, an occupational health and safety committee, and the local union if applicable, according to a 2010 directive from the Chief Inspector of Mines.

Since that directive, the number of "near miss" reports has spiked from previous levels. But mining nonetheless remains a deadly industry.

Causes of death in B.C. mines, according to the Chief Inspector reports, vary, and include both "mining related" fatalities and "non-mining" deaths on mine sites.

Deaths include "massive crush injuries," "oxygen deficient atmosphere," "touched a hydro line," vehicles plummeting "from the work area into the bottom of the pit," "forestry timber moving at great speed," and "large piece of rock fell without warning from the hanging wall behind him, with fatal consequences."

Hunt argued that if "cutting red tape" has been a BC Liberal pledge since the party was elected in 2001, then eliminating redundant or duplicated legislation should not be politically controversial.

"They're trying to see how many regulations they can reduce," he said. "So this should be red meat to them, you would think. But there's no appetite to talk about it. The discussion is now overdue."

What would have happened if the Mount Polley dam hadn't failed in the middle of the night, at 3 a.m. -- or if employees had been actively working in the area at the time it collapsed?



"Clearly, the potential was there to harm somebody," Hunt said, listing off everything from rock-hauling trucks in process of raising the dam's height at the time of the accident to pump monitors and fishermen downstream. "There's lots of places this could have been an even bigger tragedy. We're just very, very lucky.

"Everybody was fortunate there weren't deaths or serious injuries because of this."

*Story corrected Oct. 14 at 8:40 a.m. to fix a math error.
 
http://www.kstk.org/2014/10/13/protesters-block-access-to-bc-mine-as-it-nears-completion/
Protesters block access to BC mine as it nears completion
by Katarina Sostaric, KSTK News
October 13, 2014 3:12 pm
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klabona keepers
The Klabona Keepers blockade at the Red Chris Mine. (Photo from Klabona Keepers Facebook page)
A nearly-completed British Columbia mine in the Stikine River watershed is expected to begin full production at the end of this month. Meanwhile, protesters blocking access to the controversial Red Chris mine may be forced out Tuesday.

Imperial Metals owns the Mount Polley Mine in eastern British Columbia, where an August tailings dam break spilled an estimated 2 billion gallons of silty water into the Fraser River watershed.

00:0000:00
Now, Imperial’s Red Chris Mine, near the Southeast Alaska border, is raising concerns with groups on both sides of the border.

The Klabona Keepers, a group of Tahltan First Nation members living near that mine, are blockading its access road.

Red Chris’ owners were recently granted a temporary injunction against the blockade.

But Klabona Keepers spokesperson Rhoda Quock said that order is still a victory.

“For one, the companies usually walk into the courtroom, they get their court injunction, and they get their enforcement order. What they didn’t count on is that we had people in Vancouver to go into the courtroom and challenge it. And they didn’t get their enforcement order that day,” Quock said.

The Red Chris copper and gold mine is in the Stikine River watershed, upriver from Wrangell and Petersburg. Groups on both sides of the border are worried its tailings dam might be too similar to the one that spilled contaminated water and sediment into the Fraser River system.

For now, Klabona Keepers protesters continue blockading at the mine. When the enforcement order goes into effect, the police can act on the injunction and force them to leave.

An earlier blockade of the mine ended with an agreement between the Klabona Keepers, Imperial Metals and the Tahltan Central Council.

Protesters left the mine in August when Imperial Metals agreed to pay for an independent review of the Red Chris tailings dam. The Tahltan Central Council chose the reviewer. British Columbia will not issue final permits for the tailings dam until the review is complete.

The review is still pending, but protesters returned two weeks ago.

Quock said the blockade went back up after the group learned more about the impact of the Mount Polley dam breach.

“Red Chris is only 18 kilometers from our community. And not only that, once the dam breaks, it’s going to go into [the] Klappan. [The] Klappan goes into [the] Stikine. And that will affect our salmon,” Quock said. “It will also affect everyone downstream; it will affect their salmon.”

Vancouver-based Imperial Metals did not respond to requests for an interview.

In its injunction application, the company stated, “Red Chris has been forced to severely limit its construction activities at the project site, and if the blockade continues, will be forced to halt them altogether.”
 
http://www.vancouversun.com/technol...ropped+suddenly+2010+2011/10286727/story.html
Tailings dam inspections in B.C. dropped off suddenly in 2010, 2011

B.C. government only conducted five inspections during period, none at Mount Polley mine

BY GORDON HOEKSTRA, VANCOUVER SUN OCTOBER 14, 2014

0

STORYPHOTOS ( 1 )

Tailings dam inspections in B.C. dropped off suddenly in 2010, 2011

The Kemess copper-gold mine was one of the B.C. mines inspected by government geotechnical engineers in 2011. It is now closed.
The B.C. government conducted only five geotechnical inspections of about 60 open and closed mines in 2010 and 2011, according to statistics provided by the B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines.

None of the five government inspections took place at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley gold and copper mine. In fact, there was also no government geotechnical inspection in 2009 at the mine, whose tailings dam collapsed on Aug. 4 of this year. The collapse released millions of cubic metres of water and tailings containing potentially toxic metals into Quesnel Lake, an important sockeye salmon watershed.

There were three inspections at B.C. mines by government geotechnical engineers in 2010 (at Myra Falls on Vancouver Island, MAX Molybdenum southeast of Revelstoke, and Sirdar Granite in the Kootenays), and just two in 2011 (Max Molybenum and Kemess north of Smithers), according to data requested by The Vancouver Sun.

In the preceding decade, the average had been 24, including as high as 41 in 2003.

B.C. Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett said he has been unable to discover an explanation for the sudden drop-off in inspections during the two years.

“It’s not good. It’s not something that I think any government would be happy to see. It’s got to be directly related to the financial, fiscal situation that the ministry was in at the time,” Bennett said Monday.

Government revenues had declined in the aftermath of the 2009 global financial crisis.

Government geotechnical engineers visually inspect tailings dams during their inspections, as well as review dam instrumentation data and company dam safety inspections and reports, according to the mines ministry.

If problems are found, the government makes recommendations or orders.

While geotechnical inspections have increased since 2011 (including at Mount Polley mine in 2012 and 2013), the small number of government inspections at the operating and closed B.C. mines raises questions of how the government was ensuring that tailings dams were safe in 2010 and 2011.

Bennett also distanced himself from what was happening in the ministry and B.C. Liberal government at the time, noting he had been kicked out of cabinet in November 2010 after a short stint as mines minister. Bennett was appointed energy and mines minister by Premier Christy Clark in June 2013.

And Bennett said he believed it was a “stretch” to connect the lack of inspections in 2010 and 2011 to the “accident” at Mount Polley mine in 2014.

He stressed that in 2012, 2013 and 2014, the mines ministry’s budget had been increased and the number of geotechnical engineers was increased to two from one. More contract geotechnical engineers were also enlisted.

There were 26 government geotechnical inspections at mines in B.C. in 2012, 31 in 2013, and 33 to date in 2014. The last government geotechnical inspection at Mount Polley was in September 2013. No orders were issued.

A third government geotechnical engineer, hired in July, started in the first week of October.

There had been five geotechnical engineers on government staff in 2000, four in 2001 and 2002 and three in 2003. That number dropped to one between 2004 and 2011.

The Liberals came to power in 2001 after nearly a decade of NDP rule. The New Democrats have criticized the government for its cuts to inspectors and engineers.

“The assumption is from the NDP that this is the cause of the accident (at Mount Polley). We are a long ways from knowing what the cause of the accident was. Frankly, it’s just too easy to say, ‘This dam burst because there weren’t enough inspections’,” said Bennett.

“Maybe the independent (investigation) will determine that. I have said I am open to that, if that’s the case. I don’t think they are going to say that,” he said.

In an earlier interview, Bennett had said it was possible there was a period where there was no geotechnical engineer on staff. He said Sunday the figure of one geotechnical engineer during 2010 and 2011 was correct.

He also said that “obviously” having one B.C. government geotechnical engineer was not enough.

Glenda Ferris, a longtime community advocate in the Houston area in northwest B.C., says she believes there was a period of time when the province had no geotechnical engineer on staff.

Ferris, a member of a public advisory group for the closed Equity Silver mine, said she was told a few years ago by mines ministry officials there was no geotechnical engineer available to inspect the mine near Houston.

“That condition lasted about 18 months,” said Ferris.

She noted that despite requests, she has not been provided a copy of a government geotechnical inspection of the acid-generating mine for three years.

ghoekstra@vancouversun.com


© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
 
http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/10/14/B...eadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=201014

n Wake of Mount Polley, Union Wants New BC Safety Regime
Ministry defends miners' exclusion from WorkSafeBC.
By David P. Ball, 14 Oct 2014, TheTyee.ca
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Mt Polley Bulldozer
Its operator lucky to be alive, a bulldozer sits on the edge of a precipice only hours after the Aug. 4 collapse of Mount Polley's mine tailings dam. Screen capture from Cariboo Regional District video.

Related
Mt. Polley Debacle: BC Miles behind US on Mine Danger Info
Public here barred from records freely available in US to help avert disasters.
Imperial Metals Faces Scrutiny over Other Mines' Safety
Corner-cutting, cost savings a 'pattern of behaviour,' mining consultant alleges.
Mine, Dam Inspections Dropped Since 2001
Documents show government aware of dam safety concerns, including tailings ponds.
Read more: Energy, Labour + Industry, BC Politics
It took a spate of deaths in Nanaimo's coal mines to create a ministry devoted to regulating the industry in 1877. Since that era, the provincial department's authority over mine health and safety has endured -- and subsequent worker protection laws explicitly excluded mines to this day.

But after the near slaughter of workers by the Mount Polley mine tailings dam disaster this summer, the union representing many miners in B.C. is warning about worker safety in the industry.

Thirteen B.C. mine workers have been killed on the job since 2000, according to annual Chief Inspector of Mines reports. The worst year was 2006, when four died from oxygen deprivation at the Sullivan mine near Kimberley, B.C.

Over the same period, a total of 423 people were injured at mine sites, averaging 33 a year.

GUIDELINES: WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT (EXCERPTS)
WorkSafeBC's prevention jurisdiction does not extend to mines to which the Mines Act applies.

All activities conducted in relation to mining within the boundaries of a Mines Act permit area fall within the [occupational health and safety] jurisdiction of [Ministry of Energy and Mines].

Examples include: mining drilling and exploration; construction and blasting on mine property; operation of mining company labs and mobile equipment at a mine site; roads on mine property; and processing facilities, power lines and pipelines that service the mine and are situated within the mine boundaries.

Sites outside of the mine permit area that are designated as "mines" by the Chief Inspector of Mines will also fall under MEM's OHS jurisdiction.

WorkSafeBC has jurisdiction over OHS with respect to areas, machinery, equipment and buildings that are not used to service or in connection with a "mine" as defined above. This includes, for example, access roads outside of the mine boundaries, and timber removal operations that are not connected to the mining activity (even if they are carried out within the mine boundaries).

Source: WorkSafeBC

But the number of "health and safety orders" handed out by inspectors is staggering: 26,563 such directives were issued since 2000 in response to violations. That works out to an average of about 37 orders every week.*

The United Steelworkers union's regional director vividly remembers his reaction when he saw an early photo of the Mount Polley breach on Aug. 4: A lone bulldozer perched on the edge of the newly collapsed precipice, its tailings impoundment drained behind it and emptied into the watershed.

"We're just damn lucky the 'dozer wasn't where the dam failed, because we'd have lost a person instantly," Stephen Hunt recalls. "We were that close to losing someone. That's what I'd call in mining talk a 'near miss.'"

Shift safety oversight to WorkSafeBC: union

Since the collapse, there has been ongoing concern about the environmental damage caused by the disaster -- mine owner Imperial Metals since increased its estimate to 25 million cubic metres of potentially toxic tailings spilled -- as well as impacts on First Nations and residents of nearby Likely, B.C.

An independent review panel is continuing its investigation of what caused the failure, one of the worst mine tailings accidents in Canadian history.

However, little has been reported about worker health and safety at the mine, or the industry in B.C. more broadly, despite the sector being considered one of the more dangerous in which to work.

The guidelines for the province's Workers Compensation Act state that "WorkSafeBC's prevention jurisdiction does not extend to mines to which the Mines Act applies."

Because of the dangers faced by workers in the industry, Steelworkers want to see the Workers' Compensation Board (WorkSafeBC) granted authority over the mining sector.

"The Ministry of Energy and Mines is not like the Workers' Compensation Board -- it's not arm's-length," Hunt alleged. "We lost faith in the Ministry of Energy and Mines' ability to do real, tangible health and safety inspections and issue orders a long, long time ago.

"Why would you want to bring another health and safety authority in that has the authority to penalize you on the spot, has more teeth than the Mines Act, and is arm's length from government?"

The Ministry of Energy and Mines declined an interview request, but a spokesman stated that WorkSafeBC excludes mines because departmental inspectors "have expertise in the mining industry."

"Mine health and safety inspectors are involved in all aspects of the mining cycle from the exploration phase through to final reclamation," explained Jake Jacobs in an emailed statement. "This total involvement is a key component in ensuring safe working mines. The integration of health and safety with mine permitting ensures worker safety is accounted for during the planning phase of a mine operation."

Spike in 'near miss' reports

Under the Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines in B.C., mine managers must report all "dangerous occurrences" on their site to an inspector, an occupational health and safety committee, and the local union if applicable, according to a 2010 directive from the Chief Inspector of Mines.

Since that directive, the number of "near miss" reports has spiked from previous levels. But mining nonetheless remains a deadly industry.

Causes of death in B.C. mines, according to the Chief Inspector reports, vary, and include both "mining related" fatalities and "non-mining" deaths on mine sites.

Deaths include "massive crush injuries," "oxygen deficient atmosphere," "touched a hydro line," vehicles plummeting "from the work area into the bottom of the pit," "forestry timber moving at great speed," and "large piece of rock fell without warning from the hanging wall behind him, with fatal consequences."

Hunt argued that if "cutting red tape" has been a BC Liberal pledge since the party was elected in 2001, then eliminating redundant or duplicated legislation should not be politically controversial.

"They're trying to see how many regulations they can reduce," he said. "So this should be red meat to them, you would think. But there's no appetite to talk about it. The discussion is now overdue."

What would have happened if the Mount Polley dam hadn't failed in the middle of the night, at 3 a.m. -- or if employees had been actively working in the area at the time it collapsed?



"Clearly, the potential was there to harm somebody," Hunt said, listing off everything from rock-hauling trucks in process of raising the dam's height at the time of the accident to pump monitors and fishermen downstream. "There's lots of places this could have been an even bigger tragedy. We're just very, very lucky.

"Everybody was fortunate there weren't deaths or serious injuries because of this."

*Story corrected Oct. 14 at 8:40 a.m. to fix a math error.
 
http://www.adn.com/article/20141027...groups-push-protection-canadian-mines-upriver

Laine Welch: Southeast groups push for protection from Canadian mines upriver
Laine Welch
October 27, 2014
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Throughout history, arguments over land and water usages have run the gamut from tussles over fences with next-door neighbors to shootouts over interstate grazing rights in the old west. But when land and water rights pit one country against another, that’s when things really get tricky.

That is the situation in Southeast Alaska, where residents find themselves downstream from several massive open pit gold and copper mines being developed in bordering British Columbia. The mines are located in the headwaters of some of Southeast’s largest and most productive wild salmon rivers: the Taku, Stikine, and Unuk.

RELATED:
Laine Welch: The graying of Alaska's crab industry
Laine Welch: Bristol Bay mining initiative flying under the radar
Canada operates under different permitting and environmental rules than the U.S. and currently, no safeguards are in place to protect Alaska waters and fisheries from chemical and heavy-metal contaminants leaching from the B.C. mines. Recall the Aug. 4 tailings dam breach at the Mt. Polley mine, and it’s easy to understand why Southeast residents are seeing red.

“Right now the U.S. and certainly Alaska have no say in how these watersheds we share with Canada are developed,” said Heather Hardcastle, Trans-boundary Rivers Campaign director for Trout Unlimited and co-owner of Taku River Reds in Juneau. That is unacceptable to the people of the Panhandle, who are being urged to respond with the power of their pens. Meetings are scheduled this week in Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg, Ketchikan and Wrangell to inform people about the threats being posed by the big mines upriver and to give them a way to take action, primarily by writing letters to the congressional delegation and the State Department as well as urging lawmakers, municipalities, advisory committees, boards and commissions and businesses to send similar letters.

“What we are asking is for the U.S. State Department to engage with Canada on this matter and activate the Boundary Waters Treaty,” said Hardcastle, who has teamed with Salmon Beyond Borders and the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Working Group in the grassroots outreach efforts.

An International Joint Commission was created by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to prevent and resolve transboundary water disputes between Canada and the U.S.

“We feel that the best mechanism by which we can have a say in the Taku, Stine and Unuk watersheds is to have the IJC activated and review these watersheds and the development that Canada is proposing and constructing even as we speak,” Hardcastle added.

Both the U.S. and Canadian governments must “refer an issue” to activate the joint commission.

“The first step is convincing the U.S. State Department that they should look at this matter,” Hardcastle said, “and then to continue building ties across the border to similarly urge Canadians to push for the same thing.”


Alaska’s congressional delegation has come out strongly in support of the IJC oversight. Is Canada receptive? The short answer, she said, is no.

“When it comes to the Canadian federal government and the B.C. provincial government, their agenda is mineral development,” Hardcastle said. “They have not reached out to Alaskans in any meaningful way.”

Be a seafood ambassador
A call is out for fishermen who want to be unofficial ambassadors for Alaska seafood.

“For several years we’ve felt that some of our best spokespeople, the best brand advocates for Alaska seafood, are the people most involved in the fisheries,” said Tyson Fick, communications director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute in Juneau.

A big challenge, he added, is how to stay connected with the fishing fleet.

To make contact with fishermen, ASMI has launched a confidential online data base. It asks basic questions such as how long you’ve fished in Alaska and in what fisheries, if you use social media -- and if you’re willing to do interviews and be a “face” for Alaska seafood.

“There’s a lot of times when individual retailers or media outlets are looking for folks to talk with who are involved in the fisheries in Alaska, and this offers a great tool to help fishermen get out there,” Fick said. “So when we have press tours or trade missions or events around the state or the country, we have this wealth of knowledge and individuals to call on to advance our Alaska brand and maximize the value.”

Signups get a custom Alaska Fisherman hat from the Aurora Projekt. Find the database at www.fishermen.alaskaseafood.org.

Annual salmon dip
Wholesale prices for Alaska salmon products were down nearly across the board this summer compared to the same time last year.

Every four months Alaska processors provide price reports to the Department of Revenue’s Tax Division on how much they sold -- fresh or frozen salmon, fillets, roe and canned products -- at wholesale by Alaska region.

Here are highlights on sales from May through August:


• By far most of Alaska’s salmon pack goes out headed and gutted (H&G) and frozen.
• Chinook salmon in that form fetched $3.95 a pound, down from $4.51 last summer. Sockeye at $3.14 was a drop of $1.07 per pound. Cohos wholesaled for $2.91, compared to $3.60. The price for H&G frozen pink salmon increased a quarter to $1.28; chums saw the biggest gain at $1.54, a 45-cent increase.
• All Alaska salmon prices decreased for fresh fish during the summer, with H&G sockeyes averaging $4.43 per pound, down 66-cents from the same time last year. Processors produced four million pounds of fresh sockeye fillets valued at $8.80 a pound, a drop of 48 cents. Prices for fresh coho fillets also declined to $6.63, down $1.56. Likewise, chum fillets at $2.19 were down $1.19 a pound from last summer. Likewise, wholesale prices for Alaska salmon roe also declined from May through August. Sockeye roe at $5.72 was down from $6.89 a pound. Pink roe at $7.72 was a drop of 38 cents. The biggest seller -- chum roe - dipped by $1.33 to $12.07 per pound.

Fall is an important sales period and wholesale seafood prices are likely to reflect changes from the summer. Find links to the Alaska Salmon Price Reports at www.alaskafishradio.com.

Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based fisheries journalist. Contact her at msfish@alaska.com.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary@alaskadispatch.com.
 
Roaring at seven knots up the U.S. side of the Stikine River, a grizzly bear of a man named Mark Galla steers our jet boat through a gauntlet of protruding logs, attempting to point out the exact point at which Alaska becomes British Columbia. Against the vastness of the surrounding wilderness, the border is invisible, almost arbitrary. Until recently, most Alaskans couldn't see it either.

That all changed in August when YouTube video highlights of the Mount Polley mine disaster circulated through panhandle towns like Ketchikan, Petersburg and Wrangell. Media from across the state drew comparisons between Mount Polley and the tailings dams that could one day accompany the half-dozen open pit mines proposed in the wild river watersheds that Alaska and B.C. share -- the Unuk, Taku and, more than anywhere else, the Stikine.

The first of these proposed mines will be Red Chris, a copper and gold mine built by Mount Polley-owner Imperial Metals in the B.C. headwaters of the Stikine, scheduled to open later this year. Another is the $5.3 billion Kerr-Suphurets-Mitchell (KSM) project, which could generate two billion tons of waste rock, requiring tailings storage in the Nass River drainage and waste rock dumps in the Unuk watershed.

The grand enabler of these projects is a taxpayer-subsidized power line completed this year, which will bring cheap, rock-grinding electricity to the B.C.-Alaska border region for the first time. With the price tag of about $750 million (BC Hydro's original estimate was $404 million) comes the electricity required for at least five new northwest mines.

Roused by the Mount Polley accident, a coalition of Alaskan commercial fishermen, First Nations and politicians on August 21 called on the U.S. State Department to pressure Canada for greater environmental scrutiny of the KSM mine.

In a separate letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Alaska Democratic Senator Mark Begich warned that an accident similar to the Mount Polley breach would imperil the economic future of southeast Alaska.

"A similar failure at mines proposed near the Unuk, Stikine and Taku rivers would be devastating to fish stocks which Alaska commercial and recreational fishermen depend on," Begich wrote on August 6, asking Kerry to press his Canadian counterparts for both a thorough investigation of the disaster and a stronger environmental assessment of KSM.

The Alaskan reaction underscores the precarious position of southeast Alaska today. Its forestry industry has gone bust and about 7,000 people now depend on salmon fishing for income. Alaska Panhandle salmon and tourism industries -- worth about $630 million together in 2013, according to Begich -- could soon be downstream from multiple metal mines each with permanent tailings impoundments and waste rock dumps far larger than Mount Polley’s.

Chart

Industrial transformation delayed

The fishing town of Wrangell was my ideal Alaska base. Located just 12 kilometres south of the Stikine mouth, it's the closest U.S. community to the Stikine and it allowed me to trace the footsteps of the great essayist Edward Hoagland, whose exploration of the Stikine watershed in 1966 provides the context necessary to understand the resource scramble unfolding today.

In his classic book, Notes from the Century Before, Hoagland travelled up the Stikine via Wrangell on a mission to record the stories of the B.C. frontier before they were lost "in the confusion of helicopters and mineral promotions." As he explored, a highway was being punched through the headwaters of the Stikine's biggest tributary, and American mining giant, Kennecott, was staging an exploratory blitz to quantify the rich copper, gold and coal deposits of the Stikine watershed. Plans would soon emerge to build five mega dams on the Stikine and to connect the B.C. northwest to Alaska via the Yukon by rail. The former met fierce Tahltan resistance and died, the latter became one of Canada's greatest taxpayer-funded fiascos.

Born in New York City, Hoagland was astonished that a land so rich and temperate in climate had remained stuck in the 19th century -- an anomaly he attributed to "a fluke of geography and by the low-keyed Canadian temper."

Half a century later, the industrial transformation Hoagland thought imminent is only now taking form. The Stikine's vast mineral wealth has remained untapped because only cheap electricity makes it economical to separate low-purity ore from mountains of waste rock.

The energy problem is now solved, but formidable obstacles remain: The multi-billion dollar financing needed to build the rest of the proposed northwest mines is nearly impossible to come by in the current economic climate. It will remain a waiting game. But when conditions improve, taxpayer-subsidized grid power will be standing by.

Map_Mining


Red dots indicate proposed mines in BC’s north. Click here to see the fully interactive version of map.

Fishermen fear Mount Polley repeat

The last time Hoagland set eyes on Wrangell, it was a logging town busy liquidating what today is the Tongass National Forest. By the early 1990s, the party was over. Lower cost competition to the south shuttered the two sawmills in town, and Wrangell lost half of its population.

Making a living in Wrangell today typically involves salmon. For Mike Rugo, that means chasing "money fish" -- chinook and coho -- destined for high-end restaurants in Tokyo and Seattle. From the cozy kitchen of the Barby J, his 14-metre power troller, Rugo says he has made a four-decade career, including raising two sons, by catching fish that are dependent on watersheds where big B.C. mines are now proposed.

"Salmon returning to all of those rivers are critical to fisheries in southeast Alaska," he says of the Nass, Unuk and Stikine. "The Mount Polley breach is a good indication of what could happen again, only up here it will be six times bigger."

Catching big chinooks by hook and line is high art compared to the Alaska gillnetters and seiners who mine for low-valued chum and pinks, all which end up at Wrangell's Trident fish plant. The Seattle company runs 10 operations from the Aleutian Islands to Ketchikan. On the day I visit, the plant is working flat out to process more than 400,000 kilograms a day of mostly pinks. It's August and the fleet is fishing hard, offloading their catches at sea onto mobile refrigerator ships that cruise the fishing grounds from Juneau to Wrangell. A record 95 million pinks were caught by Alaska fishermen last year.

Mike_Rugo


Wrangell-based commercial salmon troller Mike Rugo with the two loves of his life: wife Barbara and the troller Barby J.

A curt, heavy-set Alabama native named Ray Keith walks me through the plant, which enables 248 seasonal jobs, although just 10 of those -- including Keith -- are local positions. The work is performed in 14-hour shifts by temporary foreign workers, a United Nations cast of migrant labourers housed in apartments behind a bar on Wrangell's main strip. I watch them removing and packaging roe from pink salmon for export to Japan. In another area, workers package fish oil, by far the plant's most lucrative product.

Most of the salmon here will be shipped to China, where it will be hand-filleted, ground into protein meal for fish cakes, packaged and shipped back to American big-box stores. Keith says it makes economic sense to ship the fish to Asia; deboning the fish by hand overseas saves 30 percent more meat than using machines to do the same job in Alaska.

Targeting the investors?

On the day I meet Tis Peterman, an activist for the Wrangell Cooperative Association, a federally recognized tribe of the Stikine River. She is adamant the Alaska-B.C. border does not exist. That's because Peterman's great grandmother, a Tahltan, was brought down to the mouth of the river from her birthplace far up the Stikine to marry a Tlingit chief in an arranged marriage. Historically, the Tlingits (based near the Stikine mouth) and the Tahltan mutually relied on the resources of the big river. But it was an uneasy relationship, with the dominant Tlingits controlling the lucrative trade with other native groups and later the Russians. Her great grandmother's adoption by the Tlingits was a gesture of Tahltan tribute to a powerful neighbour and designed to keep the peace.

Mining proposed in the watershed has revived contact between Tlingit and Tahltan activists, Peterman says. Tahltan representatives came to a transboundary river event last spring, and more cross-border activism is planned.








"As a group, our goal is to make investors uncomfortable about doing any of this mining," she declares, expressing sympathy for the Tahltan elders' blockade of the Red Chris mine in B.C. that had begun the week we talked. But when pressed on next steps, details are scant. She concedes the pace of advocacy is moving much too slowly for her taste.

Progress by the coalition of tribes, fishermen and elected representatives also appears to have stalled. Repeated calls and emails to Senator Begich in Washington DC and Alaska were ignored. In early October, Dale Kelly, executive director of the Alaska Trollers Association (a coalition member) representing more than 1,000 southeast Alaska fishermen, confirmed there had been no "direct response" from Kerry or the state department regarding next steps.

In late July, B.C. approved an environmental assessment certificate for the KSM mine, and a federal environmental approval is expected this fall.

In the meantime, that isn't stopping the coalition from taking their concerns to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the International Joint Commission, the state of Alaska and local governments, and Alaska's governor.

"We aren't against mining, but mining does not belong in all places, and certainly not huge-scale mines on top of valuable salmon resources that both of our nations share," Kelly says.
 
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