There go those fish and everything thats coming upstream is dead!
- Thread starter KV1
- Start date
fishhunter327
Member
Thanks for info shuswap and Dave. I will ask tomorrow how big it was.
Mike
Mike
I agree w Dave and Shuswap that it looks like Saprolegnia. I don't think I would yet venture a comment that it: "doesn't look like anything highly suspicious". dave is right in that lots of spawning/spawned salmon look like that during and after spawning - when their immune system shuts down before they are about to die. Yes - if this fish was about to spawn, or just did - you would expect this to occur. Only then, though. The decreases in water quality due to the tailings input could result in the lowering of a fish's immune system. That's why I would be reluctant in stating (yet) that it wasn't related to the tailings breach.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/...f-4790-ace6-05647caab84a&isReportingDone=true
Research Letter
The impact of a catastrophic mine tailings impoundment spill into one of North America's largest fjord lakes: Quesnel Lake, British Columbia, Canada. Ellen L. Petticrew, Sam J. Albers, Susan A. Baldwin, Eddy C. Carmack, Stephen J. Déry, Nikolaus Gantner, Kelly E. Graves, Bernard Laval, John Morrison, Philip N. Owens, Daniel T. Selbie, Svein Vagle
First published: 5 May 2015
DOI: 10.1002/2015GL063345
Abstract
On 4 August 2014, a catastrophic breach of the Mount Polley mine tailings impoundment released ~25 M m3 of tailings and water and scoured an unknown quantity of overburden into the West Basin of Quesnel Lake. We document Quesnel Lake and Quesnel River observations for 2 months postspill. Breach inflows raised Quesnel Lake by 7.7 cm, equivalent to ~21 M m3. The West Basin hypolimnion was modified immediately, exhibiting increased temperature (~5°C to 6–7.5°C), conductivity (110 to 160 μS/cm), and turbidity (<1 to 200–1000 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU)). Cooscillating seiches moved West Basin hypolimnetic water both westward and eastward contaminating the Main Basin. Postspill, high-turbidity water propagated eastward (~1 cm/s), introducing a persistent ~20 m thick layer below the thermocline and an ~30 m thick layer at the bottom. The contaminant introduction, mobilization, and bioaccumulation may pose risks to resident and anadromous fish stocks, which support recreational, commercial, and First Nations fisheries.
Research Letter
The impact of a catastrophic mine tailings impoundment spill into one of North America's largest fjord lakes: Quesnel Lake, British Columbia, Canada. Ellen L. Petticrew, Sam J. Albers, Susan A. Baldwin, Eddy C. Carmack, Stephen J. Déry, Nikolaus Gantner, Kelly E. Graves, Bernard Laval, John Morrison, Philip N. Owens, Daniel T. Selbie, Svein Vagle
First published: 5 May 2015
DOI: 10.1002/2015GL063345
Abstract
On 4 August 2014, a catastrophic breach of the Mount Polley mine tailings impoundment released ~25 M m3 of tailings and water and scoured an unknown quantity of overburden into the West Basin of Quesnel Lake. We document Quesnel Lake and Quesnel River observations for 2 months postspill. Breach inflows raised Quesnel Lake by 7.7 cm, equivalent to ~21 M m3. The West Basin hypolimnion was modified immediately, exhibiting increased temperature (~5°C to 6–7.5°C), conductivity (110 to 160 μS/cm), and turbidity (<1 to 200–1000 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU)). Cooscillating seiches moved West Basin hypolimnetic water both westward and eastward contaminating the Main Basin. Postspill, high-turbidity water propagated eastward (~1 cm/s), introducing a persistent ~20 m thick layer below the thermocline and an ~30 m thick layer at the bottom. The contaminant introduction, mobilization, and bioaccumulation may pose risks to resident and anadromous fish stocks, which support recreational, commercial, and First Nations fisheries.
The condition shown in the photo is not uncommon amongst spawning/spawned adult salmon or in this case rainbow trout that could have spawned more than once during their lifetime. Spawning can be a stressful event and can often leave the fish vulnerable to predators from above who can cause physical damage to the fish. Stress can influence an immune system. As Dave indicated, in this circumstance, it would be beneficial to know the size of the fish, but also the age. It is not uncommon for a rainbow that has spawned more than once to show wear and tear over the years. Female rainbow trout that are spawn-bound (i.e. retention of eggs) can suffer much higher mortality as eggs are not as easily reabsorbed as milt is with males. More broadly speaking, this is one of reasons why we have triploid trout stocked in many BC lakes now. Triploid trout can put their energy into getting big instead putting it into gonad development and sexual maturation like their diploid cousins do.
Could decreases in water quality due to the tailings input result in the lowering of a fish's immune system? Most definitely, but it is not the only thing. Water temperature or pre-existing conditions (i.e. disease) are other things that can influence a fish’s immune system. The impact of a pathogen can be highly influenced by water temperature. In the short term, I would tend to say that it would be rather difficult to determine that water quality related to the tailings breach contributed to this considering the breach happened less than a year ago. That would be speculation at this point. Generally, long-term exposure to exceedances in certain parameters (i.e. metals) is required to cause potential impacts. I guess we will know more in the coming years as more monitoring data is collected, but my personal experience initially tells me to start with the simplest explanations first instead of the more complex ones. It reminds me of the photo that was released shortly after the breach of a salmon (no other information attached) from the Lillooet area that had peeling skin. Many critics were quick to jump to the fact that it was because of the tailings breach. No other possible explanations entertained. Critics on social media were referring to it as a chemical burn from the tailings. However, a friend of mine on another board received these photos from his friend who works in the First Nations fisheries program 3 days before the breach occurred. Busted…lol.
I have also seen this fungus in other interior lakes with rainbow trout. I have seen it on many adult salmon I have encountered on the spawning grounds over the years. That is why I don't believe it is something highly suspicious because Saprolegnia, is a very common freshwater pathogen - it was before and after the breach in Quesnel Lake.
Could decreases in water quality due to the tailings input result in the lowering of a fish's immune system? Most definitely, but it is not the only thing. Water temperature or pre-existing conditions (i.e. disease) are other things that can influence a fish’s immune system. The impact of a pathogen can be highly influenced by water temperature. In the short term, I would tend to say that it would be rather difficult to determine that water quality related to the tailings breach contributed to this considering the breach happened less than a year ago. That would be speculation at this point. Generally, long-term exposure to exceedances in certain parameters (i.e. metals) is required to cause potential impacts. I guess we will know more in the coming years as more monitoring data is collected, but my personal experience initially tells me to start with the simplest explanations first instead of the more complex ones. It reminds me of the photo that was released shortly after the breach of a salmon (no other information attached) from the Lillooet area that had peeling skin. Many critics were quick to jump to the fact that it was because of the tailings breach. No other possible explanations entertained. Critics on social media were referring to it as a chemical burn from the tailings. However, a friend of mine on another board received these photos from his friend who works in the First Nations fisheries program 3 days before the breach occurred. Busted…lol.
I have also seen this fungus in other interior lakes with rainbow trout. I have seen it on many adult salmon I have encountered on the spawning grounds over the years. That is why I don't believe it is something highly suspicious because Saprolegnia, is a very common freshwater pathogen - it was before and after the breach in Quesnel Lake.
fishhunter327
Member
Hi Dave co worker said it was about a 5/6 lber.
FH327
OK, sounds like a potential spawner, definitely large enough.
I remember a few years ago on Forest Lake, watching two chum salmon sized trout swim under my float tube … one was immaculate, as good as a Pennask triploid can look, not a scale out of place and a fish I really, really wanted to hook up with … didn’t happen. The other was almost identical to the posted picture, and at the time I remember thinking that fish was future eagle and bear food. Anyone who knows Forest Lake will understand … These fungal infections are common, but as aa said, are most often directly related to some form of stress, even if that may be old age or in salmon, impending death. Or, with Forest Lake rainbows, huge angling pressure.
The stressors I’m most familiar with are higher water temperatures and higher discharges on returning Fraser River sockeye, but since I and a few locals have initiated a very limited steelhead enumeration program on the upper Chilliwack River, we have documented dozens of spawning and staging steelhead with the same fungal infections, especially larger males.
Too early to blame the spill on this fish, imo.
I remember a few years ago on Forest Lake, watching two chum salmon sized trout swim under my float tube … one was immaculate, as good as a Pennask triploid can look, not a scale out of place and a fish I really, really wanted to hook up with … didn’t happen. The other was almost identical to the posted picture, and at the time I remember thinking that fish was future eagle and bear food. Anyone who knows Forest Lake will understand … These fungal infections are common, but as aa said, are most often directly related to some form of stress, even if that may be old age or in salmon, impending death. Or, with Forest Lake rainbows, huge angling pressure.
The stressors I’m most familiar with are higher water temperatures and higher discharges on returning Fraser River sockeye, but since I and a few locals have initiated a very limited steelhead enumeration program on the upper Chilliwack River, we have documented dozens of spawning and staging steelhead with the same fungal infections, especially larger males.
Too early to blame the spill on this fish, imo.
Thanks of the approximately size of the fish, fishhunter. It gives a little more information. That rainbow could definitely be a potential spawner in that lake. That's a good point about angling pressure, Dave. Tributaries like the Mitchell and the Horsefly see their fair share of angler pressure.
Good posts everyone. I agree that we shouldn't be yet jumping to any conclusions - for any cause yet - nor offhand ignoring/dismissing any reasonable and potential cause, neither.
Given that we do know there has been decreases in water quality due to the tailings breach - it is plausible and common-sense that those decreases in water quality could have contributed in some part towards decreases in immune function. This stress on the immune system can cause decreases in function with hours - dependent upon parameter and cause - and doesn't need years to develop.
Yes - spawning and catch and release also can cause depressions of the immune system and potential physical damage, as well - which can allow access for disease vectors like Saprolegnia.
Yes, steelhead/rainbows can and do repeat spawn (i.e. iteroparity) - but the percentages are low. In the Columbia (as an example) - evaluation of migration histories from 53,282 PIT-tagged adult steelhead detected at Bonneville Dam over 11 adult migration (2000-2010) years, in total - 7 winter steelhead and 132 summer steelhead were considered to have initiated a second spawning migration based on appropriately-timed detections at Bonneville Dam in two migration years. see: http://www.cbbulletin.com/429221.aspx
That works out to iteroparity estimates for the primary life history origin groups were: 2.78 percent (winter, wild), 0.44 percent (winter, hatchery), 0.56 percent (summer, wild), and 0.16 percent (summer, hatchery).
What are the percentages of rainbow/steelhead with Saprolegnia?
Given that we do know there has been decreases in water quality due to the tailings breach - it is plausible and common-sense that those decreases in water quality could have contributed in some part towards decreases in immune function. This stress on the immune system can cause decreases in function with hours - dependent upon parameter and cause - and doesn't need years to develop.
Yes - spawning and catch and release also can cause depressions of the immune system and potential physical damage, as well - which can allow access for disease vectors like Saprolegnia.
Yes, steelhead/rainbows can and do repeat spawn (i.e. iteroparity) - but the percentages are low. In the Columbia (as an example) - evaluation of migration histories from 53,282 PIT-tagged adult steelhead detected at Bonneville Dam over 11 adult migration (2000-2010) years, in total - 7 winter steelhead and 132 summer steelhead were considered to have initiated a second spawning migration based on appropriately-timed detections at Bonneville Dam in two migration years. see: http://www.cbbulletin.com/429221.aspx
That works out to iteroparity estimates for the primary life history origin groups were: 2.78 percent (winter, wild), 0.44 percent (winter, hatchery), 0.56 percent (summer, wild), and 0.16 percent (summer, hatchery).
What are the percentages of rainbow/steelhead with Saprolegnia?
Last edited by a moderator:
Noisy 'welcome' for Imperial Metals shareholders
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/noisy-welcome-imperial-metals-shareholders/33592
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/noisy-welcome-imperial-metals-shareholders/33592
https://ricochet.media/en/456/video...gm-turns-ugly-as-shareholder-goes-full-racist
VIDEO: Protest at Imperial Metals AGM turns ugly as shareholder goes full racist
Indigenous activists say company behind Mount Polley spill not welcome on their territories
Imperial Metals’ annual meeting of shareholders received a not-so-warm welcome from activists and Indigenous warrior women on Wednesday in downtown Vancouver.
Impassioned voices spoke to the devastation left behind after a massive tailings pond breach at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley gold and copper mine in August 2014. Twenty-five million cubic metres of toxic waste transformed a small four-foot-wide creek into a massive gorge, making its way into the Fraser River watershed, one of the greatest salmon spawning grounds in the world.
•VIDEO: Protesters fight reopening of Mount Polley mine in B.C.
•Six months after Mount Polley waste spill, First Nation takes the lead on mining regulation
•Assessing the aftermath of the Mount Polley spill
At the protest, police struggled to hold back a group of roughly 40 people, who nearly gained access to the lobby of the hotel where the meeting was held. Shareholders inside had to use an alternate exit as the lobby was shut down.
In one disturbing confrontation captured on video, a shareholder angrily responded with racist stereotypes about lazy natives living on welfare when Indigenous activists tried to explain their right to their land.
Click play below for the full video report, produced by Nicky Young.
Sacheen Seitcham from Ancestral Pride, a group seeking to assert Indigenous juridiction over traditional lands, used a megaphone to warn shareholders and executives of the risks associated with operating a mine on First Nations land that has never been surrendered in any treaty, sale, or war.
“The legal grounds on which this corporation has built its operations is shifting rapidly,” said Seitcham. “Imperial Metals does not have free, prior and/or informed consent of the Indigenous nations it is consistently encroaching on. This puts Imperial Metals in a very precarious situation, a position that is made even more precarious by the enormity of the Mount Polley mine disaster and the continuing lack of ability or will of the corporation to effect any real restoration physically or otherwise to the Secwepemc for the losses they continue to suffer as a result.”
The protest came only a month after another action organized by the same women targeted the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas on April 29, in the final days of its review to determine whether the Mount Polley mine could reopen. Coordinated solidarity events occurred on the same day in Vancouver, Toronto, Kamloops, Winnipeg, Los Angeles and Portland.
Ricochet spoke to Kanahus Manuel from the Secwepemc division of the Woman’s Warrior Society. Her traditional territory is home to the Mount Polley mine and another proposed Imperial Metals’ project, the Ruddock Creek mine.
“We did confront some shareholders that were heading into the Imperial Metals AGM. They were very racist to us as Indigenous women,” said Manuel. “It really shows clearly that we are operating within a racist country, a racist society. These corporations like Imperial Metals come into our communities with that racism when they are making decisions. They do not think of us as the Indigenous people of this land, they think of us as welfare recipients and bums.”
The atmosphere inside the shareholders meeting was similar. Eileen Floody, a shareholder from Clayoquot territory, said she was prevented from even tabling a motion that asked for a representative of Secwepemc territory to be heard.
As Seitcham explained, “It just goes to show that Indigenous rights and title and our unceded territories mean nothing to these corporations.”
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/129136454" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
VIDEO: Protest at Imperial Metals AGM turns ugly as shareholder goes full racist
Indigenous activists say company behind Mount Polley spill not welcome on their territories
Imperial Metals’ annual meeting of shareholders received a not-so-warm welcome from activists and Indigenous warrior women on Wednesday in downtown Vancouver.
Impassioned voices spoke to the devastation left behind after a massive tailings pond breach at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley gold and copper mine in August 2014. Twenty-five million cubic metres of toxic waste transformed a small four-foot-wide creek into a massive gorge, making its way into the Fraser River watershed, one of the greatest salmon spawning grounds in the world.
•VIDEO: Protesters fight reopening of Mount Polley mine in B.C.
•Six months after Mount Polley waste spill, First Nation takes the lead on mining regulation
•Assessing the aftermath of the Mount Polley spill
At the protest, police struggled to hold back a group of roughly 40 people, who nearly gained access to the lobby of the hotel where the meeting was held. Shareholders inside had to use an alternate exit as the lobby was shut down.
In one disturbing confrontation captured on video, a shareholder angrily responded with racist stereotypes about lazy natives living on welfare when Indigenous activists tried to explain their right to their land.
Click play below for the full video report, produced by Nicky Young.
Sacheen Seitcham from Ancestral Pride, a group seeking to assert Indigenous juridiction over traditional lands, used a megaphone to warn shareholders and executives of the risks associated with operating a mine on First Nations land that has never been surrendered in any treaty, sale, or war.
“The legal grounds on which this corporation has built its operations is shifting rapidly,” said Seitcham. “Imperial Metals does not have free, prior and/or informed consent of the Indigenous nations it is consistently encroaching on. This puts Imperial Metals in a very precarious situation, a position that is made even more precarious by the enormity of the Mount Polley mine disaster and the continuing lack of ability or will of the corporation to effect any real restoration physically or otherwise to the Secwepemc for the losses they continue to suffer as a result.”
The protest came only a month after another action organized by the same women targeted the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas on April 29, in the final days of its review to determine whether the Mount Polley mine could reopen. Coordinated solidarity events occurred on the same day in Vancouver, Toronto, Kamloops, Winnipeg, Los Angeles and Portland.
Ricochet spoke to Kanahus Manuel from the Secwepemc division of the Woman’s Warrior Society. Her traditional territory is home to the Mount Polley mine and another proposed Imperial Metals’ project, the Ruddock Creek mine.
“We did confront some shareholders that were heading into the Imperial Metals AGM. They were very racist to us as Indigenous women,” said Manuel. “It really shows clearly that we are operating within a racist country, a racist society. These corporations like Imperial Metals come into our communities with that racism when they are making decisions. They do not think of us as the Indigenous people of this land, they think of us as welfare recipients and bums.”
The atmosphere inside the shareholders meeting was similar. Eileen Floody, a shareholder from Clayoquot territory, said she was prevented from even tabling a motion that asked for a representative of Secwepemc territory to be heard.
As Seitcham explained, “It just goes to show that Indigenous rights and title and our unceded territories mean nothing to these corporations.”
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/129136454" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
Last edited by a moderator:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/05/29/A...ce=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=290515
Nine Months After Polley Breach, Alaskans Seek Compensation Guarantee from BC
Proposed northern BC mines 'source of great angst in Juneau.'
By Jordan Wong, Yesterday, TheTyee.ca
Mount Polley tailings dam spill
Alaskans want a guarantee that proposed B.C. mines won't fowl U.S. waters downstream. Image of Mount Polley tailings dam spill by Cariboo Regional District.
Earlier this month, Heather Hardcastle, a commercial fisherwoman from Juneau, Alaska met in Williams Lake, B.C. with members of the Tsilhqot'in First Nation. They shared a meal of wild Alaskan salmon that Hardcastle brought as a symbolic gesture: This fish was a reminder of all there was to lose.
After lunch, Hardcastle and her team of Alaska visitors boarded a helicopter and flew 25 minutes away to the site of the Mount Polley accident, the scene of a massive breach last August of its mine waste dam near the town of Likely, B.C.
The breach released millions of cubic metres of contaminated water into Quesnel Lake, which feeds into the Fraser River.
Nine months later, Jacinda Mack, a Xatsull woman from the Soda Creek reserve and one of many residents living near the path of the spill, invited the Alaskans to Williams Lake to see firsthand the main effect of that accident.
On the Fraser River, contamination from the mine breach threatened the run of Sockeye salmon that spawns in Quesnel Lake.
"We saw where [Mack] was raised, and where they used to fish on the Fraser where people fished for thousands of years, and they're not fishing there anymore. It's heartbreaking," Hardcastle said. "It's a stunning and gorgeous area but it was just so sad. It feels selfish to be thinking about us and our water, but it lit a fire under me. We have to do something."
It was an eye-opening sight to Hardcastle, who lives and works in southeast Alaska, downstream from a number of open-pit mines located in northwest B.C., with more under construction and opening soon.
Hardcastle grew up in the 1970s, during which time her parents fought the B.C. Tulsequah Chief mine, located 65 kilometres north of Juneau, Alaska, which leaked acid mine drainage in 1957 and still hasn't been cleaned up. The polluted Tulsequah River empties into the salmon-rich Taku River.
Fear Polley repeat
It's been a "source of great angst in Juneau," Hardcastle said. She and the Alaskans came to Canada because they don't want to see another repeat of Tulsequah Chief or Mount Polley.
Fishermen are concerned about the potential threat of pollution from the rapidly growing number of northwestern B.C. mines proposed or under construction: the Red Chris mine, a copper and gold mine with a wet tailings storage facility similar to Mount Polley, and also owned by Imperial Metals, began operating in February. Brucejack mine, 40 kilometres from the Alaska border, is projected to open in 2017 and the large-scale Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) project has been granted environmental approval from B.C.
The Alaskans came to Canada to meet with First Nations in the Mount Polley area, but also with provincial officials. They're looking for guarantees from the province that another Polley-sized accident won't occur with the mines set to open in northwestern B.C. If an accident does happen, they want assurances they will be compensated.
"How are you going to compensate us when something goes wrong?" Hardcastle asked. "Given the number of projects underway, it's only a matter of time."
Hardcastle is the head of an Alaskan salmon advocacy coalition, Salmon Beyond Borders, which campaigns for clean transboundary rivers. The group has gathered support from First Nations in Canada and United States, as well as politicians and local businesses.
A few days after their trip to Williams Lake, the group headed to Vancouver to meet representatives from the ministries of energy and mines, and environment, as well as the Environmental Assessment Office.
Yet the Alaskans left Canada disappointed. The group failed to gain assurances from Canada that Alaska rivers would be protected from pollution.
"The general attitude [from the B.C. representatives] was that everything was fine," Hardcastle said in a telephone interview from Juneau. She said the B.C. officials seemed bent on fast-tracking construction of the Red Chris mine.
The Alaskans' concern with B.C. mining practices has taken on new life since Mount Polley. Residents of southeast Alaska realized how much damage a tailings spill could cause if a similar accident occurred in northwest B.C., possibly polluting Alaska's lucrative fishing waters where salmon is a multi-billion dollar resource.
"There's a thriving seafood processing, fishing, and tourism industry that just would be wiped out," said Paula Dobbyn, communications director of Trout Unlimited, a national conservation organization working with Salmon Beyond Borders. Dobbyn visited Williams Lake with Hardcastle.
Lifeblood of community
For many coastal Alaskans, fishing runs in families, passed from generation to generation. Hardcastle operates a premium salmon company with her family. She described the fish as the lifeblood of the community. "We have to work for our grandchildren, and that comes down to salmon and water."
Salmon is also an important part of indigenous Alaskan heritage.
"We're dependent on a healthy, intact salmon habitat," said Jennifer Hanlon, a Tlingit woman from the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group in Alaska, which is working closely with Salmon Beyond Borders. "If that's wiped out, we're going to be wiped out too. For us, it's beyond an environmental issue, it's a human rights issue."
Salmon Beyond Borders is trying to attract greater national attention to its campaign. Canada and the United States do have a treaty that requires both countries not to pollute shared waters and the Alaskans' next step could be to seek a study on the potential effects of the mines by the International Joint Commission, an organization created by the treaty. Two of the IJC's responsibilities include regulating the usage of water that is shared between the two countries, and investigating and advising the Canadian and U.S. governments on existing or potential transboundary issues.
Nine Months After Polley Breach, Alaskans Seek Compensation Guarantee from BC
Proposed northern BC mines 'source of great angst in Juneau.'
By Jordan Wong, Yesterday, TheTyee.ca
Mount Polley tailings dam spill
Alaskans want a guarantee that proposed B.C. mines won't fowl U.S. waters downstream. Image of Mount Polley tailings dam spill by Cariboo Regional District.
Earlier this month, Heather Hardcastle, a commercial fisherwoman from Juneau, Alaska met in Williams Lake, B.C. with members of the Tsilhqot'in First Nation. They shared a meal of wild Alaskan salmon that Hardcastle brought as a symbolic gesture: This fish was a reminder of all there was to lose.
After lunch, Hardcastle and her team of Alaska visitors boarded a helicopter and flew 25 minutes away to the site of the Mount Polley accident, the scene of a massive breach last August of its mine waste dam near the town of Likely, B.C.
The breach released millions of cubic metres of contaminated water into Quesnel Lake, which feeds into the Fraser River.
Nine months later, Jacinda Mack, a Xatsull woman from the Soda Creek reserve and one of many residents living near the path of the spill, invited the Alaskans to Williams Lake to see firsthand the main effect of that accident.
On the Fraser River, contamination from the mine breach threatened the run of Sockeye salmon that spawns in Quesnel Lake.
"We saw where [Mack] was raised, and where they used to fish on the Fraser where people fished for thousands of years, and they're not fishing there anymore. It's heartbreaking," Hardcastle said. "It's a stunning and gorgeous area but it was just so sad. It feels selfish to be thinking about us and our water, but it lit a fire under me. We have to do something."
It was an eye-opening sight to Hardcastle, who lives and works in southeast Alaska, downstream from a number of open-pit mines located in northwest B.C., with more under construction and opening soon.
Hardcastle grew up in the 1970s, during which time her parents fought the B.C. Tulsequah Chief mine, located 65 kilometres north of Juneau, Alaska, which leaked acid mine drainage in 1957 and still hasn't been cleaned up. The polluted Tulsequah River empties into the salmon-rich Taku River.
Fear Polley repeat
It's been a "source of great angst in Juneau," Hardcastle said. She and the Alaskans came to Canada because they don't want to see another repeat of Tulsequah Chief or Mount Polley.
Fishermen are concerned about the potential threat of pollution from the rapidly growing number of northwestern B.C. mines proposed or under construction: the Red Chris mine, a copper and gold mine with a wet tailings storage facility similar to Mount Polley, and also owned by Imperial Metals, began operating in February. Brucejack mine, 40 kilometres from the Alaska border, is projected to open in 2017 and the large-scale Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) project has been granted environmental approval from B.C.
The Alaskans came to Canada to meet with First Nations in the Mount Polley area, but also with provincial officials. They're looking for guarantees from the province that another Polley-sized accident won't occur with the mines set to open in northwestern B.C. If an accident does happen, they want assurances they will be compensated.
"How are you going to compensate us when something goes wrong?" Hardcastle asked. "Given the number of projects underway, it's only a matter of time."
Hardcastle is the head of an Alaskan salmon advocacy coalition, Salmon Beyond Borders, which campaigns for clean transboundary rivers. The group has gathered support from First Nations in Canada and United States, as well as politicians and local businesses.
A few days after their trip to Williams Lake, the group headed to Vancouver to meet representatives from the ministries of energy and mines, and environment, as well as the Environmental Assessment Office.
Yet the Alaskans left Canada disappointed. The group failed to gain assurances from Canada that Alaska rivers would be protected from pollution.
"The general attitude [from the B.C. representatives] was that everything was fine," Hardcastle said in a telephone interview from Juneau. She said the B.C. officials seemed bent on fast-tracking construction of the Red Chris mine.
The Alaskans' concern with B.C. mining practices has taken on new life since Mount Polley. Residents of southeast Alaska realized how much damage a tailings spill could cause if a similar accident occurred in northwest B.C., possibly polluting Alaska's lucrative fishing waters where salmon is a multi-billion dollar resource.
"There's a thriving seafood processing, fishing, and tourism industry that just would be wiped out," said Paula Dobbyn, communications director of Trout Unlimited, a national conservation organization working with Salmon Beyond Borders. Dobbyn visited Williams Lake with Hardcastle.
Lifeblood of community
For many coastal Alaskans, fishing runs in families, passed from generation to generation. Hardcastle operates a premium salmon company with her family. She described the fish as the lifeblood of the community. "We have to work for our grandchildren, and that comes down to salmon and water."
Salmon is also an important part of indigenous Alaskan heritage.
"We're dependent on a healthy, intact salmon habitat," said Jennifer Hanlon, a Tlingit woman from the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group in Alaska, which is working closely with Salmon Beyond Borders. "If that's wiped out, we're going to be wiped out too. For us, it's beyond an environmental issue, it's a human rights issue."
Salmon Beyond Borders is trying to attract greater national attention to its campaign. Canada and the United States do have a treaty that requires both countries not to pollute shared waters and the Alaskans' next step could be to seek a study on the potential effects of the mines by the International Joint Commission, an organization created by the treaty. Two of the IJC's responsibilities include regulating the usage of water that is shared between the two countries, and investigating and advising the Canadian and U.S. governments on existing or potential transboundary issues.
http://www.vancouversun.com/busines...rt+raises+tailings+safety/11103761/story.html
B.C. First Nations mining council report raises tailings dam safety concerns
Nearly three dozen mine-waste storage facilities could affect 33 First Nation communities
By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun June 3, 2015
A aerial view of the damage caused by a tailings pond breach near the town of Likely, B.C., last August. The pond stored toxic waste from the Mount Polley Mine.
Photograph by: JONATHAN HAYWARD , THE CANADIAN PRESS
A report that shows a widespread fallout zone for mine-waste storage facilities in northern and central B.C. has led to a call for more protection of watersheds, assurance that communities receive long-term benefits, and creation of a cleanup fund.
The survey being released today was commissioned by the B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council in the wake of Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine-waste dam failure last year.
The breach released millions of cubic metres of finely ground rock containing potentially toxic metals, called tailings, into the Quesnel Lake watershed, resulting in heightened concerns over dam safety and the long-term effects on aquatic life.
The new report — Uncertainty Upstream: Potential Threats from Tailings Facility Failures in Northern British Columbia http://www.fnemc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BCFNEMC-UncertaintyUpstream-June2015.pdf — found 35 mine-waste storage facilities at 26 active and closed mine could affect 33 First Nations communities if there is a breach.
Another 200 re also in areas that could be affected by a breach, including major centres such as Prince George, Smithers and Terrace, said the report.
Computer-generated geographic data shows a total of 3,275 kilometres of waterways are immediately downstream of the 35 mine-waste storage facilities, and 5,403 km lie in watersheds further downstream where the contaminants could eventually reach.
The mining council said pollution could affect water quality and be devastating to salmon and steelhead, which the report notes are acutely sensitive to copper that is common in acid-rock drainage from mine waste.
The report found that 80 per cent of Chinook salmon habitat in the region (12,813 km) is either downstream of a tailings facility or requires migrating through a potential contaminant flow path. For Sockeye, Coho and Chum the numbers are 79 per cent, 58 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively.
Cautioning that the analysis is not intended to imply that all the mine waste facilities will fail at some point, nevertheless, the council said the summary of potential threats is a new tool that should inform future planning of mining operations.
“I think this is a wake-up call for us, and this particular piece of work helps us to start to think about how do we plan, how do we respond if such a disaster occurs elsewhere in the province,” B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council CEO Dave Porter said in an interview.
The council called for protected areas that encompass watersheds and waterways to ensure rivers remain intact, and that communities receive long-term economic benefits where mines do proceed.
The council — established by the First Nations Summit, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the B.C. Assembly of First Nations — also called for a way to fund cleanup and remediation if there is another breach.
The B.C. government has said it is the responsibility of the polluters to pay for cleanup. Imperial Metals has said they are spending $67 million on remediation of the Mount Polley gold and copper mine spill.
But Porter suggested there is no way to require cleanup and a “super fund” of hundreds of millions of dollars paid into by all mines would be a better idea.
Porter said he was particularly concerned by the findings of an expert panel that investigated the Mount Polley dam failure.
The panel said that on average there will be two failures every 10 years in British Columbia if the inventory of active tailings dams in the province remains unchanged, and performance in the future reflects that in the past.
One of the key recommendations of the expert panel was that the B.C. mining industry move away from the traditional method of storing mine waste behind earth-and-rock dams under water.
Instead, waste should be stored in old pits and mine shafts and also be dry stacked above ground.
However, an examination by The Vancouver Sun, published in April, found companies in B.C. with proposals for 10 large, open-pit metal mines have no plans, at least for now, to follow the panel’s recommendation to move away from the traditional method.
ghoekstra@vancouversun
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Fi...ty+concerns/11103761/story.html#ixzz3c6oDF7OD
B.C. First Nations mining council report raises tailings dam safety concerns
Nearly three dozen mine-waste storage facilities could affect 33 First Nation communities
By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun June 3, 2015
A aerial view of the damage caused by a tailings pond breach near the town of Likely, B.C., last August. The pond stored toxic waste from the Mount Polley Mine.
Photograph by: JONATHAN HAYWARD , THE CANADIAN PRESS
A report that shows a widespread fallout zone for mine-waste storage facilities in northern and central B.C. has led to a call for more protection of watersheds, assurance that communities receive long-term benefits, and creation of a cleanup fund.
The survey being released today was commissioned by the B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council in the wake of Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine-waste dam failure last year.
The breach released millions of cubic metres of finely ground rock containing potentially toxic metals, called tailings, into the Quesnel Lake watershed, resulting in heightened concerns over dam safety and the long-term effects on aquatic life.
The new report — Uncertainty Upstream: Potential Threats from Tailings Facility Failures in Northern British Columbia http://www.fnemc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BCFNEMC-UncertaintyUpstream-June2015.pdf — found 35 mine-waste storage facilities at 26 active and closed mine could affect 33 First Nations communities if there is a breach.
Another 200 re also in areas that could be affected by a breach, including major centres such as Prince George, Smithers and Terrace, said the report.
Computer-generated geographic data shows a total of 3,275 kilometres of waterways are immediately downstream of the 35 mine-waste storage facilities, and 5,403 km lie in watersheds further downstream where the contaminants could eventually reach.
The mining council said pollution could affect water quality and be devastating to salmon and steelhead, which the report notes are acutely sensitive to copper that is common in acid-rock drainage from mine waste.
The report found that 80 per cent of Chinook salmon habitat in the region (12,813 km) is either downstream of a tailings facility or requires migrating through a potential contaminant flow path. For Sockeye, Coho and Chum the numbers are 79 per cent, 58 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively.
Cautioning that the analysis is not intended to imply that all the mine waste facilities will fail at some point, nevertheless, the council said the summary of potential threats is a new tool that should inform future planning of mining operations.
“I think this is a wake-up call for us, and this particular piece of work helps us to start to think about how do we plan, how do we respond if such a disaster occurs elsewhere in the province,” B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council CEO Dave Porter said in an interview.
The council called for protected areas that encompass watersheds and waterways to ensure rivers remain intact, and that communities receive long-term economic benefits where mines do proceed.
The council — established by the First Nations Summit, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the B.C. Assembly of First Nations — also called for a way to fund cleanup and remediation if there is another breach.
The B.C. government has said it is the responsibility of the polluters to pay for cleanup. Imperial Metals has said they are spending $67 million on remediation of the Mount Polley gold and copper mine spill.
But Porter suggested there is no way to require cleanup and a “super fund” of hundreds of millions of dollars paid into by all mines would be a better idea.
Porter said he was particularly concerned by the findings of an expert panel that investigated the Mount Polley dam failure.
The panel said that on average there will be two failures every 10 years in British Columbia if the inventory of active tailings dams in the province remains unchanged, and performance in the future reflects that in the past.
One of the key recommendations of the expert panel was that the B.C. mining industry move away from the traditional method of storing mine waste behind earth-and-rock dams under water.
Instead, waste should be stored in old pits and mine shafts and also be dry stacked above ground.
However, an examination by The Vancouver Sun, published in April, found companies in B.C. with proposals for 10 large, open-pit metal mines have no plans, at least for now, to follow the panel’s recommendation to move away from the traditional method.
ghoekstra@vancouversun
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Fi...ty+concerns/11103761/story.html#ixzz3c6oDF7OD
Last edited by a moderator:
http://canadians.org/blog/drinking-...s-208-communities-bc-risk-mine-tailings-ponds
Drinking water for 33 First Nations & 208 communities in B.C. at risk from mine tailings ponds
June 3, 2015 - 9:33am
Terrace, Prince George, Smithers
The drinking water for Terrace, Prince George, Smithers and hundreds of other communities are at risk from tailings ponds.
The drinking water for hundreds of communities and thousands of kilometres of waterways are at risk from tailings ponds in British Columbia.
The Globe and Mail reports, "The [BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council] has, for the first time, mapped out the 35 active mine tailings ponds [on 48 key watersheds] in the northern half of the province and traced the potential paths of contaminants from dam failures at any of those sites. The survey found that 80 per cent of the chinook and sockeye salmon in the region are either downstream from a tailings facility or would migrate up a river that could be contaminated. It also concluded that there are risks to the drinking water of 33 First Nations and 208 other communities, including Prince George, Smithers and Terrace."
The Vancouver Sun says the report - Uncertainty Upstream: Potential Threats from Tailings Facility Failures in Northern British Columbia - further specifies, "Computer-generated geographic data shows a total of 3,275 kilometres of waterways are immediately downstream of the 35 mine-waste storage facilities, and 5,403 km lie in watersheds further downstream where the contaminants could eventually reach."
The risk is very real: "In January, an expert panel report on the Mount Polley incident concluded that, based on past performance, British Columbia can expect to see two failures of tailings ponds every 10 years – a not-insignificant risk that spurred calls for an overhaul of the province’s regulatory regime for the mining industry."
And the situation is set to worsen: "British Columbia’s north is poised for an explosion of new-mine development. The provincial government has pushed for the creation of mines as part of its jobs plan, building a new power transmission line to encourage industrial development in the northwest and promising to cut red tape for mine permits." In this September 2011 campaign blog we noted that British Columbia premier Christy Clark and her Liberal government are committed to opening eight new mines and expanding another nine in the province.
In terms of a timeline, there are at least three key dates to keep in mind. In June, the results from an inspection of the 123 tailings pond dams in the province is due. In early July, the provincial government will decide if the Mount Polley mine (which released 10 billion litres of contaminated water and 4.5 million cubic metres of metals-laden fine sand into Hazeltine Creek, Polley Lake and Quesnel Lake last August) will be allowed to restart. The Council of Canadians has actively opposed the reopening of this mine. And sometime this summer, the provincial government will also issue a report on mining regulations in the province.
In February, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow wrote to Premier Clark to ask her to rethink Bill 18, her government's new Water Sustainability Act. That's because the Act does not recognize the human right to water. Barlow wrote, "In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the human right to water and sanitation. As a result, there are now three obligations that governments must follow: the obligation to respect, protect and fulfill. We regret that Bill 18 does not explicitly recognize this right and we believe it also fails to meet these obligations."
The obligation to protect means, in this instance, that the provincial government is obliged to prevent third parties like mining companies from interfering with the enjoyment of the human right to water. A mining agenda that puts at risk the drinking water for 208 communities and 33 First Nations clearly violates that obligation.
We have also highlighted that the right to water is being further put at risk by the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) agenda pursued by the Clark government. The gas needed for just five of the proposed LNG terminals in the province would require an estimated 582 billion litres of water from British Columbia's rivers, lakes and streams. Those five LNG terminals could also require an estimated 39,000 new wells by 2040, the majority of which would likely be fracked.
Drinking water for 33 First Nations & 208 communities in B.C. at risk from mine tailings ponds
June 3, 2015 - 9:33am
Terrace, Prince George, Smithers
The drinking water for Terrace, Prince George, Smithers and hundreds of other communities are at risk from tailings ponds.
The drinking water for hundreds of communities and thousands of kilometres of waterways are at risk from tailings ponds in British Columbia.
The Globe and Mail reports, "The [BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council] has, for the first time, mapped out the 35 active mine tailings ponds [on 48 key watersheds] in the northern half of the province and traced the potential paths of contaminants from dam failures at any of those sites. The survey found that 80 per cent of the chinook and sockeye salmon in the region are either downstream from a tailings facility or would migrate up a river that could be contaminated. It also concluded that there are risks to the drinking water of 33 First Nations and 208 other communities, including Prince George, Smithers and Terrace."
The Vancouver Sun says the report - Uncertainty Upstream: Potential Threats from Tailings Facility Failures in Northern British Columbia - further specifies, "Computer-generated geographic data shows a total of 3,275 kilometres of waterways are immediately downstream of the 35 mine-waste storage facilities, and 5,403 km lie in watersheds further downstream where the contaminants could eventually reach."
The risk is very real: "In January, an expert panel report on the Mount Polley incident concluded that, based on past performance, British Columbia can expect to see two failures of tailings ponds every 10 years – a not-insignificant risk that spurred calls for an overhaul of the province’s regulatory regime for the mining industry."
And the situation is set to worsen: "British Columbia’s north is poised for an explosion of new-mine development. The provincial government has pushed for the creation of mines as part of its jobs plan, building a new power transmission line to encourage industrial development in the northwest and promising to cut red tape for mine permits." In this September 2011 campaign blog we noted that British Columbia premier Christy Clark and her Liberal government are committed to opening eight new mines and expanding another nine in the province.
In terms of a timeline, there are at least three key dates to keep in mind. In June, the results from an inspection of the 123 tailings pond dams in the province is due. In early July, the provincial government will decide if the Mount Polley mine (which released 10 billion litres of contaminated water and 4.5 million cubic metres of metals-laden fine sand into Hazeltine Creek, Polley Lake and Quesnel Lake last August) will be allowed to restart. The Council of Canadians has actively opposed the reopening of this mine. And sometime this summer, the provincial government will also issue a report on mining regulations in the province.
In February, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow wrote to Premier Clark to ask her to rethink Bill 18, her government's new Water Sustainability Act. That's because the Act does not recognize the human right to water. Barlow wrote, "In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the human right to water and sanitation. As a result, there are now three obligations that governments must follow: the obligation to respect, protect and fulfill. We regret that Bill 18 does not explicitly recognize this right and we believe it also fails to meet these obligations."
The obligation to protect means, in this instance, that the provincial government is obliged to prevent third parties like mining companies from interfering with the enjoyment of the human right to water. A mining agenda that puts at risk the drinking water for 208 communities and 33 First Nations clearly violates that obligation.
We have also highlighted that the right to water is being further put at risk by the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) agenda pursued by the Clark government. The gas needed for just five of the proposed LNG terminals in the province would require an estimated 582 billion litres of water from British Columbia's rivers, lakes and streams. Those five LNG terminals could also require an estimated 39,000 new wells by 2040, the majority of which would likely be fracked.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/dan-lewis2/mount-polley-mine-clayoquot-sound_b_7262856.html
Mount Polley Mine Owner Prospecting In Clayoquot Sound
Dan Lewis
Executive Director of Clayoquot Action
Posted: 05/12/2015 3:14 am EDT Updated: 05/12/2015 3:59 am EDT
MOST BEAUTIFUL SCENERY
Before the dust had even settled on Mount Polley, mine owner Imperial Metals was active again in British Columbia's Clayoquot Sound. This finding was announced in Who's Knocking?, a report on mineral tenures in the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The report, released by Clayoquot Action in partnership with Fair Mining Collaborative, details who is looking for minerals in Clayoquot Sound, and what types of minerals they are looking for.
Twenty years ago when someone said "Clayoquot," protests against clearcutting of old growth forests came to mind. At that time nobody thought anybody was crazy enough to propose an open-pit copper mine in the heart of Clayoquot Sound.
Fast-forward 20 years, and somebody is crazy enough to make such a proposal: Imperial Metals. That's right, Imperial Metals, who operates Mount Polley mine, home to one of the largest mining disasters in the world, has been exploring the potential for two mines in Clayoquot Sound, in unceded Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht First Nations territories.
Who's Knocking? shows that 5.8 per cent of Clayoquot Sound is under some form of mineral title, with a total of 257 claims held by 23 licensees. As recently as five years ago, 24.5 per cent of the region was under mineral tenure -- the area staked has fallen due to low mineral prices. This highlights the "boom and bust" nature of the mining industry. No doubt claim staking will increase again when metal prices rebound.
Premier Christy Clark clearly wants to see more mines opening in B.C. This January, she announced millions of dollars in funding to fast track the permitting and approval of new mines. Since the Mount Polley disaster, her government has approved two new mines, including Red Chris, a contentious Imperial Metals mine in the Sacred Headwaters region of Tahltan First Nations territory.
The B.C. government appointed the Mount Polley review panel to determine why that dam failed. Their January report firmly rejected "any notion that business as usual can continue."
They called for an end to underwater storage of toxic tailings behind dams that could fail, causing irreparable environmental damage. They recommended shifting to "best available technology" such as dry-stacking tailings. The panel acknowledged that while safer technologies might be more expensive, cost estimates for conventional tailings dams do not include the costs associated with failures like Mount Polley. They argued that while economic factors cannot be neglected, neither can they continue to pre-empt best technology.
Despite committing in January to fully implementing their recommendations, B.C. Minister of Mines, Bill Bennett reneged on that promise recently, saying "I don't think that's in the cards...to adopt a policy where all you can use to manage tailings is dry-stack tailings".
Storage of toxic tailings is a challenge that will not go away. With the world's best ore bodies already mined out, we are scraping the barrel to get the last bits of valuable metals out of the ground. This translates into much larger quantities of mine tailings than were produced in past.
The Mount Polley review panel noted that there are currently 123 active tailings dams in B.C. If performance in the future reflects that in the past, then on average there will be two failures every 10 years.
Many British Columbians are not opposed to mining per se. But the average person can see that Mount Polley should not have been allowed to happen. Where was the government in their role as protectors of citizens and the environment? What is going to change to ensure another Mount Polley is never allowed to happen?
There have been repeated calls for mining legislation reform in British Columbia. Our "free-entry" system for mineral exploration was first developed in Europe in the 1500s, and was adopted in B.C. during the first gold rushes of the 1850s, before the province had telegraph communication. It's time for an update.
A common sense approach to best practices would begin by acknowledging that some areas, such as Clayoquot Sound, are just too special to mine. The government needs to designate 'no-go' zones which are off-limits to all mining activities including exploration.
As B.C.'s retired director of wildlife, Jim Walker, stated in 2011: "...as more and more of the province is developed, the ecological, societal and economic value of undeveloped areas increases dramatically...British Columbians do not want all the few remaining pristine areas accessed, no matter what the economic benefits or technical assurances."
It's time to ensure that any mining which does occur in British Columbia does not put at risk our own tagline as "The Best Place on Earth."
Mount Polley Mine Owner Prospecting In Clayoquot Sound
Dan Lewis
Executive Director of Clayoquot Action
Posted: 05/12/2015 3:14 am EDT Updated: 05/12/2015 3:59 am EDT
MOST BEAUTIFUL SCENERY
Before the dust had even settled on Mount Polley, mine owner Imperial Metals was active again in British Columbia's Clayoquot Sound. This finding was announced in Who's Knocking?, a report on mineral tenures in the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The report, released by Clayoquot Action in partnership with Fair Mining Collaborative, details who is looking for minerals in Clayoquot Sound, and what types of minerals they are looking for.
Twenty years ago when someone said "Clayoquot," protests against clearcutting of old growth forests came to mind. At that time nobody thought anybody was crazy enough to propose an open-pit copper mine in the heart of Clayoquot Sound.
Fast-forward 20 years, and somebody is crazy enough to make such a proposal: Imperial Metals. That's right, Imperial Metals, who operates Mount Polley mine, home to one of the largest mining disasters in the world, has been exploring the potential for two mines in Clayoquot Sound, in unceded Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht First Nations territories.
Who's Knocking? shows that 5.8 per cent of Clayoquot Sound is under some form of mineral title, with a total of 257 claims held by 23 licensees. As recently as five years ago, 24.5 per cent of the region was under mineral tenure -- the area staked has fallen due to low mineral prices. This highlights the "boom and bust" nature of the mining industry. No doubt claim staking will increase again when metal prices rebound.
Premier Christy Clark clearly wants to see more mines opening in B.C. This January, she announced millions of dollars in funding to fast track the permitting and approval of new mines. Since the Mount Polley disaster, her government has approved two new mines, including Red Chris, a contentious Imperial Metals mine in the Sacred Headwaters region of Tahltan First Nations territory.
The B.C. government appointed the Mount Polley review panel to determine why that dam failed. Their January report firmly rejected "any notion that business as usual can continue."
They called for an end to underwater storage of toxic tailings behind dams that could fail, causing irreparable environmental damage. They recommended shifting to "best available technology" such as dry-stacking tailings. The panel acknowledged that while safer technologies might be more expensive, cost estimates for conventional tailings dams do not include the costs associated with failures like Mount Polley. They argued that while economic factors cannot be neglected, neither can they continue to pre-empt best technology.
Despite committing in January to fully implementing their recommendations, B.C. Minister of Mines, Bill Bennett reneged on that promise recently, saying "I don't think that's in the cards...to adopt a policy where all you can use to manage tailings is dry-stack tailings".
Storage of toxic tailings is a challenge that will not go away. With the world's best ore bodies already mined out, we are scraping the barrel to get the last bits of valuable metals out of the ground. This translates into much larger quantities of mine tailings than were produced in past.
The Mount Polley review panel noted that there are currently 123 active tailings dams in B.C. If performance in the future reflects that in the past, then on average there will be two failures every 10 years.
Many British Columbians are not opposed to mining per se. But the average person can see that Mount Polley should not have been allowed to happen. Where was the government in their role as protectors of citizens and the environment? What is going to change to ensure another Mount Polley is never allowed to happen?
There have been repeated calls for mining legislation reform in British Columbia. Our "free-entry" system for mineral exploration was first developed in Europe in the 1500s, and was adopted in B.C. during the first gold rushes of the 1850s, before the province had telegraph communication. It's time for an update.
A common sense approach to best practices would begin by acknowledging that some areas, such as Clayoquot Sound, are just too special to mine. The government needs to designate 'no-go' zones which are off-limits to all mining activities including exploration.
As B.C.'s retired director of wildlife, Jim Walker, stated in 2011: "...as more and more of the province is developed, the ecological, societal and economic value of undeveloped areas increases dramatically...British Columbians do not want all the few remaining pristine areas accessed, no matter what the economic benefits or technical assurances."
It's time to ensure that any mining which does occur in British Columbia does not put at risk our own tagline as "The Best Place on Earth."
http://www.alaskapublic.org/2015/06..._campaign=Feed:+aprn-news+(APRN:+Alaska+News)
Red Chris Mine waits for final permit
By Katarina Sostaric, KSTK - Wrangell | June 5, 2015
Mining at Red Chris in February 2015. (imperialmetals.com)
A controversial British Columbia mine upriver from Wrangell and Petersburg is slated to ramp up to full production this summer. But the Red Chris Mine is still waiting for final approval from the B.C. government and a First Nations group.
The Red Chris copper and gold mine in the Stikine River watershed has been operating on a temporary environmental permit since February.
It was recently extended through mid-June.
A B.C. official told a Canadian newspaper it gives government and Tahltan First Nation environmental teams more time to evaluate the mine’s tailings dams before issuing the final permit.
The tailings dam system for mine waste management is facing a lot of criticism after a dam at the Mount Polley Mine in B.C. collapsed last summer. It spilled millions of gallons of waste into Canadian waterways.
Imperial Metals owns that mine and Red Chris.
Southeast Alaskans worry B.C. mines could destroy salmon and other wildlife that many people depend on for subsistence and income. Some want their concerns to be addressed in B.C.’s mine permitting process.
Wrangell is at the mouth of the Stikine River, and Aaron Angerman is a member of the Wrangell Cooperative Association. He is also that group’s representative to the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group.
Angerman said he is not comforted by government and indigenous groups’ additional efforts to inspect the Red Chris mine and its tailings dams.
“For them to take any different route is almost a moot point because this place was built just like the Mount Polley Mine, larger in scale, and is already running, by the same designers that put this other one together,” Angerman said. “It’s a little too late for those on the Stikine, I guess.”
Angerman said he is very concerned about the Red Chris mine because Wrangell residents depend on the Stikine for so many resources.
“People need to be aware that while there’s a permitting process wrapping up, this has been open since February, and this has been functioning since then,” Angerman said. “And the impacts it could have of basically a dam the size of 10,000 Olympic swimming pools, filled with toxic chemicals, giving way and washing down our river coming straight toward Wrangell, could be devastating.”
Meanwhile, Imperial Metals is losing a lot of money and facing technical challenges as it attempts to bring Red Chris up to full production.
Imperial borrowed millions of dollars to keep the company going until it can make money at Red Chris. It is also trying to reopen Mount Polley.
Imperial Metals President Brian Kynoch told shareholders recently that Red Chris was well on its way to full production this spring. But it had to cut back because of technical issues.
“Since about the second half of April, due to slower spring runoff than forecast, the water levels in the tailings pond were insufficient to run the mill at targeted rates,” Kynoch said. “And this resulted in us running the mill intermittently until just a couple of days ago.”
He said he expects Red Chris to be operating at commercial production levels later this summer.
Red Chris Mine waits for final permit
By Katarina Sostaric, KSTK - Wrangell | June 5, 2015
Mining at Red Chris in February 2015. (imperialmetals.com)
A controversial British Columbia mine upriver from Wrangell and Petersburg is slated to ramp up to full production this summer. But the Red Chris Mine is still waiting for final approval from the B.C. government and a First Nations group.
The Red Chris copper and gold mine in the Stikine River watershed has been operating on a temporary environmental permit since February.
It was recently extended through mid-June.
A B.C. official told a Canadian newspaper it gives government and Tahltan First Nation environmental teams more time to evaluate the mine’s tailings dams before issuing the final permit.
The tailings dam system for mine waste management is facing a lot of criticism after a dam at the Mount Polley Mine in B.C. collapsed last summer. It spilled millions of gallons of waste into Canadian waterways.
Imperial Metals owns that mine and Red Chris.
Southeast Alaskans worry B.C. mines could destroy salmon and other wildlife that many people depend on for subsistence and income. Some want their concerns to be addressed in B.C.’s mine permitting process.
Wrangell is at the mouth of the Stikine River, and Aaron Angerman is a member of the Wrangell Cooperative Association. He is also that group’s representative to the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group.
Angerman said he is not comforted by government and indigenous groups’ additional efforts to inspect the Red Chris mine and its tailings dams.
“For them to take any different route is almost a moot point because this place was built just like the Mount Polley Mine, larger in scale, and is already running, by the same designers that put this other one together,” Angerman said. “It’s a little too late for those on the Stikine, I guess.”
Angerman said he is very concerned about the Red Chris mine because Wrangell residents depend on the Stikine for so many resources.
“People need to be aware that while there’s a permitting process wrapping up, this has been open since February, and this has been functioning since then,” Angerman said. “And the impacts it could have of basically a dam the size of 10,000 Olympic swimming pools, filled with toxic chemicals, giving way and washing down our river coming straight toward Wrangell, could be devastating.”
Meanwhile, Imperial Metals is losing a lot of money and facing technical challenges as it attempts to bring Red Chris up to full production.
Imperial borrowed millions of dollars to keep the company going until it can make money at Red Chris. It is also trying to reopen Mount Polley.
Imperial Metals President Brian Kynoch told shareholders recently that Red Chris was well on its way to full production this spring. But it had to cut back because of technical issues.
“Since about the second half of April, due to slower spring runoff than forecast, the water levels in the tailings pond were insufficient to run the mill at targeted rates,” Kynoch said. “And this resulted in us running the mill intermittently until just a couple of days ago.”
He said he expects Red Chris to be operating at commercial production levels later this summer.
http://www.vancouversun.com/technol...+mine+waste+after+failure/11117010/story.html
Montana takes action on mine waste after B.C. dam failure
New laws spearheaded by industry after Mount Polley dam failure
By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun June 7, 2015
Two proposed mines under Cabinet Mountains Wilderness area in Montana, above, may have spurred new law on mine-waste storage.
Photograph by: Handout
The pollution caused by last summer’s dam failure at the Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley and the recommendations from an expert panel this January are having effects in the United States.
Six weeks ago, Montana changed its laws in response to the B.C. mine disaster, entrenching in statutes design standards for mine waste-storage facilities, qualifications for engineers and requirements for independent review panels.
The law changes were spearheaded by industry through the Montana Mining Association and sponsored by Republican state Senator Chas Vincent.
In B.C., the mining industry has been cautious in its response to the expert panel recommendations, which included the call for the independent review panels made up of senior geotechnical engineers. And while the B.C. Liberal government says changes are coming, it has said a review of provincial laws could take at least a year.
Montana Mining Association executive director Tammy Johnson said it wasn’t an easy decision to propose increased regulation but the changes were needed to ensure public confidence in mine dam safety.
Johnson said she believes the new laws are the most rigorous guidelines for mine-waste storage facilities, often call tailings ponds, in existence. “It’s not a guidance document, we made it hard and fast law,” she said.
Johnson said they acted quickly after the Mount Polley dam failure because the Montana legislature only meets once every two years and industry didn’t want to wait until 2017 to make changes.
Three-member, independent engineering panel members, who will be chosen by the company but must be approved by the state, have to sign off on tailings dam designs and will review the dams every five years.
While British Columbia already had some of the provisions that Montana has put in place — including a requirement for annual inspections — the province has not embedded tailings dam standards in law. Its regulation says only that dams must be designed by a professional engineer using Canadian Dam Association dam safety guidelines.
Bonnie Gestring, with the U.S. environmental group Earthworks, said she believes the industry-led changes were driven by a desire for companies to head off concerns raised by the Mount Polley disaster that might affect proposed Mondata copper-silver mines such as Montanore and Rock Creek. The underground mines in Montana would tunnel underneath the protected Cabinet Mountains Wilderness area.
While Gestring said the mining law changes are an improvement, she would have liked to have seen Montana embed a requirement to move away from storing mine waste behind earth-and-rock dams under water, to alternatives such as dry stacking where there is no dam.
The move away from storing mine waste under water was a key recommendation of the expert panel in B.C.
In an interview, B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett said the province is not sitting still while it gets ready to start its year-long code review, noting that proposed mines in the environmental assessment queue in B.C. have been told they must do a thorough review of alternatives to the traditional method of storing mine waste under water, including the use of dry stacking. Firms have also been told they will need independent review panels, which will become a legal requirement, said Bennett.
The code review group will include First Nation representatives, a first in a review of mining laws, he said. Industry and unions will also be part of the review, but environmental groups have not been invited. University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre instructor Mark Haddock said he is not opposed to a thoughtful and inclusive code review but noted there is nothing that prevents B.C. from acting quickly.
ghoekstra@vancouversun.com
Montana takes action on mine waste after B.C. dam failure
New laws spearheaded by industry after Mount Polley dam failure
By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun June 7, 2015
Two proposed mines under Cabinet Mountains Wilderness area in Montana, above, may have spurred new law on mine-waste storage.
Photograph by: Handout
The pollution caused by last summer’s dam failure at the Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley and the recommendations from an expert panel this January are having effects in the United States.
Six weeks ago, Montana changed its laws in response to the B.C. mine disaster, entrenching in statutes design standards for mine waste-storage facilities, qualifications for engineers and requirements for independent review panels.
The law changes were spearheaded by industry through the Montana Mining Association and sponsored by Republican state Senator Chas Vincent.
In B.C., the mining industry has been cautious in its response to the expert panel recommendations, which included the call for the independent review panels made up of senior geotechnical engineers. And while the B.C. Liberal government says changes are coming, it has said a review of provincial laws could take at least a year.
Montana Mining Association executive director Tammy Johnson said it wasn’t an easy decision to propose increased regulation but the changes were needed to ensure public confidence in mine dam safety.
Johnson said she believes the new laws are the most rigorous guidelines for mine-waste storage facilities, often call tailings ponds, in existence. “It’s not a guidance document, we made it hard and fast law,” she said.
Johnson said they acted quickly after the Mount Polley dam failure because the Montana legislature only meets once every two years and industry didn’t want to wait until 2017 to make changes.
Three-member, independent engineering panel members, who will be chosen by the company but must be approved by the state, have to sign off on tailings dam designs and will review the dams every five years.
While British Columbia already had some of the provisions that Montana has put in place — including a requirement for annual inspections — the province has not embedded tailings dam standards in law. Its regulation says only that dams must be designed by a professional engineer using Canadian Dam Association dam safety guidelines.
Bonnie Gestring, with the U.S. environmental group Earthworks, said she believes the industry-led changes were driven by a desire for companies to head off concerns raised by the Mount Polley disaster that might affect proposed Mondata copper-silver mines such as Montanore and Rock Creek. The underground mines in Montana would tunnel underneath the protected Cabinet Mountains Wilderness area.
While Gestring said the mining law changes are an improvement, she would have liked to have seen Montana embed a requirement to move away from storing mine waste behind earth-and-rock dams under water, to alternatives such as dry stacking where there is no dam.
The move away from storing mine waste under water was a key recommendation of the expert panel in B.C.
In an interview, B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett said the province is not sitting still while it gets ready to start its year-long code review, noting that proposed mines in the environmental assessment queue in B.C. have been told they must do a thorough review of alternatives to the traditional method of storing mine waste under water, including the use of dry stacking. Firms have also been told they will need independent review panels, which will become a legal requirement, said Bennett.
The code review group will include First Nation representatives, a first in a review of mining laws, he said. Industry and unions will also be part of the review, but environmental groups have not been invited. University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre instructor Mark Haddock said he is not opposed to a thoughtful and inclusive code review but noted there is nothing that prevents B.C. from acting quickly.
ghoekstra@vancouversun.com
http://www.alaskapublic.org/2015/06...on-habitat-potentially-affected-by-b-c-mines/
Report lists watersheds, salmon habitat potentially affected by B.C. mines
By Katarina Sostaric, KSTK - Wrangell | June 8, 2015
This map, found in the FNMEC report, shows potential contaminant flow paths from B.C. tailings dams into Southeast Alaska waters.
Thousands of miles of salmon habitat and more than 200 communities across Southeast Alaska and British Columbia could be affected if another mine disaster happens near the border. According to a report released this week by a B.C. First Nations group, 35 tailings ponds in the region are drawing more scrutiny after a mine dam collapsed last summer.
The report, titled “Uncertainty Upstream: Potential Threats from Tailings Facility Failures in Northern British Columbia,” http://www.fnemc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BCFNEMC-UncertaintyUpstream-June2015.pdf quantifies what could be at stake.
The B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council lists watersheds, communities and salmon habitat that could be affected by tailings facilities that are upstream from Southeast Alaska.
The tailings dam system for mine waste management is facing a lot of criticism after a dam at the Mount Polley Mine in central B.C. collapsed last summer. It spilled millions of gallons of waste into Canadian waterways.
B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council CEO Dave Porter said this report is a follow-up to an expert panel’s findings about the cause of last summer’s dam breach.
“Given the state of the regulatory legal framework governing the mining industry here in B.C., the panel said we can expect two more such failures in the next decade. Well, from our perspective, that’s unacceptable,” Porter said. “So we believe that it is the responsibility of government, industry and our communities to prepare for such an eventuality.”
His organization compiled this report as a resource tool to help communities understand what the potential risks are to nearby watersheds and fish populations.
According to the report, there are 35 tailings ponds from the Mount Polley mine up to the Yukon border. More than 200 communities in mainland B.C. could be affected by a failure. The study does not list towns in Southeast Alaska, but it does include rivers that flow into Alaskan waters.
Three tailings dams are upriver from Wrangell and Petersburg. Two tailings dams are in the Unuk River watershed, which ends near Ketchikan. There is a tailings dam that could eventually affect the Juneau area and one that could impact Haines and Skagway.
Southeast Alaskans worry B.C. mines could destroy salmon and other wildlife that many people depend on for subsistence and income.
The study finds 80 percent of king and sockeye salmon freshwater habitat in the region is either downstream of a tailings facility or would require migrating through a potential contaminant flow path. The same is true for about half of coho, chum and pink salmon habitat.
The report calls for some changes in B.C.’s approach to mining. The energy and mining council asks for more involvement of indigenous communities in the mine planning process and for more long-term economic benefits to settlements affected by mining. It also asks for an emphasis on protecting entire watersheds and to create a pool of money to help with clean-up in the event of a tailings dam failure.
Karina Briño is CEO of the Mining Association of British Columbia. She said laws are already in place to deal with almost all of those requests.
“I think what this recommendation is doing and what this report is doing is it’s enhancing the opportunity that we have, as an industry, to have those conversations at a more local level,” Briño said.
As B.C.’s mining boom continues, more mines with tailings ponds are planned for the region.
Report lists watersheds, salmon habitat potentially affected by B.C. mines
By Katarina Sostaric, KSTK - Wrangell | June 8, 2015
This map, found in the FNMEC report, shows potential contaminant flow paths from B.C. tailings dams into Southeast Alaska waters.
Thousands of miles of salmon habitat and more than 200 communities across Southeast Alaska and British Columbia could be affected if another mine disaster happens near the border. According to a report released this week by a B.C. First Nations group, 35 tailings ponds in the region are drawing more scrutiny after a mine dam collapsed last summer.
The report, titled “Uncertainty Upstream: Potential Threats from Tailings Facility Failures in Northern British Columbia,” http://www.fnemc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BCFNEMC-UncertaintyUpstream-June2015.pdf quantifies what could be at stake.
The B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council lists watersheds, communities and salmon habitat that could be affected by tailings facilities that are upstream from Southeast Alaska.
The tailings dam system for mine waste management is facing a lot of criticism after a dam at the Mount Polley Mine in central B.C. collapsed last summer. It spilled millions of gallons of waste into Canadian waterways.
B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council CEO Dave Porter said this report is a follow-up to an expert panel’s findings about the cause of last summer’s dam breach.
“Given the state of the regulatory legal framework governing the mining industry here in B.C., the panel said we can expect two more such failures in the next decade. Well, from our perspective, that’s unacceptable,” Porter said. “So we believe that it is the responsibility of government, industry and our communities to prepare for such an eventuality.”
His organization compiled this report as a resource tool to help communities understand what the potential risks are to nearby watersheds and fish populations.
According to the report, there are 35 tailings ponds from the Mount Polley mine up to the Yukon border. More than 200 communities in mainland B.C. could be affected by a failure. The study does not list towns in Southeast Alaska, but it does include rivers that flow into Alaskan waters.
Three tailings dams are upriver from Wrangell and Petersburg. Two tailings dams are in the Unuk River watershed, which ends near Ketchikan. There is a tailings dam that could eventually affect the Juneau area and one that could impact Haines and Skagway.
Southeast Alaskans worry B.C. mines could destroy salmon and other wildlife that many people depend on for subsistence and income.
The study finds 80 percent of king and sockeye salmon freshwater habitat in the region is either downstream of a tailings facility or would require migrating through a potential contaminant flow path. The same is true for about half of coho, chum and pink salmon habitat.
The report calls for some changes in B.C.’s approach to mining. The energy and mining council asks for more involvement of indigenous communities in the mine planning process and for more long-term economic benefits to settlements affected by mining. It also asks for an emphasis on protecting entire watersheds and to create a pool of money to help with clean-up in the event of a tailings dam failure.
Karina Briño is CEO of the Mining Association of British Columbia. She said laws are already in place to deal with almost all of those requests.
“I think what this recommendation is doing and what this report is doing is it’s enhancing the opportunity that we have, as an industry, to have those conversations at a more local level,” Briño said.
As B.C.’s mining boom continues, more mines with tailings ponds are planned for the region.