Strict global standards are needed to put an end to the deaths and environmental destruction caused by tailings dam failures, says a report by an international group of 142 scientists, communities and environment organizations.

There’s been intense scrutiny of the safety of tailings dams in the wake of liquid mine sludge pouring into lakes and waterways in B.C. from the 2014 Mount Polley tailings dam failure and the loss of 270 lives in Brazil after the 2019 dam collapse in Brumadinho. 

Although those catastrophes stunned the world, they should not come as a surprise because some mining companies sacrifice safety to cut costs, says the report co-written by MiningWatch Canada and Earthworks.

“There are 71 known cases of tailings failures (since 2010) that have led to 482 deaths and damaged over 2,100 kilometres of waterways. Across the world, communities in the shadow of large tailings dams live in a state of perpetual fear,” it says.

Mining tailings after dam collapse in Brumadinho, Brazil. Photo: Shutterstock

Thousands of tailings ponds around the world are failing more frequently and with more severe outcomes than in previous decades, the report says, outlining 16 recommendations for ways forward in safer mine operations. 

Tailings are the finely ground muddy or sandy slurry of water and mine waste after valuable metals or minerals have been extracted and processed — and often include substances used in processing, such as cyanide or petrochemicals, according to Earthworks. Generally, only between one and five per cent of what’s extracted from a mine is the desired mineral, meaning more than 95 per cent of material is leftover and has to be stored as tailings.

Typically, tailings are stored behind large dams that can reach hundreds of metres in height and are built progressively over many years out of the mine’s waste rock and sand.

The report says the most problematic of these structures is upstream dams. They’re built up gradually through the mine’s life, with additional, higher dams built ‘upstream’ of the last,  on top of settled tailings. They are the cheapest and most common type of dam but the unstable grounds they’re built upon put them at significant risk of failure, especially in areas prone to earthquakes or in wet climates. 

Centreline and downstream dams, which the report recommends instead, are gradually built higher, one dam layer over another, using crushed rock or fill, rather than built up and across the old layers of tailings, and are generally less susceptible to failures.

The report recommends banning the construction of upstream dams at new mines in favour of using the other more stable options, or storage methods that avoid large dams altogether, such as filtering the moisture from tailings to store them in enclosed dry piles, for example.. 

It also recommends banning new tailings dams built in close proximity to, and particularly upstream of, communities.

Three tailings dam construction options. Illustration: Kristina Thygesen / UN Environment Programme

B.C. can expect two dam failures every 10 years: Mount Polley panel report

Following the Mount Polley disaster — a centreline dam (not even the riskiest option) — a panel appointed to review the breach concluded that, should things carry on as usual with dam construction and oversight, two dam failures can be expected every 10 years in B.C.

“In the face of these prospects, the panel firmly rejects any notion that business as usual can continue,” the panel report concludes.

Despite increasing problems caused by tailings dams, there is no global inventory or complete registry of dam failures. MiningWatch and Earthworks, in their report, call for an independent international agency to collect this information, update tailings facility standards and investigate their failures.

The report emphasizes that consent for building tailings infrastructure must be obtained from affected communities, including Indigenous communities. 

Loretta Williams, of First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining, hopes it’s a recommendation Canada takes to heart.

“We’ve seen the disasters of Mount Polley Mine and other failures worldwide — now at an average of over 22 every decade — grossly impacting Indigenous communities, neighbouring communities and the land and watersheds they protect,” Williams said.

“The free, prior and informed consent of local communities is essential to improving the safety of mine tailings storage,” she said.

Updates to B.C. Mines Act, review of global practices in the works

One of the more controversial recommendations in the report is that mining companies be required to buy private insurance for dams, and boards of directors be held legally responsible for disasters.

“A culture of safety and responsibility must be upheld at the highest level within a corporation; this can only be achieved if the board of directors is held accountable for its actions (or lack thereof),” the report says.

“The board of directors must bear the prime responsibility for the safety of tailings facilities, including the consequences of dam failures, and demonstrate that the company has the necessary financial assurance to cover the full cost of closure and post-closure plans as well as public liability insurance to cover the full cost of any catastrophic failures.”

Several jurisdictions in Canada — including B.C., Yukon and Northwest Territories — have come under intense criticism for failing to ensure mining companies post sufficient funds up-front to pay for cleanup and remediation of mine sites.

Hazeltine Creek, once a small stream running through dense forest, is now an exposed, barren wasteland thanks to the flood of tailings waste that swept down its entirety from Polley Lake the Quesnel Lake. Photo: Louis Bockner / The Narwhal

Changes to B.C.’s  Mines Act, introduced this month, could create a new chief permitting officer position, responsible for setting conditions that allow a mine to open and operate, while the chief inspector of mines will be responsible for health safety and enforcement. Previously, the two roles were combined and sometimes seen to be at odds. 

If the legislation is passed, it will also strengthen investigations and mine audits to ensure mining regulations in B.C. are effective and aligned with global best practices, according to the Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources ministry.

But critics say the failure to hold mining companies accountable has not been addressed.

No charges have been laid against Imperial Metals Corp., owners of Mount Polley, following the catastrophic dam failure that spilled 24-million cubic metres of mine waste into Quesnel Lake and surrounding waterways.

B.C. touts itself as having some of the safest mine tailings standards in the world, but the B.C. Mining Law Reform Network argues this clearly isn’t the case. 

“It falls far short of these 16 guidelines for best practices. This tells us how far we are from truly ensuring safe mine waste storage in Canada and worldwide,” the network said in a statement.

B.C. First Nations should require full clean-up costs up-front for mines: new study

The MiningWatch/Earthworks report was deliberately released ahead of the Global Tailings Review, a project of the International Council on Mining and Metals, United Nations Environment Program and Principles for Responsible Investment, which will develop an international standard for tailings storage facilities.

The review is expected to be released shortly, but the findings are not expected to be binding and Ugo Lapointe, co-manager and Canada program coordinator of MiningWatch Canada, said there are concerns about enforcement.

Lapointe, in a letter to Bruno Oberle, chair of the review group, said clear, mandatory technical protocols are needed for the construction of tailings storage facilities, cost considerations cannot take precedence over safety and “global tailings standard development and implementation must be overseen by a transparent, independent international agency.” He continued that this agency must be capable of worldwide change, and be accountable to the public, including affected communities.

There is no way to make mining companies, and especially those with marginal financial positions, adhere to guidelines without enforcement, Lapointe told the Narwhal.

“Governments must act and legislate this. That’s how you get companies to comply. That’s how you get enforcement. If you leave companies to self-regulate with a voluntary standard, it is bound to fail at a global scale,” he said.

“For a global problem of this magnitude, you need a global response of similar magnitude.”

B.C. taxpayers on the hook for $1.2 billion in mine cleanup costs: chief inspector report

An example of how standards could be enforced internationally, Lapointe said, can be found in the aviation industry where, backed up with international commitments and a regulatory body by the 1950s, the rate of plane crashes plummeted.

“When a plane crashes today the International [Civil] Aviation Association sends a forensic investigation to wherever the plane crashed on the planet … and there will be a set of recommendations after the crash and everybody needs to comply,” he said.

In contrast, the response to tailings spills and cleanup requirements vary widely between countries and, as mines are often in remote areas, it sometimes falls to the mining companies to report smaller spills.

“There needs to be a hammer and those hammers need to be global in scope,” said Lapointe, who wants to see an independent study of the most effective governance models for miners.

Canada is one of the most important players when it comes to formulating international mining regulations as it is the home country of about 60 per cent of global mining companies, followed by Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S.

“Canada’s global industry is the mining industry,” Lapointe said. “It’s where we are most dominant.” 

Political will needed to put safety before cost in mining

MiningWatch has already approached energy and mines ministers from across Canada and will be following up with a push for all provinces and territories to upgrade legislation and regulations to the expected new standards, Lapointe said.

A move such as banning upstream dams is a major step and it will take courage for politicians to act, he said. Upstream dams are cheaper, but not worth the risk when alternative structures are much more stable, Lapointe said.

Regulations that require companies to take a safer, but more expensive, route and put up sufficient financial assurances before building do not make a jurisdiction less competitive, Lapointe said. Instead, appropriate legislation kills bad projects and keeps the good ones by setting the bar higher.

“If a company cannot afford to pay or a bank is not willing to give a bond to a particular company, it should be a red flag and the project should not go ahead,” he said.

Calls to the Mining Association of B.C. were not returned by publication time.

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Eight American senators have written to B.C. Premier John Horgan urging him to address downstream contamination from the province’s metal and coal mines.

The letter — an unprecedented joint undertaking from all senators from the four states bordering the province, including both Republicans and Democrats — outlines concerns about potential environmental and economic impacts from B.C. mines that pollute rivers flowing into the U.S.

“As you know, Alaska, Washington, Idaho and Montana have tremendous natural resources that need to be protected against impacts from B.C. hard rock and coal-mining activities near the headwaters of shared rivers, many of which support environmentally and economically significant salmon populations,” the senators wrote in the two-page letter, released Thursday.

They noted that Indigenous peoples — “whose lands are affected by past, present and proposed mines near transboundary rivers” — have also voiced concerns and have asked governments on both sides of the border to undertake cumulative assessments of the impacts B.C. mines have on communities as well as on cultural and natural resources.

“These transboundary watersheds support critical water supply, recreation opportunities and wildlife habitat that support many livelihoods in local communities,” the senators wrote to Horgan, saying they are concerned about the lack of oversight of Canadian mining projects near multiple transboundary rivers that originate in B.C.

The senators also referenced the need for binding international protections that would bring B.C.’s mining laws in line with laws in the U.S.

Jen Holmwood, Horgan’s deputy communications director and press secretary, said the premier was travelling back from Europe and had not seen the letter, which was received in his office Thursday morning. She referred questions from The Narwhal to B.C.’s ministry of energy, mines and petroleum resources.

Imperial Metals’ Red Chris mine tailings pond in northwest B.C. Photo: Garth Lenz / The Narwhal

‘The United States is not a settling pond’

The senators’ letter is the latest and most high-profile attempt from the U.S. to prod B.C. into cleaning up its mining act.

B.C. mines have been fouling rivers that flow into the U.S. for decades with contaminants such as acid rock drainage. Selenium from Teck Resources’ Elk Valley coal mines, which share a watershed with Idaho and Montana, has killed and deformed fish, threatening native trout and Kootenai River white sturgeon.

Teck’s five metallurgical coal mines are all upstream of the transboundary Koocanusa Reservoir. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

“The United States is not a settling pond for Teck Resources and the rest of Canada’s mining industry,” said former Kootenai River fishing guide Mike Rooney in a statement released Thursday by the three U.S. conservation groups — Salmon Beyond Borders, National Parks Conservation Association and Headwaters Montana — who sent the senators’ letter to media on both sides of the border.

Rooney urged Horgan and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to act “to protect our businesses, resources and citizens” by requesting intervention under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty.

“Anything less is not the solution this international problem deserves,” Rooney wrote.

The Boundary Waters Treaty aims to prevent and resolve disputes over the use of waters shared by Canada and the U.S.

Indigenous peoples have also asked the U.S. and Canadian governments to enforce the Boundary Waters Treaty.

The Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission commended the senators’ letter in a media statement, saying that Canada and the U.S. face “an international problem requiring international solutions.”

“The U.S. and B.C. must work vigilantly together to protect our lands and precious watersheds,” the commission said. The commission is comprised of 15 federally recognized Tribes of Southeast Alaska whose mission is to create a unified voice for Indigenous peoples across the international border who are facing impacts from development and industrialization.

Under the Boundary Waters Treaty, the U.S. and Canadian federal governments can bring disputes to the International Joint Commission, which has resolved more than 100 matters over the last century.

In their letter, the senators informed Horgan that the International Joint Commission did not convene in April for its usual meeting because it lacked a quorum. The senators noted that discussions about transboundary water issues generally occur at the commission’s annual meeting, regretting the “absence of engagement” this year.

Without the International Joint Commission, “mining companies have been partying like it’s 1909,” said Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission chair Rob Sanderson Jr., a vice-president on the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s executive council.

Last July, U.S. representatives on the commission accused Canadian commissioners of suppressing data on coal mining pollution flowing from B.C.’s Elk Valley into Montana.

A metallurgical coal mine, owned and operated by Teck Resources in B.C.’s Elk Valley. Photo: Jayce Hawkins / The Narwhal

Alaska has expressed concern for years about B.C. mines

Both the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission and the three conservation groups pointed to the Tulsequah Chief mine, which for more than six decades has been discharging acid mine drainage into the transboundary salmon-bearing Taku River, which drains into Taku Inlet near Juneau, Alaska.

The commission alleged that the mine has been violating the international treaty for decades.

“We seek permanent protections from future disaster,” the commission said.

B.C.’s mining industry has a troubled reputation within the province as well.

In May, more than 30 groups released a report aimed at updating B.C.’s ‘archaic’ mining laws, saying reforms are required to address the ticking time bomb of abandoned mines and to protect taxpayers from millions of dollars in liabilities.

In August, 2014, a tailings pond full of toxic copper and gold mining waste breached at the Mount Polley mine in the central B.C., spilling an estimated 25 billion litres of contaminated materials into Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake, a source of drinking water and major spawning grounds for sockeye salmon.

No charges or fines have been laid in response to the disaster.

Christine McLean of the Concerned Citizens of Quesnel Lake launched an appeal against the Mount Polley mine being given a permit to pipe effluent into Quesnel Lake after the Mount Polley disaster. Photo: Taylor Roades / The Narwhal

Alaska Republican senator Lisa Murkowski said in a media statement that the letter to Horgan follows multiple letters the Alaska delegation has sent over the past five years to the U.S. Department of State “expressing concerns about B.C. mining practices and potential downstream effects on U.S. resources and livelihoods.”

“This letter [to Horgan] shows solidarity from our states and calls for greater protections for our transboundary watersheds,” Murkowski wrote in a statement she posted Thursday on her website.

“Reforms that ensure mining projects in British Columbia don’t impact Southeast Alaska are essential to protecting our way of life, and must include a system of financial assurances to assure sustained protections of vulnerable natural resources,” she wrote.

Ketchikan, Alaska, which calls itself the “salmon capital of the world” is downstream of several B.C. mines. Photo: Garth Lenz / The Narwhal

Alaska Repulican Senator Dan Sullivan said he has been working with Canadian counterparts for several years — at local, provincial and federal levels — to raise awareness and concern about potential impacts posed by B.C. mining development to streams that flow across the border into Alaska’s southeast communities and waters.

“While we need to continue these discussions with our partners to the east, we also need to begin putting forward concrete steps that will ensure that all British Columbian mining projects have the level of oversight, monitoring, financial assurances and mitigation planning necessary to protect Alaska’s world-class fishery resources in [the] southeast,” Sullivan said in a joint statement with Murkowski.

U.S. taxpayers have spent millions restoring rivers and fisheries

The conservation groups also noted that B.C. government is considering a contentious proposal from Imperial Metals to mine the headwaters of the Skagit River, the most important salmon river in Seattle’s Puget Sound area.

“U.S. taxpayers have spent billions of dollars restoring these rivers and fisheries,” stated Salmon Beyond Borders director Jill Weitz. “It would be a tragedy to have that investment undone by B.C. mining contamination.”

Map showing the location of the ‘Doughnut Hole’ between Skagit Valley and Manning provincial parks. The Doughnut Hole lies within the headwaters of the Skagit River. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

The senators told Horgan they are concerned about the “lack of oversight” of Canadian mining projects near multiple transboundary rivers that originate in B.C. and flow into the four states they represent. They said they have partnered with federal and state governments to improve water quality monitoring and to push for “constructive engagement” with Canada.

“We hope to encourage you, in your role as Premier, to allocate similar attention, engagement and resources to collaborative management of our shared transboundary watershed,” the senators wrote.

Among other U.S. initiatives outlined by the senators are the establishment of an interagency working group in 2017 — by the State Department, the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency — to address concerns regarding B.C.’s mining activity in transboundary watersheds and “to determine the specific mechanisms necessary to safeguard U.S. economic interests and resources.”

Senators ask Horgan to engage directly on mining issue

The U.S. Congress has also allocated US $1.8 million to the Department of the Interior for stream gauges that will provide better monitoring and water quality data at the international boundary, “including detection of any impacts from upstream mining.”

Additionally, the senators note that in April 2018, the U.S. State Department presented concerns and opportunities for collaboration to Global Affairs Canada to forge a stronger decision-making process regarding mining impacts in shared transboundary watersheds, to address the “insufficient” scoping and evaluation of past, present and future mining impacts and to ensure the use of “objective, transparent” data collection and monitoring.

Congress has directed the U.S. government to increase its work with federal, state, tribal and local partners, including local elected officials, to monitor and reduce contaminants in transboundary watersheds, the senators told Horgan.

“We have both an opportunity and a responsibility to better manage our critical shared resources in a cooperative, constructive manner,” the senators wrote. In their letter, they also requested Horgan’s “direct engagement” on the issue and asked the premier to engage in dedicated efforts to monitor transboundary water quality.

The energy ministry told The Narwhal that B.C. is “committed to working closely with our transboundary neighbours to protect and enhance our shared environment and waterways.”

In an emailed statement, the ministry also noted that “Alaska is much involved in the assessment and permitting of existing and proposed mines in the transboundary watersheds,” such as the Red Chris, Brucejack and Red Mountain mines.

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As the three-year anniversary of the Mount Polley mine disaster approaches, so too does the deadline for the province to lay any charges against mine owner Imperial Metals.

Considered one of the worst environmental disasters in Canadian history, the failure of the Mount Polley tailings pond sent an estimated 25 million cubic metres of contaminated mine waste flooding into Quesnel Lake, a source of drinking water for local residents of Likely, B.C., on August 4, 2014.

“I would have expected something to have happened by now,” fisheries biologist and Likely resident Richard Holmes told DeSmog Canada. “I know they had a lot of information to sift through but it has been three years. I’m hopeful there will be some charges forthcoming.”

While the time limit for provincial charges runs out in August, federal charges, including for violations of the Fisheries Act, can be brought for another two years.

An investigation is ongoing by the Conservation Service Office, aided by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment and Climate Change Canada.  

Meanwhile, the B.C. government granted Mount Polley permission to drain the mine directly into Quesnel Lake, where the vast majority of the spilled mine waste remains to this day. The B.C. government also gave Imperial Metals the go-ahead to build the Red Chris Mine in northwestern B.C., with the same tailings technology used at Mount Polley — despite experts recommending otherwise.

“I think the mining company is ahead now,” Holmes said. “Everything seems to have fallen in their favour since this disaster. Before the disaster they were looking at building a water treatment facility. Now they have basically a large filter in place and they just release everything directly into the lake.”

“I’m sure they’re happy about that.”

Alberta Coal Mine Slapped with $4.5 Million Fine for 2013 Tailings Spill

The absence of fines for the Mount Polley disaster was highlighted by a recent $4.5 million penalty handed out to a coal mining company in Alberta for a 2013 spill that released an estimated 670 cubic metres of tailings into tributaries of the Athabasca River. That spill was nearly 40,000 times smaller than the Mount Polley disaster.

Last month, the company responsible for the spill, Prairie Mines and Royalty, pleaded guilty to two violations of the federal Fisheries Act as well as one violation of the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.

Over $1 million in federal fines were used to fund research for fish habitat and recovery while an additional $2.1 million was paid to the Environmental Damages Fund.

Provincially, the company paid $363,000 in fines toward a dam research project considering the safe storage of water at coal mines as well as $370,000 for an environmental education project for indigenous youth, the CBC reports.

Ugo Lapointe, Canadian program coordinator for MiningWatch Canada, said Mount Polley could still face similar repercussions in B.C.

“It took nearly four years to see those charges brought forward in the case of the coal spill,” Lapointe told DeSmog Canada. “So, technically, Mount Polley timing is still comparable.”

However, Lapointe added, a $4.5 million fine may not be enough to encourage large mining corporations to change the quality of mine management.

He added the maximum penalty for violating the federal fisheries act is $12 million, $6 million for causing harm to fish and fish habitat and $6 million for dumping deleterious substances without a permit.

MiningWatch brought a private prosecution against the Mount Polley Mining Corporation and the B.C. government for violations of the Fisheries Act last fall but the federal government asked the courts to stay the charges, a request that was made before MiningWatch was given the opportunity to present evidence. The case was dismissed this spring.

“The federal government is currently reviewing its Fisheries Act,” Lapointe said. “We think it is also time it reviews the fines and possible criminal charges for those responsible of polluting Canadian waterways and aquatic habitats.”

No Charges, No Fines For #MountPolley Mine Disaster as Three-Year Legal Deadline Approaches https://t.co/yk0H3yOBiC #bcpoli @jjhorgan

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) July 23, 2017

Underfunded Liability for B.C. Mines an Estimated $1.5 Billion

B.C. taxpayers bear the lion’s share of liability stemming from the province’s many mines.

A 2016 study conducted by economist Robyn Allan for the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs found financial assurance policies for mines are “woefully inadequate” leaving more than $1.5 billion in underfunded liability on the shoulders of everyday British Columbians.

The exact costs incurred by mines, for expenses like environmental disasters like Mount Polley as well as for reclamation of abandoned mines, is no longer made available to British Columbians, Allan found, stating the price tag could be even higher.

British Columbians were on the hook for an estimated $40 million in cleanup and reclamation costs for the Mount Polley mine spill.

There are more than 120 tailings dams in British Columbia and despite recommendations made to the B.C. government after the Mount Polley disaster, risky mine procedures, including the practice of storing mine waste in giant wet tailings ponds continues to this day.

Since the Mount Polley disaster three new mines have been approved with wet tailings impoundments, including the giant KSM mine in northwestern B.C. that was recently granted federal approval to construct a tailings dam in fish bearing waters.

At least 10 new mines are proposed or under construction along the B.C./Alaska border, leaving Alaskans concerned about the province’s poor record of mine management.

“There are examples all over the world of responsible mining and that should become law in B.C.” Holmes said.

“But I haven’t seen any of the laws change. They’ve had three years to change them and have had recommendations coming from the Mount Polley investigation panel,” he said.

“But nothing’s changed. If I was an Alaskan I would be really worried about B.C. mines.”

Holmes said he would be worried in particular about the Red Chris mine which is owned and operated by Imperial Metals, the company responsible for the Mount Polley mine, and which also uses wet tailings technology.

“I hope the new government in B.C. will address those concerns. We haven’t done a very good job of looking out for our neighbours.”

Image: The Mount Polley mine disaster, August 2014. Photo: Cariboo Regional District

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Thursday marks two years since the Mount Polley mine disaster in Likely, B.C. where a tailings pond collapse spilled 25 million cubic metres of mining waste, laced with contaminants like arsenic, lead and copper, into the once-pristine Quesnel Lake, a major salmon spawning ground and source of drinking water.

To mark the occasion, B.C. Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett issued a press release praising the government’s world-class mining standards, saying the province is now “at the forefront of global standards for the safety of [tailings storage facilities] at mines operating in this province.”

“We’ve taken a leadership position and have done all we can to ensure such a failure can never happen in B.C. again,” Bennett said.

B.C. Mining Still Far From ‘World-Class’

But experts and victims of the spill say the province has all but ignored the impacts of the spill, which to this day remains the largest mining disaster in Canadian history.

And rather than taking a precautionary approach to mining in the province, the government is doing everything it can to put British Columbians and Alaskans at risk of another Mount-Polley style disaster, according to Robyn Allan, economist and risk analysis expert.

“All the discussion about world-class and changes that are going to avoid these problems in the future is nothing more than rhetoric,” Allan told DeSmog Canada.

“It’s shocking to me that a disaster of this nature could take place and our regulatory bodies spend more time covering up what’s going on than ensuring a proper cleanup and remediation.”

Allan said government and industry have discussed small changes to mining rules but more is required to ensure British Columbians are protected from another Mount Polley.

“There is very good evidence that says we can expect two of these every decade,” Allan said, adding a recent investigation by B.C. Auditor General Carol Bellringer found serious, chronic and unresolved problems with mining regulations.

“Even under these facts the provincial government is doing nothing to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Allan said.

“We’re in a situation where we’ve seen what can happen and what will happen and nothing meaningful is being done to stop it but all the government rhetoric that is being used is providing a false sense of security for the public.”

“It’s not getting better. It’s worse than it’s ever been,” Allan said.

Government Painting Rosy Picture of Mining Regs

Jacinda Mack, member of the Xat’sull First Nation and coordinator of the First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining, echoes Allan’s sentiments.

“Right from the beginning Minister Bennett has tried to sweep this under the rug and minimize it,” Mack told DeSmog Canada.

“The province says they have the best [tailings pond] regulations in the world when really all they’ve done is come up to a minimum standard of where they should have been years ago.”

Mack said B.C., compared to other jurisdictions around the world, is way behind on mining regulations. For example, she said since Mount Polley there is now a requirement that a qualified person be responsible for managing tailings facilities.

“I would have assumed a qualified person was in charge of those dams,” Mack said.

“If meeting only the basic minimum requirements means they’re world class, that really shows how bad the situation is in B.C.”

Mack said she didn’t want the two-year anniversary of the Mount Polley disaster to pass marked by only a positive government press release.

“The rosy picture the province and mining industry have been painting, it’s really not the situation in the communities and we want to speak truth to power.”

Taxpayer Funds Subsidized Cleanup

In the wake of the Mount Polley disaster, the government was quick to assure British Columbians that Imperial Metals, owner and operator of the Mount Polley mine, would take responsibility for the cost of clean up.

The ministries of environment and mines assured the province “cost of the clean up of the breach is the responsibility of Imperial Metals, and is not a cost borne by B.C. taxpayers.”

This past June the province reiterated the claim that a robust a polluter-pays system is in place for mines: “The Environmental Management Act ensures that those that pollute are held responsible under a polluter pay principle so the taxpayer does not have to assume these clean up costs.”

But that talking point just doesn’t hold water, according to Allan, who recently reported in an op-ed in the Vancouver Sun that an Imperial Metals shareholder report shows B.C. taxpayers subsidized Mount Polley clean up to the tune of $23.6 million.

“On top of everything else we’re being misled about the polluter pay system that doesn’t exist,” Allan said.

“To layer onto an incredibly dangerous situation deliberate misinformation is reprehensible.”

Still No Government, Industry Accountability

Richard Holmes, fisheries biologist and resident of Likely, B.C. said despite what the government says in press releases, the clean up and response to the spill has been disappointing.

“I thought we would have been a lot further ahead of where we are by now.”

Part of the frustration of local residents, who live with the knowledge that the millions of cubic metres of spilled mining waste remains in Quesnel Lake, is the difficulty of dealing with a company that is first and foremost concerned about the bottom line, Holmes said.

“These companies don’t carry enough money to respond to these disasters,” he said. “And Imperial Metals is getting a ride on this whole breach because of the government.”

Holmes said despite the damage to the lives of local residents and business owners — some of who are pursuing litigation against the company — neither Imperial Metals nor the government have taken responsibility.

“There is no ownership of this disaster. Neither of them will say sorry,” he said. “That’s something that would go a long way to easing relationships in the community.”

“But with them it’s always the same: deny, deflect, defend.”

Holmes said despite multiple government reports and investigations no one has laid any blame or assigned responsibility. Yet, he said, there has been plenty of finger-pointing.

“Now Imperial Metals is suing the two engineering firms it contracted to manage the tailings pond. That suggests to me that the Mount Polley legal team recognizes now they may be in a little trouble so they’re trying to put the blame somewhere else.”

Quesnel Lake Remains Dumping Ground for Mine’s Waste

Christine McLean, member of Concerned Citizens of Quesnel Lake, said trying to hold the government accountable has been a “daunting task.”

No compensation has been paid out to local property owners like McLean or to affected businesses that have suffered a decline in customers since the spill.

“We’re really disappointed in how the government and the mine have moved forward,” McLean said, adding this summer the province granted Mount Polley a waste discharge permit that allows the company to resume full operations and release more mining waste into Quesnel Lake.

“As concerned citizens it’s bad enough that all that waste went into the lake,” McLean said. “Now it’s made so much worse by the fact that the government has given the mine the rubber stamp to directly dump their waste into the lake.”

“I don’t feel like anyone in our province is working for us,” she added. “They are working for the mine to make it as easy as possible to resume operations.”

McLean, who sits on the mine’s public liaison committee said she fears the discharge permits will create a new normal, where the lake is used as a perpetual dumping ground.

“These permits are like taxes: once they’re in they’re hard to get out.”

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No charges will be laid against the Mount Polley Mine Corporation, owned by Imperial Metals, for the collapse of a tailings impoundment on August 4, 2014, that sent an estimated 24 million cubic metres of mining waste into the pristine waters of Quesnel Lake.

The incident, considered one of the worst mining disasters in Canadian history, was simply the result of “poor practices,” according to B.C. chief inspector of mines, Al Hoffman, and not due to “non-compliances.”

Hoffman released the results of a yearlong investigation into the tailing pond’s failure Thursday and did not recommend charges be brought against the mine or its parent company.

The Mount Polley mine was operating within existing regulation, Hoffman found, but failed to use best available practices. Hoffman made 19 recommendations to the B.C. government and the mining industry to prevent a similar event from occurring in the future. The recommendations include introducing a “designated mine dam safety manager” to monitor tailings facilities as well as improving records management and transparency around design, construction and operation of mining facilities.

B.C.’s Ministry of Mines currently has no rule in place for levying administrative penalties against mining operators. Upon release of the report, B.C. Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett said he hopes to introduce new legislation this spring that will give his ministry the power to impose fines to encourage compliance.

Despite the promises for stronger mine management and future legislation, the current lack of consequences for the Mount Polley Mine Corporation and Imperial Metals has critics outraged.

“How can so many things be done so poorly, sloppily or haphazardly and result in massive damage without someone being ‘at fault?’” Ugo Lapoint, Canadian program manager with MiningWatch Canada, stated in a press release.

The catastrophic failure of the tailings impoundment, which sent contaminated waste into a major source of drinking water and spawning grounds for, at high times, up to 60 per cent of the province’s sockeye salmon stocks, was “not an ‘Act of God,’” Lapointe said.

“It was poor design, poor practices, poor oversight and misconducts on the part of Mount Polley Mine Corporation.” 

“It makes no sense. Either there were political reasons for the chief inspector to not lay charges against [Mount Polley], or the regulatory system is even more broken then we all thought. Either way, it’s not reassuring for any of the mines currently operating in B.C.,” Lapointe added.

MiningWatch Canada found that although the chief inspector did not lay charges, he made numerous incriminating statements in his recent report.

“It does not add up,” Lapointe said.

Richard Holmes, environmental biologist and resident of Likely, B.C., where the spill took place, said the report is a damning indictment of the province’s regulatory system.

“I think this reflects the weak regulations we have in B.C.,” he said

He added the lack of charges against the company does not come as a surprise.

“I didn’t think the chief inspector of mines would condemn his own ministers too much,” he said.

Holmes said the disaster is the outcome of “a bad combination of weak regulations, no oversight and a company that was hell bent on walking a very fine line in doing what was right and making a profit.”

The province’s push for more mines is troubling given the Mount Polley incident reflects poorly on the government’s ability to manage resources and watersheds, Holmes said.

There are currently 10 new mines planned for northwestern B.C., threatening transboundary watersheds flowing into Alaska. The proposed mines include the Red Chris Mine, owned by Imperial Metals, the same operator of Mount Polley.

“The Alaskans and others have every right to be concerned about transboundary rivers,” Holmes said. “Alaska has its own mining concerns that don’t need to be compounded by a weak B.C. regulatory system.”

Calvin Sandborn, legal director of the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria, said a previous B.C. report put together by a panel of experts found management failures contributed to the collapse of the tailings impoundment.

“We sure would like to see someone held to account for this incident,” Sandborn said.

“B.C. government officials have been telling us for years they have world-class laws, world–class standards when it comes to mining,” Sandborn said. In 2012, Premier Christy Clark told a Calgary audience B.C. has the “highest standard of sustainable mining in the world.”

“So do those laws really provide a remedy when you have one of the biggest mining disasters in the world?” Sandborn said. “The jury is still out on that.”

Sandborn said there are still two Mount Polley investigations pending — one conducted by the B.C. Conservation Office Service and another by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Sandborn said in January a panel of independent experts brought together by B.C. recommended the province eliminate the use of wet tailings impoundments altogether and opt for safer dry stacked tailings — a tailings management technique used in many other mining jurisdictions.

“Most importantly we need to look to the future and accept the recommendations of the government’s own experts and stop ignoring that advice,” he said.

After the Mount Polley incident it was revealed Murray Edwards, owner of Imperial Metals, raised $1 million at a private fundraiser for Clarks’ re-election. The Mount Polley Mining Corporation has donated $46,720 to the B.C. Liberals and mining giant Teck Resources has donated $1.7 million over the last nine years.

“You have to wonder if the B.C. government is constrained because they get so many political contributions from the mining industry, if that is a factor in their policy,” Sandborn said.

Image: Global News 

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B.C. and Alaska signed a pact Wednesday designed to give Alaskans more say on Canadian mine approvals in transboundary watersheds through a high-level joint working group.

The agreement follows an unprecedented outcry this summer from Alaskan fishing groups, U.S. politicians, aboriginal and environmental groups, worried about the effect on salmon bearing rivers of a surge of mine development in B.C.’s northwest corner.

Concerns about B.C. oversight and mining rules escalated after the Mount Polley tailings pond collapse in August that sent 24-million cubic metres of mine waste, water and silt rushing into nearby lakes and rivers. A subsequent investigation concluded the spill was largely due to an inadequately designed tailings pond.

The disaster underlined Alaskan fears that a similar incident or leaching of toxic chemicals in mines close to the border could wipe out salmon runs in rivers such as the Stikine, Unuk and Taku. Outrage intensified after the B.C. government gave the go-ahead last fall to the Red Chris mine, owned by Imperial Metals, the company that also owns Mount Polley.

There are currently 10 advanced mining projects planned for near the B.C.-Alaska border. Image: Salmon Beyond Borders.

The memorandum of understanding, signed by Premier Christy Clark and Alaska Governor Bill Walker “provides for greater involvement and collaboration on proposed mine development in either jurisdiction,” says a provincial news release.

The bilateral working group will develop a joint water quality monitoring program and create opportunities for government representatives and scientists to be involved in environmental assessments and permitting on both sides of the border.

The group, which will be overseen by Alaska Lt.-Gov. Byron Mallott and B.C. Energy Minister Bill Bennett, will also come up with a program to allow groups such as Alaskan Tribes and B.C. First Nations to provide input on transboundary developments.

“This MOU provides for more collaboration and cooperation to ensure the conservation and enhancement of our shared environment,” said Premier Clark.

Read DeSmog Canada's in-depth series on transboundary mining: Transboundary Tensions: B.C.'s New Gold Rush Stirs Controversy Downstream in Alaska

Bennett, who has made two visits to Alaska over the last year, told Canadian Press that the agreement signifies a willingness to work together and “be better neighbours in the future.”

However, the agreement has infuriated members of Salmon Beyond Borders, a coalition of sport and commercial fishermen, community leaders, business owner and Tribal and First Nations representatives who say the pact is worthless because it is non-binding.

“(It) offers no visible means of holding Canada or the mining companies accountable for mitigating our losses should accidents like the one at Mount Polley occur in the region,” said Dale Kelley, Alaska Trollers Association executive director.

Salmon Beyond Borders and many other Alaskans have been pushing for concerns about upstream mining to be referred through the Boundary Waters Treaty to the International Joint Commission.

“We are very disappointed that the Governor is apparently ignoring the near consensus here in Southeast Alaska in support of federal involvement and the IJC,” said Chris Zimmer of Rivers Without Borders.

The U.S. State Department would have to refer the matter to the IJC, but, so far, there has been little federal interest on either side of the border.

Alaskan groups are also disappointed that the agreement was signed with B.C. despite being asked during the last week for input on a draft statement on transboundary mining cooperation.

“It’s hard not to feel blindsided by this news," said Salmon Beyond Borders director Heather Hardcastle.

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Image: Brucejack mine via Pretium Resources

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Promises of a closer relationship between B.C. and Alaska and more consultation on B.C. mine applications are a good start, but, so far, Southeast Alaska has no more guarantees that those mines will not pollute salmon-bearing rivers than before this week’s visit by B.C.’s Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett, say Alaskan fishing and conservation groups.

Bennett, accompanied by senior civil servants from the ministries of Energy and Mines and Environment, took a conciliatory tone as he met with state officials, policy-makers and critics of what is seen as an aggressive push by B.C. to develop mines in the transboundary area, close to vitally important salmon rivers such as the Unuk, Taku and Stikine.

“I understand why people feel so strongly about protecting what they have,” Bennett said in a Juneau news conference with Alaska Lt. Governor Byron Mallott.

“There’s a way of life here that has tremendous value and the people here don’t want to lose it. I get that,” he said.

But promises of a strengthened dialogue and more opportunities to comment on mine applications fall far short of a growing chorus of Alaskan demands that the issue be referred to the International Joint Commission, formed under the Boundary Waters Treaty, which forbids either country from polluting transboundary waters.

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It was a step forward to have such a high-level meeting, said Chris Zimmer of Rivers Without Borders, but it is an international issue that demands international attention.

“Increased involvement in the B.C permitting process is not a bad thing, but it is not a solution on its own. In other words, we stand firm for the need of an international solution under the Boundary Waters Treaty,” Zimmer said.

Both sides agreed the status quo cannot continue, but the question is how to move forward, Zimmer said.

“How do we move from words to real, concrete action to protect Alaska’s interests?”

Bennett did not rule out the possibility of going to the International Joint Commission, but felt it was premature and the commission should be brought in only if the province and state could not work it out between themselves, said Heather Hardcastle of Salmon Beyond Borders, a coalition of fishing, tribal, tourism and community organizations.

There was also no agreement on the question of how Alaskans would be compensated if there was an upstream spill.

“We are saying we are taking on the lion’s share of the risk and we are not receiving the benefits and there is nothing in place right now, Minister Bennett told us, to deal with liability,” Hardcastle said at a news conference following a meeting with Bennett.

“That’s just unacceptable to us that there’s nothing to compensate us for the lack of our livelihood.”

Financial assurances that Alaskans would be compensated if B.C. mining damages fisheries and water quality are needed prior to projects receiving permits, Hardcastle said.

Dale Kelley, Alaska Trollers Association executive director, said the universal theme was how to ensure no harm befalls Alaska’s fisheries.

“It was quite disturbing to hear the minister say there really is no remedy,” she said.

Both federal governments need to be involved in compensation discussions as a spill would mean a disaster on a scale that could not be handled by the state and provincial governments, Kelley said.

During the visit, Bennett agreed that B.C. should fix leakage from the Tulsequah Chief Mine, that, through a tributary, flows into the Taku River.

Decades of failed promises to fix the leakage have been a thorn in the side of many Alaskans, even though it is not known whether the mine drainage is hurting fish.

After touring the Taku River by helicopter Monday, Bennett told reporters it should be fixed.

“I think B.C is going to have to find a way to rectify it sooner than later and I think it is a most legitimate criticism of us by those folks in Alaska who don’t like it,” he said.

The Tulsequah Chief, now owned by Chieftain Metals Corp, was closed by Cominco in 1957 without acid mine drainage cleanup or site reclamation and despite numerous B.C orders, subsequent owners failed to clean up the mess. The mine was bought by Chieftain in 2010 when the company accepted the environmental liabilities and installed an interim water treatment plant.

“It’s clearly a black eye for Canada,” Zimmer said.

Solutions now, if Chieftain does not reopen the mine and get a grip on the drainage problems, are for B.C. to close down the mine properly — something likely to cost multi-millions of dollars — or to spend $4-million a year to treat the waste in perpetuity, Zimmer said.

“We are looking for very specific action to back these words up.”

Photo: Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett. Credit: Province of British Columbia.

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No fish in the car, warned the rental car attendant at Juneau airport, with the weary tone of someone who had cleaned too many fish guts out of returned vehicles. It was a warning underlined by signs in hotels pleading with guests not to clean fish in the hotel bathrooms.

Fishing is in the DNA of Southeast Alaskans, not only as a sport and common way of filling the freezer, but also as a driver of the state economy. So it is not surprising that the perceived threat presented by a rush of mine applications on the B.C. side of the border has brought together diverse groups who want B.C. to give Alaska an equal seat at the decision-making table and to have the issue referred for review to the International Joint Commission.

“I can’t conceive of not being able to fish for salmon. The grief would be too much to fathom,” said Heather Hardcastle, co-owner of Taku River Reds who has been commercial fishing for most of her life.

“We share these waters and we share these fish. There has to be an international solution,” she said.

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Jill Weitz, Trout Unlimited outreach coordinator, wonders why Canadians are not taking the risk of pollution from the mines more seriously.

“This is one of the largest king salmon runs in Southeast Alaska. How is this not significant?” she asked, looking over the side of a boat into the waters of Taku Inlet.

It is a cruel joke that, for the second time in history, the richest minerals in the world have been found in the richest salmon habitat in the world, said Lindsey Bloom, as her gillnet dried in front of her Juneau home

Bloom was a commercial fisherman in Bristol Bay, Alaska, during a bitter fight against the proposed Pebble Mine, a project that is still wending its way through the courts, but which is unlikely to see the light of day in the face of widespread opposition and a report by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency saying the mine would threaten the $1.5-billion annual commercial fishery.

“This is an absolute parallel,” said Bloom.

It is similar because the upstream threat from up to a dozen mines, over a huge swathe of land, without any review of the cumulative impact, has brought people together in opposition, said Chris Zimmer of Rivers Without Borders.

“I have never seen Alaskans in the Southeast come together like this,” he said.

But the difference between Bristol Bay and the transboundary mines is that Alaskans are feeling powerless because all decisions are taken in B.C., although the rivers that support Southeast Alaska’s billion-dollar salmon industry flow from the B.C. headwaters into Alaska.

That is innately unfair, said Bloom, who hopes the international community will step in.

“In the past, the commercial fishermen overfished and we have had to evolve with a lot of policies that regulate how we fish, so it’s perfectly reasonable to ask the mining industry to stick to higher standards so there are not irreversible impacts,” she said, pointing to the aftereffects of the Mount Polley dam breach.

“They do what they have to do to get permits and then shit happens. It’s time for the mining industry to do it differently,” she said.

B.C. Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett is in Alaska this week responding to Alaskans’ criticisms of B.C.’s approval of new mines.  

Alaska’s policies have not been perfect, Zimmer conceded.

“But if these rivers flowed the other way, the question would be vastly different,” he said, imagining the outcry if there was a danger of Alaskan companies polluting the Fraser River or other iconic B.C. waterways.

The independent engineering panel report into the Mount Polley spill said business as usual could not continue in the B.C. mining industry and made recommendations ranging from using best practices and investigating more modern technologies for dealing with tailings to strengthening regulatory operations and improving dam safety guidelines.

The B.C government has said independent tailings dam review boards will be mandatory for operating mines and a review this summer of the Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines will determine how to implement the panel’s recommendations.

Commercial fisherman Pete Peterson with daughter Heather Hardcastle, Kirsten Shelton and father Jev Shelton, a former member of the Pacific Salmon Commission. Photo: Judith Lavoie.

But that is not sufficient for Len (Pete) Peterson and Jev Shelton, a former member of the Pacific Salmon Commission, who have been commercial fishermen for decades and who do not like Canada’s attitude to either fishing or mine development.

Both have watched the lack of Canadian action on acid mine drainage from the Tulsequah Chief mine (which Bennett is now saying should be fixed) and the images of mine tailings and contaminated water rushing into rivers and lakes from the Mount Polley dam breach and they worry what could come their way from the mines on the other side of the Coast Mountains.

“There are enormous dangers from the earthen tailings pond dams,” Peterson said.

“The Canadian system should be more like the U.S system. There’s no way under the U.S system that you’re going to have five mines permitted in the headwaters of important salmon streams and resources. ”

“There’s no such thing as a benign tailings pond,” agreed Shelton.

There is also the fear that, as has happened before, when mining companies get into financial trouble, they walk away leaving the mess, he said.

It is a concern underlined by an analysis of Seabridge  Gold’s Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell project by Earthworks and Salmon Beyond Borders, which concluded that the KSM economic feasibility analysis is based on unrealistic metals prices.

At Alaska Fly Fishing Goods, owner Brad Elfers mulls over the damage to Southeast Alaska’s billion-dollar fishing industry that would result from a spill or acid leakage.

“My business is taking the risk and there’s no upside for us,” Elfers said.

“B.C. is making the decision and they don’t have a particularly great track record to begin with. These mines are being fast-tracked. There’s not a great deal of due diligence.”

Fishing guide Matt Lubov has difficulty understanding why the B.C. government is willing to put such a valuable resource at risk.

“This could spell the end of the last true, wild frontier,” he said.

Main image: Taku Inlet looking towards Taku Glacier, which draws thousands of visitors every year. Credit: Judith Lavoie.

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Smooth lumps of translucent blue ice float alongside rock-encrusted icebergs that have broken from Shakes Glacier before drifting into the Stikine River.

There is little trace of the heavy hand of human disturbance as tourists on the jet boat scramble on to a small scrub island and gaze at the expanse of ice, snowy peaks and dark cliffs sweeping down to the wild Stikine, the fastest free-flowing river in the U.S.

“You don’t have to go far to find a place where no human has set foot on it before,” said James Leslie, who has been navigating the river since he was nine years old and drives the jet boat for his family’s company.

“It would be a shame if anything happened to it.”

Leslie grew up in the nearby community of Wrangell and, like many in the area, uses the river for fishing, access to moose hunting, work and recreation.

The “anything” that Leslie fears is a spill or accident at nearby mines on the Canadian side of the border.

About 10 mining applications in the mineral-rich border area are either undergoing or have completed environmental assessments and numerous others are in the exploration stage. Among projects on the books are Schaft Creek, an open pit mine proposed for a previously untouched area close to one of the Stikine’s major tributaries, and the Galore Creek mine planned for an area between the Stikine and Iskut rivers.[view:in_this_series=block_1]

“This river is 360 miles (579 kilometres) in length and only 35 miles (56 kilometres) is in the U.S. The rest is on the Canadian side and it is protected, but not to the same level as here,” Leslie explained to the boatload of tourists.

The area around the Stikine on the U.S. side of the border is part of the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness, which means no development.

“If there was any kind of mining accident it would be completely devastating and it seems there is nothing we can do about it,” Leslie said facing the tangled underbrush, overlooked by a tall tree used for moose-spotting. One could only guess what the damage to this area would be if an upstream mine suffered a Mount Polley-style tailings spill.

Alaskan tourism and fishing organizations and some politicians are pushing for more input into B.C.’s decision-making and assessments of mine proposals and want the transboundary mining issue referred to the International Joint Commission, the body designed to deal with water and air problems between the U.S. and Canada.

In small Alaskan communities, where there is a fierce independence and a history of mining, concerns about Canadian activities were slow to take root.

“But now people are getting worried because of the salmon and the tourists,” Leslie said.

Tourism is a billion-dollar industry for Southeast Alaska with seven million hectares, or almost three-quarters of the area, included in the Tongass National Forest.

On the B.C. side of the border, provincial parks are more fragmented with the Spatsizi Wilderness, Mount Edziza and Stikine River provincial parks adding up to about one million hectares.

One of the reasons why so much of Alaska has remained relatively pristine is the unique State Constitution, which spells out an expectation that natural resources should be developed in a responsible way, said Kyle Moselle, project manager for Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

“It presents a balancing act,” he said.

That translates into the state wanting to attract more mining activity, but always having to consider the public’s best interest, which means developing a mine can be a three- to 10-year process, Moselle said.

Only five mines are in operation in Alaska while in B.C., there are 10 large copper, gold and zinc mines and 10 coal mines.

Laurie Cooper, tourism relations director for Trout Unlimited, knows the wilderness is the major draw for Alaska tourists.

“I think it’s the mystique of Alaska. The big, wild landscapes and the big, wild animals. People want to see whales and bears and glaciers and, in order to see bears, you need fish. It’s the largest intact coastal rainforest in the world and that’s what draws people,” she said.

However, in an area where communities popped up around mining and logging, it has taken a shift in mindsets to make people realize the value of sustainability and now, with ongoing campaigns to raise awareness about Canadian mining, they are worried about the threat to tourism, Cooper said.

“No one wants to do sightseeing over a tailings flow. If it was tagged as somewhere that had an environmental disaster, people wouldn’t want to come here,” she said.

“We need to encourage our government to weigh in and do what they can to stop the impacts from upstream.”

It is not only those involved in wilderness tourism who are worried. In downtown Juneau, cruise ships loom over the city, sometimes doubling the population of 32,000. Cruising is big business, with an estimated 975,000 cruise ship passengers visiting Southeast Alaska last year, spending about $595-million.

As passengers stream off the ships looking for entertainment many head to the Mount Roberts Tramway and, inside the cable car, which zips up the mountain behind Juneau, John Perkins is playing his drum and regaling passengers with Tlingit stories and legends.

Canadian mining is not a topic that comes up frequently among the visitors, but for many like Perkins, who rely on the tourist industry, it is frequently on his mind.

“Of course I worry about it,” he said.

Image Credit: Summit Charters

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A powerful alliance of B.C. First Nations and Southeast Alaska natives has been forged in the aftermath of the Mount Polley dam collapse and tribes, who have not worked together for generations, are aiming to put the brakes on B.C.’s border mining boom.

Tears flowed after a May meeting in Vancouver when Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) president Grand Chief Stewart Phillip and vice-president Bob Chamberlin agreed to support the newly formed United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group in its bid for Alaskan — and particularly tribal — input into B.C.’s decision-making process on mines along the Southeast Alaska border.

“We are bringing together the tribes from both sides of the border and building a relationship. We can make more noise together than when we are separated by a border that has not been part of our tradition,” said Mike Hoyt, leader of the Teeyhittaan clan from the Stikine River.

It was a historic meeting that could be a catalyst for change, according to Phillip. [view:in_this_series=block_1]

“It was very significant, coming together with our brothers and sisters in Alaska. I think it was a long time coming,” he said.

The Transboundary Work Group, made up of federally recognized tribes, conservation groups, fishing advocates and community leaders, will collaborate with B.C. First Nations to let the provincial government, mining companies and investors know their concerns about mines being approved near the headwaters of Southeast Alaska’s most important salmon rivers, said Jennifer Hanlon, environmental specialist with the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

“We want them to know (the mines) are a concern for indigenous people. We’re talking about our salmon, our health and our lands. Hunting and fishing are still the backbone of our economy,” Hanlon said.

The group wants the issue sent to the International Joint Commission, the body designed to resolve U.S./Canada water and air disputes. The commission operates under the Boundary Waters Treaty that forbids either nation from polluting waters flowing across the boundary.

“Alaska needs a seat at the table when it comes to deciding whether mining projects in B.C., with the potential to pollute our waters, should go forward and, if they do, how these mines should deal with their waste, which has a high likelihood of flowing downstream into transboundary rivers,” says one of the group’s briefing notes.

Phillip said when the U.S. and Canadian groups got together there was a “robust discussion” about B.C.’s deregulation and lack of environmental oversight.

The Canadian contingent offered little comfort as they described federal and provincial legislative changes that Phillip believes have gutted the environmental assessment process and removed protections for the vast majority of lakes and rivers.

“Clearly the Harper government is squarely in the corner of big business, big corporations and big oil. They facilitate and fast-track major resource projects at the expense of the environment, wild salmon and marine life,” Phillip said.

However, there are differences of opinion among bands about the extent of mining that is acceptable in northwest B.C. and some First Nations have signed agreements with companies opening mines near the Alaska border.

Among the more controversial is a co-management agreement between the Tahltan Nation and Imperial Metals, owners of the Red Chris mine and Mount Polley. Tahltan decided to ratify the agreement even though only 12.9 per cent of members voted and elders had previously set up a blockade.

Differences of opinion are inevitable, Phillip said.

“If we were to wait for a unified front, the only ones to benefit would be the mining industry, corporations and government. It doesn’t happen anywhere in the world,” he said.

After the Mount Polley dam breach the B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council, like UBCIC, called for major mining and mineral exploration reforms and a larger role for First Nations in environmental assessment and permitting, dam monitoring and water testing.

The council also wants companies to put forward security bonds that represent the true cost of cleaning up a disaster.

“Performance bonds that are required to mitigate and monitor projects in perpetuity are insufficient in major breaches such as the Mount Polley disaster,” said council CEO Dave Porter.

“Mining companies that bring these projects forward should bear the financial burden of mitigation of these potential damages.”

A report on tailings facility failures, released by the council in June, pointed out that mining usually takes place on traditional lands and, if there are dam failures, First Nations are disproportionately affected.

“The principle of free, prior and informed consent must be applied in advance of mining operations, from exploration through all phases of development, including post-closure,” says the report.

Energy and Mines Ministry spokesman David Haslam said the report provides government and industry with a greater understanding of First Nations perspectives on mining and tailings storage and will help inform the upcoming review of the Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines.

Mines Minister Bill Bennett told the Globe and Mail that First Nations will have an equal seat at that table with industry and organized labour.

The review is part of  government’s response to the report from the expert panel looking into the Mount Polley dam collapse. The panel emphasized the need for change and said that business as usual was not an option.

For Alaskan natives, the bottom line is forcing companies to put in all the safeguards needed to avoid another Mount Polley-type disaster, even if that means no mines beside salmon-bearing rivers or their tributaries.

The relationship with the rivers runs deep, said 84-year-old Ethel Lund, who was born in Wrangell and remembers trading up and down the Stikine River with Canadian First Nations when the king salmon were running or when the eulachon — a small oily fish colloquially known as hooligans in Southeast Alaska — filled the river.

“The Stikine River is very precious to us,” Lund said.

“I worry about the mines and the pollution and I think about the tremendous impact it could have on our communities and waterways. There really is a need for communication between Canada and Alaska to try and work it out, because we are going to be most impacted,” she said.

However, it is not easy to make tribal voices heard, even in Alaska, Hanlon said.

“We have 13 tribes working together to try and protect our ancestral lands and we’ve not been consulted by the B.C. government or the mining companies or even the state of Alaska,” Hanlon said.

But some are optimistic the relationship with the Alaskan government will improve as Lt. Governor Byron Mallott, a member of the Tlingit Nation, becomes increasingly involved.

Mallott, who visited B.C. to see the Mount Polley spill firsthand and to meet with Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett, said in an interview with DeSmog Canada that he hopes to add tribal interests to the government-level task force.

Richard Peterson, president of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska, said the relationship with the tribes has been on a better footing since Mallott’s election late last year and he is optimistic that, with the help of Canadian First Nations, a game plan can be developed to protect the rivers and a way of life that dates back thousands of years.

“I think this is one of the most serious things we face right now,” Peterson said.

“I know we have an uphill battle, but, when we are arm-in-arm as indigenous people, we can do it.”

Image Credit: Rivers Without Borders

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Whether it was an act of God or the fault of negligent mine operators, the cause of Mount Polley mine spill — the worst mining disaster in Canadian history — remains officially undetermined, leaving local residents in a frustrated state of limbo.

One year ago this week the Mount Polley mine tailings impoundment collapsed, sending a catastrophic 24 million cubic metres of contaminated mining waste down the Hazeltine Creek and into Quesnel Lake, a local source of drinking water and in peak years can host up to 60 per cent of the province’s sockeye salmon run.

The province of B.C. says the Mount Polley Mining Corporation, owned by Imperial Metals, is still under investigation although some fear a January report that found glacial silt responsible for the instability of the collapsed tailings pond may take culpability away from the company.

Kanahus Manuel, a local indigenous activist and member of the Secwepemc First Nation, said the province’s decision to approve a partial re-opening of the Mount Polley mine last month signals to the media and the public that the company is without blame.

“The province giving the permit to Mount Polley was very irresponsible,” she said. “Mount Polley still under investigation and they haven’t cleaned up this disaster.”

Manuel doesn’t believe the reason for the tailings pond collapse was due to the presence of glacial silt.

“According to the people who worked here at the mine it was negligence. The dam wasn’t built properly and the company was not giving workers the proper material, the rock material, they needed to stabilize it.”

“That needs to be addressed,” she said. “They’re getting away with it."

Long-term Impacts of Mount Polley Spill Unknown

Manuel said she marked the one-year anniversary of the spill at a protest at the entrance to the mine with about 100 other individuals from as far away as Vancouver and Montreal.

“It’s very distressing to us as salmon people,” Manuel added, saying local fishermen attended the gathering to feed participants salmon.

“People still have these emotions about the disaster, not knowing what the cumulative impacts and the impacts on the salmon will be in years to come.”

Manuel said she is concerned about the movement of the mining waste through the food chain. “You’ve seen it, the sediment is pulverized into tiny particles. Those are the particles that are going into the food chain and will bioaccumulate in our bodies.”

Fine waste material from the tailings pond on the author's boots, August 11, 2014. Photo: Carol Linnitt.

Sam Albers, manager at the Max Blouw Quesnel River Research Centre, is studying the long-term impacts of the spill on aquatic species and said the effects of the spill will take time to show up in the data.

Albers said the spilled material contains heavy metals like copper and selenium but some of the metals are likely still bound up in rock material. The question is how effectively the metals are dissolving in the water and how that will affect fish over the long term.

"The big concern is that copper and salmon really don't mix all that well,” he said.

"Specifically, dissolved copper and salmon don't mix well. It can get into their olfactory system — so the fish equivalent of a nose — and really mess with their ability to utilize their ecosystem properly."

Albers explained the one-year anniversary of the spill is significant for scientists collecting data, because it allows for "more comparing apples to apples."

"We can now compare August sixth data from this year to August sixth data from last year. That will help us develop that longer-term time series which is critical to being able to comment on the impacts."

Sediment-laced water can be seen flowing into Quesnel Lake at the base of the rebuilt Hazeltine Creek. Photo: Farhan Umedaly.

Fisheries biologist and local resident Richard Holmes said he is also concerned about the impact of the spill on fish species.

“I think the impacts will be long-term but we just don’t know how severe they will be,” he said.

“Especially for the fishery resources, the biggest concern for Quesnel Lake is the sockeye salmon.”

No Disaster Relief for Victims of Spill

Holmes said he is glad attention is being paid to the environmental impacts of the spill although he said he is “disappointed” the company and the province were so eager to get the mine up and running again. The Ministry of Environment approved a permit for the mine to partially restart operations in June.

Holmes said the mine and the province acted “like they’d just won the lottery.”

“I was insulted, actually.”

“They’ve forgotten completely about the social impacts and the cultural and economic impacts on the people in the community,” he said.

He added that a recent flood in Cache Creek has received much more immediate attention from the province which stepped in with disaster relief funds for the community.

“That has never been offered here,” he said.

The province did provide $50,000 to the Likely Chamber of Commerce after the spill occurred but Holmes said that amount was inadequate. “That works out to $143 per person for a year of dealing with this disaster.”

Richard Holmes near his home in Likely, B.C. Photo: Carol Linnitt

He said because the investigation into the Mount Polley spill is still ongoing, the community is struggling to stay afloat without compensation.

“The government can’t have it both ways. Either there is somebody to blame who must pay. Or if nobody is to blame then the government needs to step in,” he said.

Local eco-tourism operator Gary Zorn also expressed frustration at the lack of compensation for Likely residents and business owners.

“What’s the difference between here and what happened here and in Cache Creek?” Zorn said.

“Cache Creek has a huge disaster, a natural disaster, and the government rushes there and gives everybody there up to $300,000 and here we have a massive mining disaster and the government gives them a start up permit.”

Zorn and his wife Peggy said their eco-tourism business, which offers grizzly-watching adventures, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars the day the Mount Polley disaster occurred.

“How come the government doesn’t say, ‘hey you guys, you created some real issues here, there’s some businesses you really did dirt to, you really hurt them. You straighten that mess out too.’”

“Or is the government to blame too?" Zorn said. "I mean, what’s going on here. How do you keep passing the buck and promising lies and lies and lies?”

“Who Will Pay the Bill?”

The province is currently conducting two investigations into the Mount Polley mine spill through the Conservation Officer Service and the Chief Inspector of Mines.

“We will ensure that those responsible are held accountable,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment said.

Ugo Lapointe, Canada program coordinator for MiningWatch Canada, said it doesn’t make sense to restart the mine with two investigations pending.

“The ongoing investigations could lead to serious civil and criminal charges against Imperial Metals or its contractors, which in turn could lead to severe or very costly sanctions or litigations,” Lapointe said. “This critical information should be made publicly available before even thinking of reopening the mine.”

In a video released by the province to mark the one-year anniversary of the spill, Steve Rothman, senior inspector of mines from the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said, “the province would like to see the mine back in operation and in a safe and environmentally-conscious program that takes all the workers back to work and helps support the community.” 

But Lapointe echoes the concerns of the community: “Again we seem to be repeating the same mistakes as before by prioritizing the company’s economic interests over safety and the environment. This is really about getting Imperial Metals back to profitability.”

“We are very concerned of the lack of detailed assessments of the costs and damages caused so far by this massive failure onto the local environment, communities, and businesses, as well as onto First Nations’ right and livelihoods in the area,” Lapointe said.

“Who will ultimately compensate and pay the bill for all of those damages? The persistent blanket of silence on this issue is very worrisome.”

Image Credit: The reconstructed base of the Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake. Photo: Farhan Umedaly.

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