The Soda Creek First Nation, traditionally called the Xatśūll First Nation, is going to tap into band savings for a community centre to pay for independent scientists to study the local environment in the wake of the Mount Polley mine spill that sent billions of litres of mining waste in Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake.

Bev Sellars, chief of the Soda Creek said ever since the spill occurred it has been difficult to find reliable sources of information.

“The reports coming out from mining and the government say everything is fine, but we don’t really believe that,” she said in an interview in Vancouver. “A disaster such as this – there are going to be long term effects.”

Major concerns for her nation have to do with the long-term effects of the spill on Quesnel Lake, which is in the traditional territory of the Soda Creek First Nation and the Williams Lake Indian Band.

“I don’t think anybody really knows how [Quesnel Lake] has been affected,” she said.

“I’m not a scientist but I know that it’s going to be drastically affected in some way, but how, I don’t know,” she added.

Last week a local drinking water ban was lifted for all affected water, excluding Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek and where the Hazeltine meets Quesnel Lake.

Although the water ban has been mostly lifted, there are no clear plans for cleanup of the spill site yet.

And there won’t be, until Imperial Metals has completed a partial draining of Polly Lake into Hazeltine Creek, Sellars said.

At this stage, no involved party can claim the science is settled until the spill is, Sellars said.

“We were told when we met with Imperial Metals, I think it was four days after the spill, they hadn’t even started to [clean up] yet, that it would take three weeks to stop the spill before they could go and even start doing an investigation,” she said.

“It’s still spilling out.”

Sellars said word of the spill came as a shock to her community, who are still coming to terms with the news.

“We had a community meeting over at the Williams Lake Indian Band and the tears and the heartache, just people crying, worried about the spill and what that is going to do to the salmon,” she said.

“The Quesnel Lake area is an area where we go and find certain medicines and plants that we can’t find in other parts of our territory. That’s a real worry and concern.”

Sellars said she feels the provincial government has been too hasty in it’s assessment of drinking water and fish impacts.

“I think there they are too quick to say everything is fine. That it’s benign,” she said.

Bill Bennett, minister of mines for B.C., recently likened the spill to an avalanche, which happen frequently across the province every year, he said. Locals took offense to the comparison, saying it downplays the environmental damage and potential long-term consequences of the spill, which are yet to be seen.

Sellars said it’s true that avalanches occur across B.C., “but avalanches don’t have toxic material following right behind it,” she said. “Avalanches have natural materials, so there’s a big difference there.”

Sellars said a priority for her community now is to ensure they have access to independent information.

Her community has brought in a scientist who previously worked on the Exxon Valdez spill, a geochemist that worked at the Mount Polley mine and engineer Brian Olding, who wrote a technical report in 2011 warning the B.C. Ministry of Environment about the Mount Polley tailings pond.

These independent experts are warning the Soda Creek First Nation about the veracity of government and industry claims, Sellars said.

“They’re telling us that what Mount Polley and the governments are saying is absolutely not true,” she said. “So we have hired them to get our own answers and make sure that we get the answers. If they tell us everything is fine, then we’ll accept that.”

“But we’re not accepting Mount Polley or the government’s tests right now,” she said, adding there is an underlying element of mistrust.

“Definitely a lack of trust” she said. “Definitely.”

“I think it’s way too soon for anyone to say that there really are no consequences,” Sellars said, saying they’re expecting one of the largest salmon runs in years to begin next month. The salmon will have to swim directly through Quesnel Lake, which is home to 25 per cent of the province’s sockeye salmon, where the contents of the spill still linger.

Sellars said the impact of the spill is far from over.

“This is huge and it’s going to affect us for years to come. I just can’t understand how they can make statements like that,” she said, referring to the provincial government’s claim that drinking water is safe for consumption.

Sellars said the only way her community can move forward is if they can rely on the information they are given by experts.

“My community, we’ve been saving for a community hall for years,” she said. “We’re almost at the point where we can go to the bank and say we have this money and we want to build a community hall.”

“But we’ve taken money out of our own community hall money to hire our own experts because this has to be done. So that’s what we’re doing now – getting independent scientific analysis of the situation.”

This article is part of a joint-venture between DeSmog Canada and the Vancouver Observer.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

There were audible scoffs from the crowd Tuesday as Cariboo MLAs told residents in Likely, B.C. that the drinking water ban has been lifted for areas near the Mount Polley mine where a tailings pond breached Monday, August 4th sending billions of litres of mining wastewater and solid materials into Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake.

The drinking ban remains in effect for Mount Polley, Hazeltine Creek and an area 100 metres immediately surrounding the visible sediment plume at the mouth of the Hazeltine Creek where debris and sludge from the spill poured into Quesnel Lake, the primary source of drinking water for local residents.

At a small community press conference on the edge of the Quesnel River in Likely, B.C. Donna Barnett, MLA for the Cariboo-Chilcotin and parliamentary secretary for forests, lands and natural resource operations for rural developments, said, “this is a good news story.”

Residents have been dealing with uncertainty since last week, she said. “Well, finally we can give you some certainty.”

The announcement follows the release of a Ministry of Environment water test that found water from Polley Lake to be near “historical levels” taken prior to the tailings breach.

A press release on the Interior Health website states “Interior Health has no reason to believe that this water was ever exposed to unsafe levels of contaminants from the mine breach.”

Coralee Oakes, minister of community, sport and cultural development for the Cariboo region, told a small crowd that had gathered, “The results have come back from…our chief medical office for this region who is independent of government [and] has come forward…to announce that we will be removing the drinking water, recreation and fishing ban.”

A small crowd gathered on the banks of the Quesnel River in Likely, B.C. August 12 to hear the water ban for the area was mostly rescinded. Photo by Carol Linnitt.

Yet locals have expressed significant concern over water quality issues, even after the drinking water ban was partially lifted Sunday.

A journalist in the crowd, Christopher Donville from Bloomberg, remarked that it is generally accepted that tailings are better off in a tailings pond, and yet billions of gallons of tailings have spilled into the local environment seemingly without any negative effects. He looked to Minister Oakes for comment, but his remark was met with a chorus of other voices.

“Isn’t that wonderful?” Skeed Borkowski, the owner of a local fly fishing lodge, sarcastically remarked.

“What about testing the water column?” another woman chimed in.

Local resident and former Mount Polley mine employee Doug Watt asked for more information on the suspended solids causing a murky cloud in Quesnel Lake near his home.

Minister Oakes defended the water study results to the crowd, saying the experts who provided the information are “independent” and “reviewed all the data at a professional standard.”

Oakes said the Cariboo Regional District will continue to provide drinking water to residents and will keep the temporary shower facilities in operation.

When asked if the test results will change their interaction with the water, couple Doug and Marlene Watt, were split.

Doug, a former metallurgist and shift supervisor at Mount Polley mine, said he will drink the water after it’s been filtered. His wife said she “isn’t ready yet” to drink the water.

“Again we apologize to folks who were looking for information and couldn’t find it,” Oakes said.

In the early evening representatives from the Ministry of Environment came by to drop off information packets to locals at their homes and businesses. Avtar Sundher, head of government and compliance with the environmental management section of the Ministry of Environment pointed out the regions still under a drinking water ban on a map.

“All these hash areas are still affected,” he said, pointing to Polley Lake and Hazeltine Creek.

A map provided by the Ministry of Environment shows the areas still under a water use ban, including the 100-metre area in yellow and red surrounding the debris field at the mouth of Hazeltine Creek.

The information package states “the tailings liquid released from the impoundment moved very quickly through the system and was diluted greatly by the water in the lake, the Quesnel River and ultimately the Fraser River.”

“Generally, bio-accumulation of contaminants in fish occurs over a longer exposure than a few days,” the bulletin stated.

“We understand what a spectacular area it is that we live in and we understand how important it is that people come and visit and that tourism operators have every opportunity to showcase the pristine beauty that we have. And that young families know that this is a great, safe place to come and raise your families,” Oakes said to the crowd.

“Now it’s our job to make sure we get the story out that the Cariboo, that Likely, is open for business.”

This article is published as a part of a joint-venture between the Vancouver Observer and DeSmog Canada.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.