"I’m surprised that nobody has been killed here since the spill.”

That’s what one resident of Likely, B.C., recently told me at her home near Quesnel Lake, the site of the Mount Polley mine disaster that sent 24 million cubic metres of mining waste into the lake last August.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity she said she was warned by another community member about discussing the Mount Polley mine spill with journalists.

“Be careful, they said to me. Be careful.”

She said another woman, who lives up the road, received three separate threatening phone calls after speaking with a television crew in the wake of the spill.

“One person told her she should mind her own goddam business.”

“A small place like this is very cliquey and I don’t need that in my life.”

“That’s how bad things have gotten here.”

In the months since the spill, considered one of the worst mining accident’s in Canada’s history, residents of Likely have found themselves on one side or the other of a strong dividing line.

Sulphur pile at the Mount Polley mine. Photo: Carol Linnitt

Those eager to have the mine, a major source of local employment, up and running again are squaring off against those who say not enough is being done to understand the long-term impacts of the disaster and how another might be prevented in the future.

Imperial Metals, owner of the Mount Polley Mine, is requesting a permit to reopen the mine. According to B.C. Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett, the permit could be approved as early as the end of June.

Resident Ingrid Ritson, who lives along the Quesnel River, said the mine’s misfortune has torn the small town apart.

“I think that’s what’s driving some people away — the community’s not pulling together. There’s the company people and then there are the people who are like, ‘what the hell, what are you guys doing here?’” Ritson said.

“It’s very frustrating. The most frustration comes with realizing the government’s not backing anyone. They’re just trying to cover themselves,” she added.

“You expect some kind of direction but I think they’re just as dumbfounded as the rest of us. It was like turning the keys of your really high powered car to your 15-year old son and saying, ‘have fun.’ ”

“They just turned over all this responsibility and now we have this spectacular car wreck.”

Several locals said they are frustrated with the way officials from the Mount Polley mine are engaging the community. What were initially town hall-style meetings have been replaced with kiosk-style meetings, where locals can only speak one-on-one with representatives from the mine at separate stations.

Kanahus Manuel, an indigenous activist and member of the Secwepemc First Nation, told DeSmog Canada the meetings resemble a “science fair.”

“People go from stand to stand to talk to members from the government and the mine,” she said.

Manuel added the meetings have become “intense” and described one situation where residents refused to participate. “[They] put out the chairs and said ‘no’ we’re having a discussion with everyone about everything.”

“People are so angry and mad and they don’t trust anyone,” she said.

Denise Carlson at her home in Likely, B.C. Photo: Carol Linnitt

Long-time Likely resident Denise Carlson said she began noticing a change in the way meetings were conducted in November. Carlson attributes the change to Lyn Anglin, brought in by Imperial Metals after the spill to engage the community as a Chief Scientific Officer.

According to Carlson, Anglin initiated the change in the meeting structure.

“It has really frustrated people,” Carlson said, adding community tensions were running so high at one point the mine requested RCMP officers attend the meetings.

Anglin did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. Steve Robertson, vice president of corporate affairs for Imperial Metals and the Mount Polley Mine also declined to be interviewed.

Peggy and Gary Zorn, local wildlife guides that own Ecotours B.C., said they stopped attending the meetings altogether after the changes were initiated.

Peggy said Mount Polley stopped holding the meetings at the town hall and moved them to the bar in the town lodge.

“Why are we having the meetings in a bar? We have a town hall for that,” she said.

“The businesses are suffering quite a bit here in Likely because of the damage the breach has done,” Gary said. “It’s not so much what the breach did environmentally to us, it’s what it did socially.”

Gary said he’s concerned the mine is seeking a permit to reopen operations when it hasn’t fully dealt with the negative effects the spill has had on the community.

“Should these people be given a start up licence when they’ve totally avoided dealing with the social impacts of the disaster they created?” he said. “They haven’t done anything for anyone or any business in Likely except for create a mess and dodge a bullet.”

“There’s still an awful lot of questions and we need answers. I’m not sure they can provide answers. Something like this has never happened before,” Peggy said.

“It’s really disturbing to the community here.”

Craig Ritson at his home on the Quesnel River in Likely, B.C. Photo: Carol Linnitt

Ingrid’s husband, Craig Ritson, said the community is frustrated Imperial Metals wants to reopen the mine without significant changes to its operations.

The mine’s use of out-dated wet tailings technology, which involves storing massive quantities of water and mining waste in large pits, put the community at risk, Ritson said. And now the company is opening another mine, the Red Chris Mine in northern B.C., which uses the same wet tailings process. The company chose not to employ a dry tailings process that would eliminate the need for large water-filled tailings ponds.

“They were gambling with our future,” he said.  “And now they’re doing it at Red Chris.”

“I don’t know about you but when I raised my children I said: ‘A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others,’ ” he said. “They don’t seem to be learning from anything here.”

“I’m not just talking about the mine. I’m talking about the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Mines. None of them have learned.”

“How many times can you gamble with something and not change the system before the whole thing breaks down?”

Image Credit: The Quesnel River. Residents say the river has a milky glow at times since the Mount Polley Mine spill occurred. Photo: Carol Linnitt 

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It has been 10 days since the tailings pond holding billions of litres of mining waste breached at the Mount Polley mine near Likely, B.C. sending arsenic and mercury-laced water and slurry into the Hazeltine Creek which feeds Quesnel Lake, a major source of drinking water and home to one quarter of the province’s sockeye salmon.

Yet local residents still have no idea when clean up of the spill site might begin.

On a recent trip to the spill site, DeSmog Canada learned no cleanup crews are currently working on removing the tremendous amount of mining waste clogging up what used to be the Hazeltine Creek and spreading out into Quesnel Lake.

David Karn, media relations with the ministry of environment, was unable to provide information or comment on an expected cleanup date or who would be performing the cleanup, industry or government.

Imperial Metals, also reached out to for comment, was unable to respond by the time of publication.

On Tuesday, August 12, representatives from the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) announced a local drinking water ban placed on Quesnel Lake and the Quesnel River would be lifted after sampling showed the water was safe for consumption.

A water use ban remains in effect for 100 metres surrounding the debris field at the convergence of the Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake.

Coralee Oakes, local MLA and minister of community, sport and development told DeSmog Canada that regular water testing will continue and that sample results will be made available online. The CRD will continue to supply residents and tourists with free drinking water and temporary showers at a forestry camp.

But community members have expressed concern over the remnants of the spill, which sit leaching into the lake, and a large cloudy plume of suspended solids in the water, visible from the air.

Richard Holmes, fisheries biologist with Cariboo Envirotech and local resident for 38 years, said sophisticated equipment is needed to survey the extent of the spill underwater.

“We’re talking with industry about getting some underwater cameras in there,” he said.

Holmes is working with the Soda Creek First Nation to ensure First Nations are involved in cleanup efforts, once they begin.

In the meantime, locals are left to speculate about lingering contaminants in their water.

Despite the recently-lifted drinking water ban, many residents admitted they will not drink the water.

Freshwater expert and biogeochemist Dr. David Schindler said random, localized sampling of contaminated water “may not detect the damage done.”

“I understand that considerable arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead and copper were among the elements released,” he said. “All are extremely toxic.”

Schindler said he suspects the biggest long-term threat lies in areas where sediment from the spill overlaps with spawning and rearing habitat for fish.

“In the St. Lawrence River, most of the contamination of fish with mercury occurs at a few sites where contaminated sediment is deposited and [which] fish also use for feeding or nursery habitat,” he said.

But detailed knowledge of spill sites is usually scant, he said. “Unfortunately, there is not this basic sort of information available for most sites and the sampling done after an accident is more or less random.”

“Our monitoring of habitats around all industrial sites in important aquatic systems in this country is in serious need of upgrading,” he said. “Without background information on fish populations, habitats and toxic concentrations, it is almost impossible to determine how much damage is done.”

“Sometimes it is hard to believe that the lack of pre-accident information is not deliberate,” he said.

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

Image Credit: Carol Linnitt

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.

It’s Monday, August 11th, and both my gumboots are dangerously sinking into the muck I’m trying to cross.

I took far too bold a step towards a sturdy log ahead as I’m trying to cross a sludge river left behind in the wake of the Mount Polly mine tailings pond breach.

Now I’m balanced precariously, one boot in front, one behind, and trying not to topple into the muck beneath that could contain high levels of arsenic, mercury, zinc, lead and selenium – all toxins and heavy metals stored in the breached tailings pond fed by the Imperial Metals gold and copper mine near Likely B.C.

It has been one week since the waste pond wall breached, sending an estimated 10 million cubic metres (or 10 billion litres) of waste water and 4.5 million cubic metres of sandy sludge into the Hazeltine Creek that feeds Quesnel Lake. (For comparison, the Kalamazoo oil spill in Michigan totaled an estimated 3.3 million litres).

A field of debris and dried sediment from the Imperial Metals tailings pond can be seen pouring out of what once was Hazeltine Creek into Quesnel Lake. Photo by Farhan Umedaly, Vovo Productions. 

It’s at the convergence of the Hazeltine and Quesnel Lake that I now find myself, arms outstretched to maintain my balance, and sinking.

I finally manage to rock myself back far enough to regain balance on my back foot. I gently maneuver my front foot back and forth to relieve the suction around my boot. If I topple over I will plunge my bare hand into the sludge which, at this stage, contains an unknown mixture of chemical compounds known to cause cancer and birth defects. I didn’t know this until later, but even short-term exposure to selenium can cause respiratory problems like pulmonary edema or bronchial pneumonia.

A mud boulder sits in the deep sludge from the Mount Polley mine tailings pond. Photo by Carol Linnitt.

Like everyone else around here, I have imperfect knowledge of just what health effects to fear in the wake of the spill.

Maybe I should have worn that damn mask.

But that might have rubbed my guide, local carpenter Tate Patton, the wrong way.

Tate Patton, resident of Likely, B.C. lives on the shore of Lake Quesnel. Photo by Carol Linnitt.

Like a lot of local residents, Patton doesn’t like to play up the ‘disaster porn’ aspect of the accident. Having an out-of-towner tromping around in the wreckage taking selfies with a garish facemask is exactly what most residents are looking to avoid.

Despite the anger aroused by the incident at the Mount Polley tailings facility, a lot of folks in the community around Likely B.C. want to focus on recovery, rather than regret.

What was once the Hazeltine Creek is now a contaminated field of sludge and debris. Photo by Carol Linnitt.

There was no chance of traversing the deep muck, I realized, not without waders.

I manage to back track successfully to more solid ground. I survey my surroundings for another route closer to what remains of Hazeltine Creek. No dice.

Soft silty mud from the spill. Photo by Carol Linnitt.

The spill caused a massive mudslide down the once humble creek bed, expanding its width from a mere six feet, to an incredible 150 metres.

As the material from the tailings pond flooded down the creek it tore at the surrounding forest, stripping the bank of trees, boulders and vegetation. The debris field at the mouth of the Hazeltine Creek stretches for more than a kilometer across.

A portion of the debris field shows the massive amounts of trees pulled down by the flood of tailings pond water and waste. Photo by Farhan Umedaly, Vovo Productions.

Ropes slung to the shore are used to contain the stacks of limbless trees, stripped of their branches and bark from their violent tumble down the creek.

Ropes secured to the shore contain the debris field in Quesnel Lake. Photo by Carol Linnitt.

The mixture of sediment, fine sand, chemicals and heavy metals that collects at the bottom of tailings ponds is known as “slurry.” According to Gerald MacBurney, a former tailings foreman at the Mount Polley mine, the water from the tailings pond is less of an environmental concern than the slurry. “That’s where all the nasty stuff is,” he told me.

Tate Patton, who brought me to Hazeltine Creek, said it took hours for the tailings pond to drain out, the roaring sound of the flood carrying down Quesnel Lake for over six hours.

“I live about five or six miles down the lake and you could hear the sound from there for hours until the wind switched direction and you couldn’t hear it as well,” Patton said.

For several hours the tailings waste and debris poured into Quesnel Lake, one of the world’s deepest glacial fjord lakes. To this day no one knows quite how deep the lake is. The deepest recorded measurement reached down 610 metres. The lake is home to a quarter of the province’s sockeye salmon and is world famous for its brightly coloured rainbow trout among fly fishers.

Debris stretches across the shore near the mouth of the Hazeltine Creek. Photo by Farhan Umedaly, Vovo Productions.

Temperatures of the water flowing out of Quesnel Lake can quickly fluctuate eight degrees, leading hydrogeologists to theorize about complex water currents and circulation within the waterbody.

Patton said the depth of the lake is a bonus when it comes to dilution of the spill materials. “We have a lot of pluses,” he said. “The water is deep, the levels are high right now, and we haven’t had much rain.”

When the floodwaters subsided, a wide river of slurry and mud had entirely replaced Hazeltine Creek, leaving fluvial fans of sludge along low-lying areas and trailing into Quesnel Lake.

Sludge from the spill carries out into Quesnel Lake. Photo by Carol Linnitt.

At the base of the creek the floor of the lake quickly drops out. Sediment from the spill poured out into the depths leaving only a plume of suspended solids, visible only from the air, behind.

What remains of the spill on land sits caked in tailings waste. No clean up or dredging of the creek bed or debris area is expected until additional pumping of tailings waste from Polly Lake is complete.

Tate Patton points to beaver tracks in mud from the spill. Photo by Carol Linnitt.

Patton pointed at a beaver track in the drying mud. “Lots of animal tracks around here,” he said.

Bloomberg journalist Christopher Donville (left), Tate Patton (centre) and author Carol Linnitt (right) journey back to the town of Likely. The debris field is just visible in the background. Photo by Farhan Umedaly, Vovo Productions.  

We took a final survey of the scene as the sun retreated behind Mount Polley. Patton stopped the boat on the way back in to dislodge broken sticks and branches from the outboard motor.

“That’s a camp site, over there,” he said, pointing to an area not more than two kilometres from the mouth of Hazeltine Creek. “They were evacuated. Must have been terrifying,” he said. “Must have been loud.”

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

All images by Carol Linnitt and Farhan Umedaly, Vovo Productions.

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.