 July 24, 2014 |  |  August 5, 2014 |
The causes of the Imperial Metals tailing pond failure at Polley Lake, BC are not yet clear, but CWF is working to help ensure the lessons learned are not lost on other provinces and territories.
Shortly after the spill of approximately 25 million cubic metres of contaminated water and mine waste, Canadian Wildlife Federation wrote to the Premiers of every province and territory in Canada, as well as the Federal Minister of Environment, urging them to take this event as a wake-up call to review and strengthen the policies governing tailing ponds in their jurisdictions. Unfortunately, it appears most appear to be waiting for a similar failure in their jurisdictions before undertaking a meaningful review of their policies.
CWF’s letter and the responses for your province are:
Summary of Responses
Of the 14 organizations sent letters, four did not respond in the three-plus months since the collapse. Of those who replied, most sent a standard response with a brief description of the existing program and an expression of confidence in it, with no acknowledgement that they would do even a cursory program review.
- Assessing the Mount Polley incident with respect to federal environment and wildlife laws, including the pollution protection provisions of the Fisheries Act
- Opened an investigation and is working with BC Ministry of the Environment, BC Conservation Officer Service, BC Major Investigation Unit and “…if a violation is found, enforcement action will be taken…”
- Described existing processes
- “Environment and Sustainable Resource Development is leading development of a...more comprehensive approach to managing existing and new tailings…” which will be completed in 2015
- Contacted the four mining companies about their tailing impoundment operation, maintenance and integrity programs
New Brunswick
- No response
- Described existing processes
- Described existing processes
- “…recently announced it will be adopting a coordinated, government-wide approach for managing environmental liability and securities for resource development…”
- Described existing processes
- Described existing processes
Ontario
- Described existing process
- Included description of site inspections and compliance program
- Included enforcement actions since 2010
Prince Edward Island
- No response
- Acknowledged letter received
- Described existing processes
Yukon
- No response
One step already completed to learn from this failure comes from Tahltan First Nation Elders who, following the failure at Polley Lake, blockaded a second proposed Imperial Metals mine, the Red Chris site, over concerns about that mine’s potential impact in their territory. The blockade was taken down when the mine agreed to hire an independent engineering firm to review the project and committed to address issues identified in the review. That review by Klohn, Crippen, Berger reported that while the design is feasible if constructed properly, they had a concern over the high permeability of the soils the two earthen dams will be built on and pointed out that a failure at the Red Chris mine site could be worse than the Polley Lake failure. The report made a total of 22 recommendations to improve performance, including creation of an emergency response plan and an operating maintenance and surveillance manual for the tailings facility as well as inundation studies to demonstrate what would happen if tailings ponds did breach.
To help get to the bottom of what caused the failure at Imperial Metals mine at Polley Lake the BC government has ordered:
- Every mining operation in BC to conduct safety inspections to be complete by December 1 and those audits must be reviewed by outside engineering firms
- The Conservation Officer Service and the RCMP are investigating
- Mine inspectors from the provincial Ministry of Energy and Mines are conducting a review
- And the province has struck a three-member expert panel to conduct an independent review of government regulations, policies and inspection regimes, as well as those of the mine, and the design and maintenance of the dam. This report is due January 31, 2015.
If you are unsatisfied with the response from your province or territory, or want more information, we encourage you to contact your Minister of the Environment.
CWF will continue to follow this issue and as more information becomes available, will continue to urge every province and territory to review their tailings pond policies and programs.