EARTHblog
Imperial Metals Mount Polley Mine Tailings Dam Failure: A First-Hand Look
On the two month anniversary of the Imperial Metals Mount Polley Mine tailings dam failure, I travelled with colleagues from Bristol Bay, Alaska to see the area first-hand. At the hospitality of the Northern Shuswap Fisheries Department, we travelled by boat across Quesnel Lake to see the mouth of Hazeltine Creek where the tailings spill emptied into the lake. Despite two months of cleanup, the mouth is still choked with massive trees that were carried downstream by the powerful force of the tailings breach, which transformed a small salmon stream into a broad corridor piled with mine waste.
“In a matter of a few hours, the watershed was affected at an extent never before seen, and that will possibly last for decades,” said University of Northern B.C. professor Phil Owens in a Vancouver Sun interview on October 8, 2014.
Altogether, an estimated 25 million cubic meters of tailings and wastewater were released, backing up into Polley Lake, flowing down through 10 km of Hazeltine Creek, and emptying into Quesnel Lake. Research has just begun on the effects of the tailings spill on Lake Quesnel. The day we arrived, the Quesnel River Research Center was releasing some of its initial findings. Their research shows a sediment plume extending over an area many tens of square kilometers, and moving up the lake towards the town of Likely, and down the lake past Cariboo Island. Quesnel Lake is an important migratory route for spawning Sockeye salmon from the Fraser River. The murky water was obvious on the day we traveled across the lake.
The mine is in the center of the Xat’ sull First Nation and Williams Lake Indian Band Territorial lands, and their concern for the salmon and other renewable resources is clear in this interview with Chief Bev Sellars and Mining Response Coordinator, Jacinda Mack. http://youtu.be/Wrc0JopGQp0
There’s no shortage of questions about why the spill occurred, and why the B.C. and federal regulatory program failed to identify the hazard before it happened. The Globe and Mail reports that a cut in funding resulted in a significant reduction in inspections, and it appears that no inspections occurred at Imperial Metals Mount Polley Mine in 2010 and 2011.
The Province has announced an independent engineering review to investigate the cause of the failure, with a report due at the end of January 2015. As a result of their ongoing-negotiations with the province, Xat’sull First Nation and Williams Lake Indian Band will have their own expert engineer involved. Clean-up activities are underway, primarily focused on the immediate threat of fixing the hole in the tailings dam, and reducing water in Polley Lake to avoid another catastrophic event if the “plug” that’s formed at the mouth of the lake gives way.
The primary focus in the coming months is to create a series of collection pools along Hazeltine Creek to settle out the solids in the tailings before it continues downstream. Under the BC Emergency Program Act, much of the area is restricted from access. While we were there, there were a number of boats moving forest debris from the mouth of Hazeltine Creek to the shore of Quesnel Lake.
While there continues to be many unanswered questions at Imperial Metals Mount Polley Mine site, one thing was clear. For my colleagues from Bristol Bay and I, the trip to Mount Polley reinforced our opposition to the proposed Pebble Mine, which at full size would contain nearly 100 times the volume of tailings as that at Mount Polley. The EPA is scheduled to make a decision about restrictions on mine waste disposal from Pebble by February 2014. The Imperial Metals Mount Polley Mine site is yet another reason why the EPA should restrict mine waste disposal from the Pebble Mine once and for all.
Tagged with:
The Most Dangerous Road: fracking increases traffic, puts drivers at risk
A new investigation by Houston Public Media and the Houston Chronicle shows Texas highways are now the nation's deadliest, and fracking is to blame.
Fracking requires thousands of truck trips to haul water, frack fluid and more recently, about 4% of fracked oil.
All the increased traffic has led to more accidents and fatalities. And not just in Texas.
Tagged with: oil and gas, spills, transportation and infrastructure, trucks
Long Live the Grand Canyon: Court Bans Uranium Mining
During his visit to the Grand Canyon in 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt remarked upon the unique and rare beauty of the park:
“In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder…absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to do one thing…in the interest of the country to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is…I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel, or anything else, to mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of the canyon. Leave it as it is…What you can do is to keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American…should see.”
Tagged with: mining, grand canyon, uranium, withdrawal, nepa
It’s definitely The Pits: new case study reveals lax waste management in PA
For most of us, cleaning up after oneself is a basic guideline for living and working with others. Taking responsibility for the environmental costs of products is an emerging business concept. Then there’s the oil and gas industry—which prefers a “you deal with it instead” approach to waste management. The result? Tainted rivers downstream from wastewater treatment plants, earthquakes near injection wells, and radioactive drill cuttings in landfills. And then there are the giant pits where operators store millions of gallons of waste at a time.
Tagged with: fracking, pennsylvania, pennsylvania department of environmental protection
Judge dismisses Pebble’s lawsuit against EPA
Today, Judge Holland of the U.S. District Court tossed out the Pebble Limited Partnership’s lawsuit against the EPA. Pebble sought to stop the EPA from using its authority under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to restrict mine waste dumping from the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed. Read the court decision here.
The judge ruled that the lawsuit was premature because the EPA hasn’t issued a final decision yet. The EPA initiated the 404(c) process after Alaska Native Tribes and commercial fishermen petitioned the agency in 2010 to step in to protect the Bristol Bay fishery, which is central to the culture and regional economy. The EPA has announced that it will make a final decision by February 2015. Earthworks submitted an amicus brief in support of the EPA, urging the Judge to dismiss the case. Read the press release here.
In the meantime, there is enormous local, state and national support for the EPA to issue a final decision and protect the Bristol Bay watershed from the Pebble Mine. The public comment period on the EPA’s plans for limiting mine waste disposal into the Bristol Bay watershed closed last week (Sept. 19th), with a flood of public comments supporting the EPA’s proposal.
Altogether, the EPA has received roughly 1.5 million comments on behalf of protecting the Bristol Bay fishery – demonstrating the overwhelming public support for protecting the largest wild salmon fishery on Earth.
Tagged with: mining, epa, pebble mine, lawsuit, pebble limited partnership
Follow Earthworks