Province orders immediate stop to spillage from Mount Polley mine
Posted August 6, 2014 3:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – BC’s Environment Ministry has ordered the operator of a mine in the province’s central Interior to immediately stop the further release of toxic materials into nearby waterways after a tailings pond burst on Monday.
The government order says Mount Polley Mining Corp. must also undergo an environmental impact assessment and submit a clean-up plan by today, as well as hand over a more detailed plan by Aug. 15.
The company has also been ordered to submit a written summary of the steps it will take to stop the release of mine tailings by next Wednesday, and report on a weekly basis how it will implement its clean-up plan.
When the tailings pond at the Mount Polley Mine, southeast of Quesnel, breached it releasing a deluge of toxic materials into Polley and Quesnel lakes and several creeks and rivers.
Imperial Metals President Brian Kynoch says the investigation into what caused the tailings pond to fail is just beginning.
The Cariboo Regional District has declared a state of local emergency, and a ban remains on all water consumption or recreational use of the Quesnel and Cariboo river systems from the spill site to the Fraser River.
Would taxpayers have to cover the cleanup costs if the company can’t?
The head of the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation in BC says it’s a possibility taxpayers could foot the bill for the cleanup of the spill. There have been other disasters where the company responsible went bankrupt and couldn’t do its job in getting the environment back to its natural state.
Jordan Bateman is hoping that doesn’t happen. “If the company does go under obviously taxpayers would be the last ones left holding the bag, these what if scenarios are always really difficult especially in the early days. You just don’t know how big or how expensive the cleanup is going to be. It’s a fairly large mining company with lots of resources who knew the regulatory and safety specifications going in, so hopefully fingers crossed for taxpayers , they’re able to clean this up.”
He says taxpayers are already dealing with expenses related to emergency service in the regional district. He’s urging those governments and First Nations bands impacted to keep track of their invoices and bills in order forward it to the company.
