| Imperial Metals - Polley Mine Disaster | 5 September 14 |
It's been over 3 weeks since the disaster began on August 4th and the breach in the tailings pond dam hasn't been plugged yet by Imperial Metals. Heavy metal laden sludge is still flowing down Hazeltine Creek to Quesnell Lake. Imperial Metals is getting away with discharging the contaminated water into Quesnel. "The government isn't inspecting the mines, and the mining companies know it," said Glenda Ferris, a longtime advocate for environmentally safe mining in British Columbia. A landowner near Houston, BC, she lives beside the now-closed Equity Silver mine, which dumped acid-generating tailings waste into the environment in 1982. The province of British Columbia has signed a letter of understanding with the Williams Lake Indian Band and the Soda Creek Indian Band to work in partnership on all aspects of the Mount Polley breach. The bands have said they’ll push for meaningful mining industry reform. Mining Water Canada says original estimates of the volume of the breach were ‘crude’. Imperial Metals is now admitting to 70 percent more discharge. The Tsilhqot’in National Government, also based in Williams Lake, issued a statement Tuesday calling for better benefit-sharing for First Nations on major projects. According to Elections BC's contributions registry, Imperial Metals and its various B.C. mine subsidiaries -- Mount Polley Mining Corp., Red Chris Development Co. and Huckleberry Mines Ltd. -- donated a total of $277,120 to various political parties and candidate campaigns since 2003. Out of that quarter-million in partisan financing, $233,710 went to the BC Liberals or its candidates, representing more than 84 per cent of its contributions. Conflict of interest and lack of proper monitoring of the Mount Polley Mine are a toxic combination and together are sending ripples through the entire industry in Canada.
View September 4, 2014 Climate Progress article |
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