Yet another sign that civilization is on the ropes. A terrorist cell unleashed a river of sludge filled with arsenic and mercury into the region's water supply. Here is government footage of the toxic flood. (Check out close-ups of ground zero around the 7:30 mark.)
The contamination is expected to have devastating long-term consequences for the local community.
What is immediately certain is that there will be profound and long-lasting effects on local, regional, and provincial economies, on livelihoods and communities, on fish, wildlife and ecosystems, and on British Columbians’ trust in regulators.
Previous terrorist attacks like this one have been
very expensive.
It calculated that taxpayers provided $69 million for cleanup of pollution from B.C.'s Britannia Mine, and almost $400 million to clean up the Giant Mine in the Northwest Territories.
This is the kind of damage that create calls for justice and retribution. I have lost track of the countries that we have dropped high explosives into since 9/11/01.
But, get this. The attack was successful because the police have taken a hands-off approach to the terrorists. Stop-and-frisks were cut back in 2003.
Laws were rewritten to give terrorists the benefit of the doubt - presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
In 2012, it enacted two omnibus budget bills that repealed and amended several of Canada’s oldest and strongest environmental laws. It watered down the Fisheries Act, significantly weakening protection of fish habitat and outright eliminating protection for some fish, including species at risk.
It also replaced Canada’s environmental assessment law with a new, weaker law that resulted in the cancellation of nearly 3,000 environmental reviews across the country. Projects that no longer require federal review include two open-pit coal mines near Elkford and Sparwood, B.C., an LNG facility near Kitimat, a mine extension in New Brunswick, and, somewhat ominously in the present context, a tailings pond and treatment facility, and expansions of two uranium tailings ponds, in Saskatchewan.
The rollbacks continue. Changes to the federal Navigable Waters Protection Act that were brought into force this year removed protection for over 99 percent of Canada’s lakes and rivers. Expected sometime this month are regulations that will make life easier for the aquaculture industry, but not for wild fish, by relaxing the regulation of the dumping of aquatic drugs and pesticides into wild fish habitat.
Glenda Ferris, a neighborhood watch leader, had choice words for the press covering the aftermath of the attack.
"I'm tired of a society that doesn't value the natural world," Ferris said. "I'm tired of a society that has amnesia."
. . .
"This is the product of deregulation," Ferris claimed. "This is a product of being buddies with the mining industry and saying, 'Well, you guys know what's best. You do what's best.'"
. . .
"The accurate description is toxic mine waste," Ferris declared. "It is full of heavy metals."
It is clear to me, but officials seem
oddly perplexed.
"Our main concern is the water supply," Cariboo Regional District chair Al Richmond told QMI Agency. "That's what the tailings ponds are for, to contain those types of heavy metals, you never want those types of materials in the water system."
Federal data on the project show the company significantly increased its on-site storage of toxins such as arsenic, mercury and lead in the past two years.
So no one wants toxic tailing goo in their water supply, but no one says a word as millions of tons of said goo pile up on the very edge of said water supply. Meanwhile, the water czar praised the terrorists for having been model citizens.
However, Richmond said debris appears to have mostly stopped what he described as "slurry" from entering a nearby lake, adding that Imperial Metals has operated in the area for many years and have "been a good corporate citizen.
Copy cat acts of terrorism are
expected.
According to studies by engineers Michael Davies and Todd Martin, there appears to be a strong correlation between mining booms and subsequent dam failures.
During mining booms, governments hand out permits quickly; industry tries to save money and cut costs; engineers flit from project to project; and industry favours "cookie cutter" designs. The frequency of dam failures can be expected to increase shortly thereafter, they found.
The terrorists responsible for this attack declined to be interviewed.
Attempts to reach Imperial Metals or the mine site were unsuccessful.
So did the chief of police.
The Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Wanted posters are being printed.
#ImperialMetals = #EnvironmentalTerrorist