Federal Reports Show Dirty Lakes Are Uncharted Territory

Two government documents have recently come to light showing that the federal government is well aware of harmful pollution in Canada's lakes and rivers. However, these same reports also reveal that the problem is not well understood.

From The Globe & Mail article:

Pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, pesticides and run-off from mining sites also end up in lakes and rivers, bringing with them a slew of health and environmental risks.

“When groundwater contamination occurs it has the potential to have serious, negative human health, environmental and economic impacts,” the report says.

...

Meanwhile, the question of what happens when all those contaminants mix together confounded the government officials.

“One outstanding issue the working group considered is that of cumulative effects,” the report says.

“This refers to the impacts that multiple contaminants have on aquatic ecosystems when they interact. Concerns apply to the majority of contaminants, and the issue is both not well understood and exceedingly complex.”

Abundant freshwater is one of Canada's most precious resources. If we know that our lakes and rivers are already in danger, why would we want to do even more harm to them?

That's what might happen due to a loophole in the Fisheries Act that allows the government to exclude some lakes from protections and instead let mining companies use those lakes as dumps for toxic mining waste. Fish Lake in B.C. was recently spared from this fate, but legal proceedings about Sandy Pond in Newfoundland continue and a handful of other lakes have been targeted.

Canada needs to clean up our act and take care of our freshwater resources.

Do Canadians want protected 'National Mining Areas' instead of National Wildlife Areas?

On Friday, October 29th, the federal government made an unexpected decision to permit mineral exploration in a highly anticipated protected area in the NWT. The 14,250 km-squared area west of Great Slave Lake is called Edéhzhíe (Horn Plateau) and is slated to soon become a National Wildlife Area (NWA). Perhaps the federal government instead wishes to designate a protected National Mining Area...

Edéhzhíe is both culturally and ecologically significant for the Dehcho and Tłįcho peoples, and is enshrined in Dene tradition and spirituality. The Horn Plateau is an important wetland stop-over along the Central and Mississippi migratory flyways, and is not surprisingly home to the Mills Lake Important Bird Area (IBA), known for globally significant numbers of Tundra Swan and other waterfowl, and continentally significant numbers of Greater White-fronted Goose. Edéhzhíe also provides habitats for several ‘at-risk’ species including boreal woodland caribou, wood bison and wolverine. It is known as a “food basket” in times of need within surrounding Mackenzie Valley communities.

Despite its rich natural and cultural heritage, Friday’s decision marks a significant policy reversal - one that opens up Edéhzhíe’s subsurface to mining and oil & gas industry interests. This ultimately poses a threat to the ecological integrity of important lakes and wetlands and boreal forest habitats in this region.

This surprising decision overturns a formal request by the Grand Chiefs of the Dehcho First Nation and Tłįchǫ Government that Environment Minister Jim Prentice designate the Edéhzhíe NWA and permanently protect the subsurface lands beneath it. Friday’s decision also ignores recommendations for the same surface/subsurface protections made in a 2009 report by the Edéhzhíe Candidate Protected Area Working Group. That Working Group consulted widely with stakeholders on options for the area, as part of the multi-stakeholder NWT Protected Areas Strategy. The 2009 report was submitted to the Dehcho First Nation, the Tłįchǫ Government and Environment Canada, the federal department responsible for establishing and overseeing NWAs.

Nature Canada is very disappointed with the federal government’s decision on Edéhzhíe, which was made just two days before interim government protections on both the surface and subsurface lands of Edéhzhíe were about to expire - after more than a decade of being retained.
The decision was recommended by Minister John Duncan of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC; PC number 2010-1360), the federal department holding significant jurisdiction over resource management and social and economic development north of 60°. It should be noted that Minister Duncan's decision on Edéhzhíe was made indirectly: he recommended that only surface land withdrawals be 'renewed' for the area, instead of rights to both surface and subsurface lands. It's easy to get lost in the details.

It's worth noting here that in 2009 the Edéhzhíe Working Group recommended a final boundary for the NWA that was 57% of the original 25,000 km-squared study area. The excluded portions represent most of the areas of significant lead/zinc and gas potential within the study area. A 2009 mining industry newsletter laments that even this reduced boundary is too restrictive and prevents the industry from understanding the “true resource potential” of the area, particularly that of diamonds. Interestingly, the 2008 socio-economic assessment of the Edéhzhíe Candidate Protected Area, done by AMEC consultants for INAC, suggests it would be 10-20 years before any non-renewable resource developments could be operational in the area.

Nature Canada's disappointment in the government's Edéhzhíe decision stems from three points:

First, there are clear legislative options to protect both the surface and subsurface lands of Edéhzhíe through an NWA designation combined with an Order in Council (under the Territorial Lands Act). This is what many conservation groups and the Dehcho First Nation and Tłįchǫ Government want. The Canada Wildlife Act gives the Minister of Environment authority to establish and manage NWAs across Canada, but does not protect subsurface lands beneath those NWAs. This is a serious weakness of the Act and currently makes NWAs the ‘poor cousins’ of more strictly protected areas like National Parks. Minister Duncan’s inaction with respect to protecting Edéhzhíe's subsurface suggests that INAC is not willing to support options that respect the wishes of key stakeholders. More importantly, this surprising situation suggests that INAC is not comfortable communicating its true intent to stakeholders of the Edéhzhíe NWA.

Second, this decision has very serious implications for the entire network of 54 NWAs across Canada. This is the first time the federal government has 'opened' a proposed or existing NWA to industrial development. It sends a clear message that NWAs are not off-limits to subsurface resource extraction, regardless of what local stakeholders, First Nations governments and Canadians say about how these areas should be managed and safeguarded over time. While Nature Canada awaits the federal government’s final decision on Cenovus’s proposal to drill 1,275 gas wells inside the CFB Suffield NWA, we are dismayed that the writing may already be on the wall. This is even more concerning given the presence of nationally endangered species in the grasslands of Suffield NWA. Friday’s decision also raises important questions about national parks that are potentially threatened by resource extraction within or just beyond their borders, such as the recently announced Sable Island National Park or the proposed Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve.

Third, we expected the federal government to respect the wishes of First Nations governments and the 2009 recommendations of the Edéhzhíe Working Group. We now question the government’s commitment to listen to First Nations and Aboriginal organizations and other stakeholders during future NWA designations through the NWT Protected Areas Strategy. This is particularly worrisome given that local communities in the NWT have shown support for subsurface protection in other candidate NWAs.

While Friday’s decision opens the Horn Plateau’s subsurface to mining activity, interim protections on Edéhzhíe’s surface lands have been renewed until October 31, 2012.

Please check back to follow Nature Canada's unfolding response to this story. The NWT Protected Area Strategy hosts an on-line album of Edéhzhíe photos you can view here.


Photo 1: Mackenzie Valley, Jeff Wells
Photo 2: Boreal Chickadee, Jeff Nadler
Photo 3: Migrating Snow Geese, Stewart Marshall, Flickr

Government Rejects Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine; A Victory for Fish Lake

Nature Canada is pleased to learn of the Government of Canada's decision to reject Taseko Mines Ltd.'s proposed gold-copper Prosperity Mine in British Columbia. The proposed mine would have led to the transformation of Fish Lake into a 'tailings impoundment area', i.e., a mining waste dump site, under the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER) of the Fisheries Act.

We applaud Environment Minister Jim Prentice for considering the adverse environmental impacts of the proposed mine, as concluded by the Federal Review Panel, as well as respecting the importance of Fish Lake to the Tsilhqot'in First Nation.

In an announcement made yesterday, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said "the significant adverse environmental effects of the Prosperity project cannot be justified as it is currently proposed."

There are now questions on the future of mining investments in BC according to an article in The Vancouver Sun

Export Development Canada Gives Mining Giant $1 Billion Loan

Export Development Canada (EDC) announced earlier this month that it is giving Brazilian mining company Vale a $1 billion USD loan “to assist with capital expenditures related to Canadian export projects and future Canadian procurement in its international operations.”

Vale is the world’s largest iron ore producer, the 2nd largest mining company, and the 75th largest corporation, making $13.2 billion in profits in 2008!

Vale is also the mining company pushing for the transformation of Sandy Pond, a pristine lake in St. John's, Newfoundland, into a ‘tailings impoundment area’ under Schedule 2 of the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER) of the Fisheries Act.

It comes as a surprise that a money-making machine like Vale needs money from EDC, especially since half of the company's operations are outside of Canada and its ability to raise this money through other means is not in doubt.

For more details read Ken Kavanagh's Letter to the Editor in the Toronto Star. Ken is a member of the Sandy Pond Alliance, a group that was created to stop the transformation of Sandy Pond into a tailings impoundment area.

At Least Some Mines Get Fines Instead of Permits Under the MMER

Last week, Saskatchewan’s La Ronge provincial court declared Claude Resources Inc. guilty of three offences under the Metal Mining Effluent Regulation (MMER) of the Fisheries Act in relation to activities at Laonil Lake. The Saskatchewan-based mining company’s Seabee gold mine in northeastern Saskatchewan violated the MMER by: 1) depositing an acutely lethal effluent; 2) exceeding prescribed limits for effluents that contain total suspended solids; and 3) failing to report that their monitoring tests showed exceeded limits.

Apparently, Environment Canada and Saskatchewan Environment have tried for some time to get the company to become more compliant with regulations but without success. As a consequence, legal action was taken and Claude Resources Inc. was fined $90,000, of which $40,000 will be paid as a fine, and $50,000 to be given to the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation.

Canada’s lakes and rivers are facing an imminent threat from Schedule 2 of the MMER which was introduced in 2002. Schedule 2 is a list of Canadian lakes that were reclassified as “tailing impoundment areas” - a mining waste site, under the MMER of the federal Fisheries Act.

There are prohibitions in place thast prevent the pollution of waters known to be fish habitat listed under section 36 (3) of the federal Fisheries Act. However, dumping is permitted under section 5.1(a) and Schedule 2 of the Fisheries Act’s MMER. Schedule 2 of the MMER allows lakes listed under it to be exempt from protection against the “depositing deleterious substances” into fish habitat under section 36(3) of the Fisheries Act. To date, there are 15 lakes in the provinces of Manitoba, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut listed under Schedule 2.

For more information on Schedule 2 and related blog posts click here.

Another Fake Lake?

Mining company Taseko plans to reclassify two interior BC waterbodies, Fish Lake and Little Fish Lake, as tailings impoundment areas (toxic waste dump sites!) and create an artificial lake as compensation for the resulting loss of fish habitat. However, a recently released report from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency reviewing the Project stated "that the Project would result in significant adverse environmental effects," calling into question Taseko's plans.

One specific adverse effect of reclassifying Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) and Y'anah Biny (Little Fish Lake) into tailings impoundment areas is "the destruction of approximately 90,000 rainbow trout" which is "an important food source (for First Nations) when salmon populations are low." The creation of the replacement lake, called Prosperity Lake, would not "adequately mitigate the losses of the fishing and recreational experience at Teztan Biny (Fish Lake)," the Panel found.

The Tsilhqot'in First Nation, local community, and environmental groups are strongly opposed to the Project for numerous reasons.

The creation of tailings impoundment areas out of pristine Canadian lakes and rivers has received more attention as industry further exploits the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations, Schedule 2 "loophole" of the federal Fisheries Act. Some lakes that were destined to perpetual toxicity are being spared, such as Bamoos Lake in northern Ontario. Others require long legal battles and strong public support with an unpredictable end, such as Sandy Pond, in Newfoundland.

The plaintiff in that case, the Sandy Pond Alliance (including Council of Canadians, the Sierra Club of Canada, the Newfoundland and Labrador Natural History Society, MiningWatch Canada, and others) is arguing that "it is illegal for the federal government to allow the dumping of mining waste into Canadian lakes and rivers." The Alliance hopes to put an end to the practice of converting Canadian lakes into mining waste dumps once and for all.

If they succeed, Taseko will have to explore other waste management options around the Prosperity Lake Project. MiningWatch Canada has more information and details on how to send a letter to the Prime Minister, the Minister of the Environment and your MP to deny approval to this damaging project.

This blog post was contributed by Nature Canada volunteer Stefan Kohut. Thanks for the update, Stefan!

Photo: Highland Valley Copper Tailings Dam by Gord McKenna/Flickr

Court Ruling Against BC Government - Protection of the Caribou

On March 19, 2010 British Columbia’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of the West Moberly First Nation’s petition against the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources and First Coal Corporation’s proposed coal mine plan that would have had significant impacts on critical habitat of the nationally endangered Burnt Pine caribou herd in northeast BC. Treaty No.8, a northern treaty signed in 1899, played a significant role in the ruling given that the Crown failed to thoroughly consult the West Moberly petitioners and also failed to accommodate their rights – especially their hunting rights. In the words of the Honourable Justice Williamson:

‘The consultation was not sufficiently meaningful, and the accommodation put in place was not reasonable.’

Chief Roland Willson, of the West Moberly Nations, expressed his gratitude towards the court’s decision saying it was able to stop both the federal and BC governments from evading their obligations to protect the caribou under Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA). The BC government was ordered to immediately put in place a ‘reasonable, active, program for the protection and augmentation of the Burnt Pine herd’. The lack of a satisfactory consultation for the proposed coal mine has led to a mandatory adequate consultation - except this time it is not for a coal mine but for the protection of the Burnt Pine caribou herd. They have 90 days to present this. The crown shall consult with the West Moberly people as well as ecologists and biologists from the Ministry of Environment whom are to be referred to by West Moberly.

Andrew Gage of West Coast Environmental Law said this ruling may be the cause of a series of similar events where First Nations intervene and push governments to protect species across the country.

There are currently ONLY 11 caribou left in the Burnt Pine herd. Hopefully, the new plans will make it possible to repopulate this herd.

The Reasons for Judgment can be found at the following link:

http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/10/03/2010BCSC0359.htm