Mount Polley panel picked to be expert in engineering, not legal, technicalities. The blue ribbon panel team set up by the provincial government to investigate the Mount Polley mine disaster will find out what caused the tailings pond dam to collapse.
The second and critically important question, however, is what, if any, role the government of British Columbia played or should have played. In fact, this is the most important aspect, because B.C. had a longstanding legal, not to mention moral, duty which it appears from all the evidence was not fulfilled — and which, if fulfilled, may well have stopped the catastrophe from happening in the first place.
In the probe the government has set up, there is mandated virtually no investigation of the role of the mining or environment ministries. There are 14 terms of reference, 13 of which deal strictly with the collapse itself, one of which may be interpreted as giving the panel members the right to look at the government’s role if they feel so inclined.
It does not take brain surgery to recognize that this panel is unsuited to look at any regulatory role the government should have played. That’s not their bag. They are picked for their skills at investigating mining methods, not regulation enforcement.
To look at a government role and the law and regulations requires a specific sort of person, and it’s difficult to think of anyone suited other than a highly experienced lawyer or judge. To even begin to know the right questions requires a training that a scientist doesn’t, by nature, have. He or she may be highly skilled and trained, but not for this purpose.
In short, what we have here is a whitewash in advance by Premier Clark of the government that she and her mentor Gordon Campbell have run since 2001.
Crime against democracy
There is considerable evidence that the regulations were not properly enforced. This does not come from any suspicion that public servants have not done their job. Rather, it is been clear since 2001 that the new “laissez-faire” government was not very fond of red tape. It hated rules and regulations and has by nature deregulated. It brought, as promised, a new deal for big business.
It’s not much of a secret as to why that should be so. The government’s election campaigns have been heavily funded by the mining industry, and one of the larger players has been Imperial Metals, the owner of the Mount Polley mine.
This has all the earmarks of an enormous scandal. All of the elements are there — money, influence, a laissez-faire government that abhors regulations, and a strong line of evidence indicating that regulations simply were not properly enforced.
Premier Christy Clark, while much interested in seeing Polley Lake made “pretty” again, shows no interest in having her government and its policies investigated.
This is a monstrous crime against the democratic process.
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