KETCHIKAN, Alaska — A coalition of aboriginal tribes in southeast Alaska is calling for a Canada-U.S. commission to study the impacts of British Columbia’s mining industry on shared waters because of last summer’s collapse of a tailings-pond dam.
Some 14 tribes have formed the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group to urge both governments to evaluate B.C. mining-safety practices through the International Joint Commission.
The call follows the release of an independent report in late January that blamed an inadequately designed dam for the Aug. 4, 2014 incident that saw 24 million cubic metres of silt and water flow into nearby lakes and rivers at the Mount Polley open-pit, gold-and-copper mine near Williams Lake, B.C.
“Alaskans, we’re not at all convinced that B.C. can do all this mining without harming us,” said Carrie James, the group’s co-chair. “Environmental safeguards in B.C., they’ve been weakened over the past decade.”
The group’s main concern is its $1-billion fishery, located downstream from several large-scale mining projects, James said. They want an investigation into any potential long-term effects on the fish and other wildlife located along the transboundary rivers.
The group points to the B.C. government-ordered engineering report, released in late January, that cites an inadequately designed dam that didn’t account for drainage and erosion failures associated with glacial till beneath the pond.
The group said the report calculates two breaches will occur every 10 years, if the same watered tailings facilities are used.
It’s arguing for a moratorium on the development of large-scale mines along Alaska’s southeast border with B.C.
The quiet opening of the Red Chris mine in the Stikine River watershed, only days after the report, was a “deep insult,” said the group.
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