Mining Environmental Accidents, Pollution, Tailing Dams and Abandoned Mines – Page 55

Udall, Heinrich propose bill requiring hard-rock miners to help pay cleanup costs – by Justin Horwath (Santa Fe New Mexican – September 16, 2015)

September 17, 2015

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/

New Mexico’s two U.S. senators say they will introduce legislation that would require companies digging for hard-rock minerals on public lands to pay royalties to help cover the cost of cleaning up tens of thousands of mines across the nation abandoned by the industry decades ago.

Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both Democrats, are proposing the legislation because of the Aug. 5 Gold King Mine spill that turned sections the Animas River orange and yellow from heavy metal waste that had been sitting in the abandoned mine since the 1920s.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency admits to causing the spill while cleanup crews were working at the site. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy once again defended the agency during a hearing Wednesday before Congress.

Defenders of the agency say the root of the problem that caused 3 million gallons of waste to contaminate the Animas River from Silverton, Colo., to Farmington is a lack of money to clean up waste rock piles that sit in old mines.

Udall said in a statement Wednesday that the legislation “would reform the nation’s antiquated mining laws, which date back to 1872, to ensure mining companies pay a royalty for the minerals they take from public lands.”

Trial to begin over accusations of environmental crimes at Alaska mine – by Lisa Demer (Alaska Dispatch News – September 13, 2015)

September 14, 2015

http://www.adn.com/

A first-in-Alaska federal environmental crimes trial over a mining operation is set to begin this month in Anchorage with a single defendant.

Two other managers with XS Platinum Inc. already have pleaded guilty — one earlier this month — which opens the possibility they might testify at the trial of Canadian James Slade.

Yet those at the top of the company have yet to answer charges that the effort to restart an old mine near the Southwest Alaska community of Platinum went terribly wrong. The Australians who led XS Platinum have not shown up in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, and prosecutors have been unable to find remnants of the company itself.

In all, five officials or managers were charged with felonies as was XS Platinum. The case is the first federal prosecution in Alaska related to mining under the Clean Water Act.

The focus now is on Slade, who is arguing in court that the government knew what the platinum miners were up to all along. His trial is set to begin Sept. 21 with jury selection and is expected to last about two weeks.

Erin Brockovich, activist portrayed in film, accuses feds of lying about extent of mine spill (Associated Press/U.S. News & World Report – September 8, 2015)

September 9, 2015

http://www.usnews.com/

SHIPROCK, N.M. (AP) — Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, made famous from the Oscar-winning movie bearing her name, on Tuesday accused the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of lying about how much toxic wastewater spilled from a Colorado mine and fouled rivers in three Western states.

Her allegation came during a visit to the nation’s largest American Indian reservation, where she saw the damage and met with Navajo Nation leaders and farmers affected by last month’s spill, which was triggered by an EPA crew during excavation work.

Brockovich said she was shocked by the agency’s actions leading up to the release of waste tainted with heavy metals and its response afterward.

“They did not tell the truth about the amount. There were millions and millions of gallons,” she said while speaking to a crowd of high school students in Shiprock, New Mexico.

The EPA did not immediately respond to email and telephone requests for comment Tuesday.

Opinion: Environment exposes political hypocrisy – by Harry Sterling (Vancouver Sun – September 8, 2015)

September 9, 2015

http://www.vancouversun.com/

Harry Sterling, a former diplomat, was the Department of External Affairs’ representative to the International Joint Commission from 1981-83, representing the interests and views of the Canadian government on trans-boundary issues.

It seems politicians everywhere have a tendency to become somewhat schizophrenic when confronting sensitive issues that many of their constituents may strongly support or vehemently oppose.

One such increasingly contentious subject is the environment and exploitation of its resources, an issue politicians in both Canada and the United States increasingly find dividing members of their respective societies.

Such divisions can be especially sharp and heated when involving proposed economic development of untapped resources, especially if it involves offshore oil drilling or mining in pristine regions.

Both U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian lawmakers, notably in provinces such as British Columbia, have recently found themselves increasingly confronting divisions over specific economic projects in their jurisdictions that are raising concerns regarding cross-border developments some believe could endanger their local or national interests.

Our view: Abandoned mines or future disasters? (Santa Fe New Mexican – September 8, 2015)

September 9, 2015

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/

Outrage over the spill at the Gold King Mine in Colorado — where 3 million gallons of polluted water gushed out — should be put to good use. That water, flowing into the Animas River, and eventually downstream to New Mexico waters, provided a stark reminder of the dangerous legacy of abandoned mines.

Now, rather than rage against an accident, the nation needs to deal with the hundreds of other accidents that are waiting to happen. As Justin Horwarth reported in Sunday’s New Mexican, there are some 500,000 abandoned mines across the country. How many of those are in New Mexico? We just don’t know either the number of mines or what kind of environmental risk they pose. That’s not acceptable.

To date, the Bureau of Land Management has identified some 13,000 abandoned mines in New Mexico, but has not analyzed most of them. Close to 90 percent of the mines that BLM has identified have not been remediated.

After the Gold King Mine spill, Gov. Susana Martinez has said she would put some $750,000 into addressing fallout from that spill. Some of that, say state authorities, could be put to use at other abandoned mine sites.

South Africa: Some of SA’s Top Companies Are Quietly Breaking the Law – by Alide Dasnois (All Africa.com – September 8, 2015)

September 8, 2015

http://allafrica.com/

Some of the top companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange are flouting environmental laws and not telling their shareholders, according to a study by the Centre for Environmental Rights.

The CER assessed 20 companies listed on the JSE and found that between 2008 and 2014 many of them violated their permits and licences or flouted the law. Examples of violations included toxic spills, unauthorised disposal of hazardous waste, contamination of soil or of ground and surface water, and air pollution.

Yet all the companies had regularly been listed on the JSE’s Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) index.

This index, launched in 2004, was intended to identify companies which “integrate the principles of the triple bottom line’ – environmental, social and economic sustainability. It was designed as a tool for investors, including retirement funds and asset management companies, looking for “socially responsible” investments.

But the CER research shows that many of these listed companies also feature on another list – the list of companies against whom the Department of Environmental Affairs has had to take action.

Legacy of Hard Rock Mining in the West — Death of a River, a Community’s Response – by Michele Swenson (Huffington Post – September 2, 2015)

September 3, 2015

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Michele Swenson is an author and activist.

A century and a half of hard-rock mining with no accountability, without consideration for environmental consequences or downstream neighbors has taken a heavy toll in the West. Metallic, acidic wastewater from mines have a long-term effect on agriculture, ranching, aquatic life, human and wild life, and aquifers.

A 3 million gallon dump of mustard-colored toxic waste from Gold King Mine into the Animas River on August 5 raised the most recent alarm, even as the EPA estimates that the overall discharges from local abandoned mines amount to one Gold King mine disaster every two days. Colorado officials estimate that drainage from 230 abandoned mines in the state result in the failure of 1,645 miles of 105,000 miles (1.6%) of rivers and streams to meet Clean Water Act standards.

Cited as the worst environmental disaster in Colorado history, the Summitville open-pit cyanide heap-leach gold mine sits at an altitude of 11,500 feet in the San Juan Mountains, southeast of the Gold King Mine and 40 miles west of the city of Alamosa, just east of the continental divide. The devastating fallout of this form of mining led one resident to lament that the San Juan Valley had become “the poster child for how not to do mining.”

Colorado mining disaster shows Maine was right to reject mining rules — again – by Nick Bennett (Bangor Daily News – August 30, 2015)

August 31, 2015

https://bangordailynews.com/

Nick Bennett is staff scientist and watersheds project director at the Natural Resource Council of Maine.

2015 has been a year of seconds with respect to mining. For the second time, the Department of Environmental Protection submitted the same weak mining rules it submitted to the Legislature in 2014. For the second time, the Legislature wisely rejected them.

Also for the second straight year, a mining disaster occurred soon after the end of the legislative session and proved that the Legislature was right to reject DEP’s rules. On Aug. 4, 2014, the tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine in British Columbia failed, releasing billions of gallons of mining waste into pristine lakes and streams.

The effects of the pollution from this modern mine, which its owner built in 1997, will linger for decades in some of the most important salmon habitat in Western Canada.

After the Mount Polley disaster, many Mainers breathed a sigh of relief that the Legislature had blocked weak rules that would have allowed Canada-based J.D. Irving to mine at Bald Mountain.

It’s time for a Better Dialogue about Mineral Exploration and Development – by Gavin Dirom (Vancouver Province – August 31, 2015)

August 31, 2015

http://blogs.theprovince.com/

Gavin Dirom is president and chief executive officer of the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia.

Over the past few months, some observers in Alaska have expressed fears about mineral exploration and mining development in northwestern British Columbia. The concerns primarily relate to water quality in rivers originating in British Columbia and draining into southeastern Alaska. These rivers support important salmon runs and communities in both jurisdictions. As good neighbours and allies, Canadian mineral explorers and developers understand and respect these concerns. We also care about our shared water and salmon.

Northwestern British Columbia is a mountainous area with high mineral development potential. This rugged area, with its world-class deposits can help provide us with the critical metals and minerals that we all use in our everyday lives. By discovering and developing mineral resources, our industry makes a major contribution to modern society. Without it, we would have no bicycles, no boats, no electric cars, no iPhones, no lights and no hospitals. These are just a few of the things that require metals and minerals that we all take for granted.

Finding a balance between environmental, social and economic values is a challenge we all face. But that is nothing new. Responsible mineral explorers acknowledge that there will always be some impacts when developing a mine, and we agree that these need to be soundly assessed and properly mitigated.

British Columbia officials try to smooth over mine dispute during Juneau trip – by Pat Forgey (Alaska Dispatch News – August 26, 2015)

August 27, 2015

https://www.adn.com/

JUNEAU — Top British Columbia mining regulators this week have been trying to improve relations with Alaska that have been strained by several controversial mines and are even talking about cleanup of a British Columbia mine that’s been polluting Taku Inlet for decades.

Provincial Minister of Energy and Mines William Bennett said Wednesday in Juneau that could mean an agreement to give Alaska more of a say in what happens over the border, and that Alaska should have a larger role.

The state’s bigger role might include permitting new mines and monitoring operating mines. “I think it’s fair to say that Alaska doesn’t have a lot of access to that information,” Bennett said.

But while the minister was offering to sign a memorandum of agreement or understanding with Alaska, Alaskans in Juneau were demanding more.

John Morris, a member of the Juneau-based Douglas Indian Association’s tribal council, described a memorandum of understanding as “nothing more than a formal handshake” and said it would be better to use the Boundary Waters Treaty to see that Alaska’s interests were protected.

B.C. Mine’s Minister Bill Bennett responds to Alaskan criticism (CBC News British Columbia – August 25, 2015)

August 26, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

B.C.’s Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett is traveling through Alaska in hopes to ease tensions from residents there caused by a tailings pond dam bust at Mount Polley over a year ago.

The disaster not only sent 24 million cubic meters of contaminated water and mining waste into creeks and rivers near Likely, B.C., but it also raised concerns from Alaskan residents and environmental groups who say they don’t have a meaningful role in the prevention of a similar disaster which could affect their state.

“We don’t have any voice and British Columbia and Canada have no accountability. We’re taking all of the risks of these large-scale mining projects and receiving none of the benefits,” said Heather Hardcastle, a commercial fisher in Alaska.

Bennett is currently undergoing his week long tour of the northernmost U.S state which began on Sunday. He spoke to Chris Brown of CBC Radio’s Early Edition about the trip and the need to repair any damaged relationships with the residents there.

How do you respond to that issue that the people of Alaska don’t have a voice [in B.C.’s mining projects]?

China, US Seek ‘Clean Coal’ Agreement as Industry Struggles (Associated Press/New York Times – August 25, 2015)

August 26, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/

BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. and China officials took a major step Tuesday toward an agreement to advance “clean coal” technologies that purport to reduce the fuel’s contribution to climate change — and could offer a potential lifeline for an industry that’s seen its fortunes fade.

The agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and China’s National Energy Administration would allow the two nations to share their results as they refine technologies to capture the greenhouse gases produced from burning coal, said Christopher Smith, the Energy Department’s assistant secretary for fossil energy.

Terms of the deal were finalized late Tuesday. Officials said it would be signed at a later date.

Smith spoke after he and other senior officials from President Barack Obama’s administration met with representatives of China’s National Energy Administration during an industry forum in Billings. The discussions took place near one of the largest coal reserves in the world — the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming, where massive strip mines produce roughly 40 percent of the coal burned in the U.S.

B.C. mines minister hopes to soothe Alaskan fears after Mount Polley spill – by Tamsyn Burgmann (Canadian Press/CTV News – August 23, 2015)

August 24, 2015

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/

VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s mines minister says he’s aiming to ease Alaska residents’ fears that their region could be harmed by a disaster similar to the Mount Polley accident in the province’s Interior.

Bill Bennett met with mining representatives in Alaska last November, four months after a tailings dam burst and spilled 24 million cubic metres of waste into area waterways, including salmon-bearing rivers.

However, Alaskans living downstream from northwestern B.C. mines said Bennett ignored their worries about the potential for mining pollution flowing their way in the event of another catastrophe.

A year after the August 2014 spill, Bennett said he’s taking the lead from state officials who have arranged dozens of meetings with conservation groups and tribal associations.

[Mining Pollution] When a River Runs Orange – by Gwen Lacheltaug (New York Times – August 20, 2015)

August 20, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/

Gwen Lachelt is a La Plata County commissioner.

Durango, Colo. — THE recent mining pollution spill in my corner of Colorado — La Plata County — is making national news for all the wrong reasons. Beyond the spill and its impact on everyone downstream, the underlying causes are far more worrisome and dangerous than just a mistake made by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Yes, it is a cruel irony that an E.P.A. contractor, while trying to clean up pollution from old mines, instead made the problem much, much worse. The jaw-dropping before-and-after photos contrasting the pre-spill Animas River I know and love with the subsequent bright orange, acidic, heavy-metal-laden travesty are sadly accurate.

The Animas River is the heart of La Plata County. Our jobs rely on it, people the world over travel here to raft and fish it, and farmers and ranchers feed their animals and water their crops with it. But more than that, it’s a member of the community. We see it every day. We play in it. We work with it. And of course we drink it. It’s no overstatement to say that La Plata County as we know it would not exist without the Animas River.

Opinion: Put the brakes on mineral development – by Stewart Phillip and Rob Sanderson (Vancouver Sun – August 19, 2015)

August 20, 2015

http://www.vancouversun.com/

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip is president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. Rob Sanderson is second vice-president of Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and co-chair of the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group.

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the Mount Polley tailings dam failure, Canada’s worst mining disaster.

That catastrophe in central British Columbia, which unleashed 24 million cubic metres of mine contamination into nearby lakes and waters, served as a wakeup call for everyone who values clean water, wild salmon, fishing and tourism, and ways of life intrinsically tied to pristine lands.

For First Nations and Alaska Native tribes, in particular, Mount Polley was a lightning rod. The disaster brought us together as never before. Alaskans have a clear stake in what’s happening in neighbouring B.C.; at least 10 large mines in the transboundary region have the very real possibility of tainting Alaska’s downstream waters and the billion-dollar seafood and tourism industries these rivers sustain. More so, these developments have the potential to harm our shared rivers, our coastal waters, and the salmon our cultures rely on.