CBC: Lakes across Canada face being turned into mine dump sites

[tuvor]

Bush pilot Doug Beaumont and environmentalist Jim Bourquin fish on Kluela Lake, downstream from the planned dump site for the Red Chris gold and copper mining project in northwestern B.C. (Terry Milewski/CBC)

CBC News has learned that 16 Canadian lakes are slated to be officially but quietly "reclassified" as toxic dump sites for mines. The lakes include prime wilderness fishing lakes from B.C. to Newfoundland.

Environmentalists say the process amounts to a "hidden subsidy" to mining companies, allowing them to get around laws against the destruction of fish habitat.

Under the Fisheries Act, it's illegal to put harmful substances into fish-bearing waters. But, under a little-known subsection known as Schedule Two of the mining effluent regulations, federal bureaucrats can redefine lakes as "tailings impoundment areas."

That means mining companies don't need to build containment ponds for toxic mine tailings.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/16/condemned-lakes.html

[TaffyMoon]

1. Yeah, this story just made me crazy...

I hate harper.

[hermetic]

2. I just saw that, too

and it both breaks my heart and makes me sick to my stomach. People, UNITE! Harper has got to go. Stop seeing the US as a model to be copied. :scared:

[Canuckistanian]

3. So, I can't get rid of a small patch of wetland on my property

Or cut down too many trees or even put in a permanent dock at the lakeside.

Fair enough.

But a mining company can poison a whole lake with the blessing of the federal government??

Hey, can I get my property "redefined" too?

[tuvor]

4. CBC: Dumping mining waste into water 'more responsible': fisheries minister

Tailing waste produced by mining companies is best stored in water, the federal fisheries minister said Tuesday, defending a planned move by bureaucrats to reclassify 16 Canadian lakes as toxic dump sites.

Toxic mine tailings can be stored either in water or on land, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Loyola Hearn said in the House of Commons, after the Conservative government was accused of putting fish and fish habitat at risk.

"It is much more responsible to store them in water," Hearn said.

"Any damage done in relation to fish or fish habitat has to be mitigated where there is no net loss to either fish or fish habitat. There is a major environmental study done before any go-ahead is given," he said, adding that "every aspect is covered" before anybody could be in a position to damage the environment.

...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/17/lakes-mining.html


"Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

[daleo]

5. Lake Athabasca can be redefined as a giant tailing pond

That'll help the big players in the tar sands.