Gov't report backs Elders' assessment

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Paul Band Elders had warned the government of Alberta and anyone else who would listen that things had been going wrong in Lake Wabamun ever since two coal-fired electrical plants had been constructed on its shores beginning in the 1950s. For the most part, the Elders were ignored.

But now a report from Alberta Environment, triggered by complaints from non-Native fishermen about murky water in the lake, shows the Elders knew what they were talking about.

The Lake Wabamun Water Quality and Sediment Survey found that metals in water samples taken within 100 metres of the TansAlta ash lagoon exceeded Alberta surface water quality guidelines.

"The TransAlta ash lagoon discharge would appear to be a contributing source of the elevated heavy metals found in the lake sediments," the report states. "Sediment concentrations above the Canadian Sediment Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life for chromium, arsenic and copper are primarily located within 100 metres of the ash lagoon discharge."

Aluminum levels in the sediment were also higher near the ash lagoon outlet than in other areas of the lake, the report said.

But the provincial government investigators also concluded the elevated concentration of metals in the water and sediment was not responsible for the death of thousands of fish. The report's authors did not state a finding on what is killing the fish, instead choosing to recommend more study.

TransAlta has been ordered to conduct a risk assessment of its operations and conduct monthly samplings of the ash lagoon effluents.

Dennis Paul, special advisor to the Paul First Nation chief and council, noted that his community's Elders had linked the power plant operations to environmental changes in the lake a long time ago. While the scientists' report shows they have caught up to the Elders in reaching that conclusion, Paul said, he still felt the report didn't go far enough.

"As for the fish dying, basically it says the same thing [as Alberta Environment said before the report was completed] and we don't buy that. They say that the fish are being exhausted, they're looking for an outlet, there's nothing to eat in the lake and they're ending up someplace where there's no exits and there's probably a congestion of fish traffic there [that's causing the fish deaths]. We totally disagree with that," he said. "That lake's about 14,000 years old and fish have been living there probably about that long, too. Our people have an oral history of at least 700 years regarding the livelihood that they found around that lake and there's nothing in those camp-fire stories that say that fish started to die by the thousands for no apparent reasons."

He said the report shows that no one has yet gotten to the bottom of the mystery.

"It's really surprising too because the provincial government, the federal government and everybody else that has some sort of stake in this has been paying good money to educated people to find a conclusion as to why this is happening and to date there's been nothing."

Paul still believes the province is bending over backwards to not have a conflict with TransAlta. He said his band will consult environmental scientists and look into alternative, cleaner technology for burning coal. A TransAlta report stated that there is enough coal around the lake to supply the power plants for 800 years.

But Paul welcomed the report as a good first step and called on government and industry to put environmental concerns ahead of profits.

"Now that there's evidence, the onus is upon the people who have an interest to protect the citizenry. They now have to approach this whole energy and environment situation with the results that came from the water study in the hope that there's some sort of strategic plan to stop contamination in the future and to find some kind of strategy to address the issue of greenhouse gases," he said. "In 1885 I think it was, Chief Seattle told the White House that wht befouls the Earth befouls the sons of the Earth. So here it comes."