Tailings pond breach could impair salmon returns

Moose meat or store bought beef will be replacing fish this winter for many First Nations members who get their salmon from the Quesnell River.

“A lot of people are saying they’re not going to fish. The fish are in the river. They are running,” said Willie Sellars, councillor with the T’exelc Williams Lake Indian Band. “A lot of people are not going to have that meat for the coming winter months.”

The community’s caution around the salmon comes after the Aug. 4 early morning breach of the tailings pond dam at the open pit copper and gold Mount Polley Mine site, and despite reassurances from the province and First Nations Health Authority that water quality in the river falls within guidelines for human health and aquatic life.

An estimated 10 million cubic metres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of fine sand with tailings’ toxins were released into Polley Lake. The flow of contaminated water continued into Quesnel Lake through Hazeltine Creek, which flows out of Polley Lake.

Imperial Metals Corp., the B.C. mining company that operates Mount Polley Mine, reports the government’s positive water quality results “confirm the monitoring undertaken by mine personnel during regularly scheduled tailing pond analysis.”

Immediately following the breach, a state of local emergency was declared and a drinking water ban issued. The majority of the drinking water ban lasted less than a week.

While communication is ongoing now with regular briefings from the province, there was no notification of the First Nation when the breach occurred, said Sellars, who found out about the situation when an employee at the mine site sent Sellars a Facebook post.

T’exelc Williams Lake Indian Band and Xats’ull Soda Creek First Nation were contacted by Imperial Metals Corp. the following afternoon. The mine is located within their traditional territory.

“We got dropped down in the priority list. We raised those issues obviously and I’d like to hope that’s never going to happen in the future,” said Sellars. “We were pretty discouraged by it for sure…Moving forward we obviously want to be higher on the priority list.”

As soon as Sellars found out about the breach, he attempted to get confirmation from the mine. Unable to do that, he informed T’exelc Williams Lake Indian Band Chief Anne Louie and Xats’ull Soda Creek First Nation Chief Bev Sellars and technical staff of the situation.

The breach could not have happened at a worse time as it coincided with the opening of the Quesnel River for band members for annual sockeye harvesting to fill their food-fish quotas.

The First Nations Fisheries Council of British Columbia stated that “record-breaking numbers of salmon are making their way up the Fraser River toward their spawning habitat in the Quesnel system.”

The FNHA issued a statement on Aug. 15 saying it was “working closely with First Nations directly impacted by the Mount Polley tailings spill to administer a fish sampling project intended to provide First Nations with independent information and to inform their decision-making.”

FNHA would not clarify which First Nations it was working with.
Fisheries Council Executive Director Jordan Point said concern for fish health goes beyond this season.

“The toxins in the river could impact the habitat to the point of impairing the salmon’s migratory success and future spawning. We’re going to need to be vigilant in the post-crisis stage with clean up and monitoring,” he said in a news release.

As clean-up work begins on site, Sellars said the bands want to have their own people involved.

The province reports that Imperial Metals Corp. will be footing the bill for clean-up.

On Aug. 18, the province announced that an independent engineering investigation and inquiry into the Mount Polley tailings pond breach will be conducted.  Independent third-party reviews of all 2014 Dam Safety Inspections for every tailings pond at a permitted mine in the province would also be taking place. The B.C. government said the investigation has the support of the Xats’ull First Nation and Williams Lake Indian Band.

“Under the order, those inspections must be reviewed by an independent qualified third-party professional engineer from a firm not associated with the tailings facility. All information obtained under this order will be provided to First Nations and made public,” states the news release issued by BC Ministry of Energy and Mines.

Environment Canada is also conducting an investigation into the spill.