The Alberta government ordered the owner of a coal mine Tuesday to clean up an estimated 1 billion litres of Toxic waste water that spilled into tributaries of the Athabasca River.

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Data Shines Light on Efforts to Keep Public in the Dark and Downplay Impacts of Massive Spill

“The pollutants have been found to exceed safety levels as far as 40 kilometres downstream of the spill”

On October 31, an impoundment holding a Toxic slurry of waste from Sherritt International’s Obed Mountain coal mine failed releasing approximately 1 Billion litres of Arsenic waste into the Athabasca River watershed. Alberta government press releases referred to the waste as “process water” “suspended solids, which include such things as clay and organic matter”, and sediments containing “such things as clay, mud, shale and coal particles”. Official statements have provided very little information about the extent or magnitude of the spill, and a November 4 statement stated the spill was somehow “contained”. As reported in the Edmonton Journal, the only thing that was contained was the waste remaining at the mine site. The plume released to the river extended 113 km by November 8.

The government’s statements, along with at least one unofficial statement to media from an employee of the mine, led to initial reporting that the released waste materials are inert. MiningWatch is very concerned about what appear to be efforts to keep the public in the dark about the environmental impacts of this spill.

Thanks to successful litigation by MiningWatch, Ecojustice, and Great Lakes United, coal and other mine operators have to report the toxic contents of waste products to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI). Prior to the 2009 court decision, the federal government allowed a lapsed exemption to the Environmental Protection Act to remain in place for mining operations.

In sharp contrast to the descriptions provided by the Alberta government, data submitted by Sherritt to the NPRI indicate that tonnes of highly toxic materials were being dumped into the ponds every year. The toxic substances include carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. The wastes also include phosphorous, manganese, and zinc, which have negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems and drinking water at elevated concentrations. These substances occur naturally in the coal and waste rock from the mine but become an environmental hazard when removed from the ground, processed, and stored as slurry.

“This disaster clearly shows the impotence of federal and provincial governments’ regulatory oversight and over-reliance on industry self-monitoring and social responsibility,” stated Ramsey Hart, Program Coordinator at MiningWatch Canada. “Corporate commitments to sustainability like those made by Sherritt and many other mining companies ring hollow when faced with such an incident and how it’s being handled,” Hart added.

Concern over the impacts of the spill were confirmed by the unofficial release of water testing results by the Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health to the Edmonton Journal. The test results indicated elevated concentrations of PAHs and mercury in the waste plume that was moving downstream.[6]

The attached table provides the data taken from the NPRI for on-site releases of tailings or process water at the Obed Moutain Mine.

Alberta’s Toxic Arsenic spill heading to N.W.T.

The Alberta government says the Toxic Arsenic water is now making its way through the Athabasca River. It should reach the Slave River and Great Slave Lake close to the beginning of December.

“We are going to keep doing monitoring as it makes its way north,” Miltenberger said. “This is the first coal mine spill of this magnitude. A huge amount of water filled with these Toxic waste substances… In my recollection, this is the first of this type of catastrophic failure.” According to Environment Canada, the water being stored at the mine contained potentially damaging compounds, including a suspected carcinogen known to cause tumours in laboratory animals. There’s also arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead and manganese found at the disposal site.read more

First Nations kept in the dark over Toxic spill into Athabasca River

One of two First Nations downstream  is complaining it has been kept in the dark about the company’s massive leak into the Athabasca River.

Alexis Nakota First Nation Chief Tony Alexis said that he has voiced strong concerns with the company and Alberta government because the band has been excluded from conversations related to the implementation of an emergency response plan in the wake of what is thought to be the largest coal slurry spill in Canadian history.

“As stewards of the land and water, it is our obligation and right to be the caretakers and protector of the Athabasca River,” Chief Alexis said. read more

Time for Alberta to come clean about environmental accidents

When provided with the table of these pollutants, Dr. Greg Goss, an environmental toxicology professor and researcher at the University of Alberta, said:

“The coal slurry spill will be devastating to streams in the area for a long time. I am outraged that we have heard nothing from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). They are responsible for enforcing the Fisheries Act. Despite the recently stripped down Fisheries Act, this is a clear situation where the act still applies and we should expect a response from the DFO. There are cut-throat trout and native bull trout in the streams that were impacted by the spill. These are species that fall under the new recreational, commercial and aboriginal interest designation of the Fisheries Act.” read more

Hinton Coal Mine Leak Cleanup Ordered By Alberta Government

The Alberta government ordered the owner of a coal mine Tuesday to clean up an estimated 1 billion litres of Toxic waste water that spilled into tributaries of the Athabasca River.

The directive was contained in an environmental protection order to Coal Valley Resources and Sherritt International (TSX:S).

The order comes almost three weeks after an earth berm broke at the Obed Mountain mine near Hinton, allowing coal waste to spill into two creeks that feed the Athabasca River. read more

sources

miningwatch

Alberta Energy Regulator responding to Obed Mountain Coal Mine Proc...

Sediment release into Athabasca River has stopped

Edmonton Journal

Edmonton Journal

Edmonton Journal

winnipegfreepress

cbc