Conservationist wants changes after failure of dam around tailings pond in the Cariboo

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LIKELY (NEWS1130) – As people in the Cariboo wait for results of tests to come back on the safety of the water after the breach of a dam around a tailings pond, a salmon conservationist has concerns about other similar mining projects.

Craig Orr with the Watershed Watch Salmon Society wants to see better regulations. “And, what we need is more environmental oversight and protection, but we’re not going to get that anytime soon, it doesn’t seem.”

He claims there needs to be someone looking at the risks mines pose, as well as the value of the environment.

“And making sure that the money is there to deal with such disasters in the future,” he adds.

Orr is concerned about Taseko’s proposed mine near Fish Lake and is disappointed by the approval of a tailings pond near the Nass River in northern BC.

Tests from the environment ministry are expected to come back today to indicate whether water in the Cariboo hit with mine waste from the tailings pond at Mount Polley Mine is toxic.

The government has given Imperial Metals an August 15th deadline to file a report on the failure of the dam around the pond.

The director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation in BC says it’s possible that taxpayers could foot the bill for the clean up of the spill if the company can’t.

There have been other disasters where the company responsible has gone bankrupt and couldn’t do its job in getting the environment back to its natural state. Jordan Bateman hopes that doesn’t happen in this case.

“If the company does go under, obviously taxpayers would be the last ones left holding the bag, these ‘what-if’ scenarios are always really difficult especially in the early days. You just don’t know how big or how expensive the clean up is going to be. It’s a fairly large mining company with lots of resources who knew the regulatory and safety specifications going in, so hopefully — fingers crossed for taxpayers — they’re able to clean this up.”

Bateman says it’s too early to make any predictions without knowing how much it’ll cost to get the environment back to normal, adding adds taxpayers are already paying through work carried out by regional district staff.

He says taxpayers are already having to deal with expenses related to emergency service in the regional district.  He’s urging governments and First Nations bands that are affected to keep track of their invoices and bills in order to forward them to the company.

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