Report to detail risks prior to Mount Polley tailings pond breach

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Did the provincial government have a duty to warn us about the risk at the Mount Polley mine before the tailings pond breach last summer?

We will find out tomorrow with the release of a report by BC’s Information and Privacy Commissioner.

Elizabeth Denham is looking into what the government knew about the state of the mine before thousands of cubic litres of waste water was spilled into the lakes and streams around Likely BC last August.

She started her investigation after getting a complaint from the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, which insists the province knew far more about the dangers around the rapidly filling tailings pond than it ever let on to the public.

Tests on the waste water after the breach showed it was almost drinking-water quality.

An independent report into the disaster found the cause to be the structural integrity of the pond.

A decision from the government about reopening the mine is expected in a matter of days.

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