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Wildsight joins call for reforms to mining laws, regulations
More than 30 organizations from across the province joined together in Victoria on May 15 to call for major reform to B.C.âs dated mining laws and regulations.
Wildsight joined the group to call on the B.C. government to update the rules for mining in the province to ensure protection of clean water, to make sure mines pay for their own cleanup and to give First Nations and local communities more control.
âB.C.âs mining laws just arenât strong enough to protect our environment and communities from mine pollution,â said Wildsightâs Lars Sander-Green. âWeâve seen in the Elk Valley, across the Kootenays and right across the province that our laws just arenât working to keep water pollution out of our rivers and lakes.â
The coalitionâs full action plan includes ten important areas where mining-related laws need changes to avoid environmental damage, including three priorities they say would help avoid disasters like the spill at Mount Polley five years ago.
âWe need to ban mines that rely on dangerous mine waste storage dams, like Mount Polley, and we need to stop permitting new mines that would have to rely on water treatment systems for hundreds or thousands of years,â said Sander-Green. âAny mine that needs water treatment for centuries to keep dangerous pollution out of our rivers is a ticking time bomb and shouldnât be approved.â
Improvements to B.C.âs mine reclamation bonding program are also a priority for the coalition, who are asking for mines to provide bonds for the full cost of mine clean up and for a disaster fund to help clean up when things go wrong.
âItâs a simple principle: you make the mess, you clean it up,â said Sander-Green, âbut in B.C. itâs far too easy for mining companies to leave behind dangerous mines sites that leak pollution and eventually have to be cleaned up at taxpayersâ expense.â
Fines and penalties for polluting rivers and lakes need to be much more significant to push mining companies to improve mining practices, according to the coalition.
âWhat weâve seen in the Elk Valley is that when pollution limits are broken, the fines are so slow to come and so small that they just arenât effective in changing whatâs happening on the groundâ Sander-Green said.
The coalition is also asking for more local control for communities and First Nations in decisions to approve mines and for an end to the âwild westâ system where anyone can stake a mineral claim nearly anywhere in the province, including on private property.
âBritish Columbia’s greatest source of wealth is fresh water and healthy ecosystems. The transition to a clean economy will require some minerals mined in B.C., but we have to do it right and responsibly. Right now, we donât,â said Calvin Sandborn, legal director of the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria.
âItâs time to clean up mining in B.C.â concludes Sander-Green. The coalitionâs full plan is available at reformbcmining.ca.
Lead image: The Elk River, where long-term selenium pollution flows from the Elk Valley coal mines. Photo: Nick Nault.
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