Sunday, August 17, 2014

Mount Polley Disaster...Here Comes The Sludge.

There'sSomethingAbout
MaryVille


From The MoCo:

...The province says sediment samples collected Aug. 10 from the mouth of Hazeltine Creek and near Raft Creek in Quesnel Lake exceed guidelines and contaminated sites regulation standards for copper and iron...


But not to worry, because:

...(W)hile the discharged sediment is still not toxic for humans, it may harm aquatic life...


And, of course, there is absolutely no need to worry because, according to the Snooklandian minister responsible:

..."All the raw data from the tests has been shared with First Nations and Interior Health"...


Meanwhile, the old turdstormer himself, the good Mr. Bennett, has yet to explain how avalanches deposit copper and iron in creek beds.

And the best thing of all about the Snooklandian clampdown?

Ms. Polak, who was positively giddy about earlier non-sediment tests, says that these results were 'not unexpected'.

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Some folks are wondering why the clean-up hasn't begun in earnest yet...Well, don't forget that reverse, trapezoidal, double-sokaw from the piked position deflector spin that first got cranking in the pages of Maclean's last week...
And, finally, not to be (too) pedantic or anything, but...'data' are not singular.


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10 comments:

Don F. said...

I have been doing some calculating of numbers and although not very good with math the numbers don't seem to jibe??
We are being told that the amount of the spill was 10million cubic meters of water and roughly 4.5 to 5million cubic meters of tailings sludge totalling Say 15 million cubic meters of materials
When converted to square kilometres this equals 15 square kilometres one meter deep.
We have been told the tailings pond is 4 kilometres by 4 kilometres equaling 16 square kilometres.
If all this information is true than at the time of the spill total materials would have had to be less than one meter deep.
In your last article written by Wendy Stueck imperial metals stated that the height of the pond at the time of the breach was 35 meters with one meter freeboard as required meaning the depth of material would have to be 34 meters.
How can this be??

Steve Cooley said...

Don F: the bottom of the tailings lake is not flat, or tapered uniformly. It was normal terrain with ups and downs all over the lake bed.

Don F. said...

Hi Steve, the photos of the drained lake looks fairly level to me. This is quite a discrepancy to the tune of 3400%

Anonymous said...

In the old days...

Real NEWS organizations would take their own samples to independent labs.

Don F. said...

Sorry for highjacking the comments Ross, I am just struggling to believe the numbers.
Don

RossK said...

Steve--

Would an uneven lake bed explain the large discrepancy that Don is calculating?

_____
Anon-Above--

Heckuva point.

And they would likely have screamed bloody murder after the gigantic triangular exclusion zone barrier was put up around an 'avalanche' zone after the 'lanche was done and gone.

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RossK said...

(and no worries Don - think out loud, sloppily drummed comment threads are just the ticket for a non-established cred-free guy like me)

Anonymous said...

http://harveyoberfeld.ca/blog/mount-polley-there-must-be-a-full-judicial-inquiry/#comments

Anonymous said...

Several ‘dangerous occurrences’ at B.C. tailings ponds, but Victoria won’t provide details - Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Several+dangerous+occurrences+tailings+ponds+Victoria+provide+details/10131898/story.html

There were 46 “dangerous or unusual occurrences” at tailings ponds at mines across B.C. between 2000 and 2012, according to annual reports of B.C’s chief inspector of mines.

The inspection reports provide a yearly breakdown of the numbers, but no details of what occurred at the tailings ponds, used to store mine waste.

Despite the heightened interest in tailings pond safety following the collapse of Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley tailings dam on Aug. 4, the ministry refused to provide any further details.

Anonymous said...

Energy Minister Bill Bennett
in the news...

Farmland overhaul turning into ‘complete railroad job,’ according to email sent by Pat Pimm, BC Liberal MLA for Peace River North

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Farmland+overhaul+turning+into+complete+railroad+according+email+sent+Liberal/10131977/story.html

“We have just gone through this so-called consultation on Bill 24 and I have just been involved in a followup conference call with the minister (Bennett).”

“I (Pimm) am very concerned that this is going to be a complete railroad job.”