AllTheSafetyThatFits
Kinda/SortaVille
Well, well, well...
Whaddy'a know.
Everything is just peachy and all is right with the mine tailings world once again, according to our fine Environment Minister, Ms. Mary Polack.
Stephen Chua, of the CP, had the story up on Sunday evening:
...Imperial Metals Corp., the company that owns the breached pond, is moving water from Polley Lake into Quesnel Lake to relieve pressure on a wall of debris that formed after the spill...
{snip}
...Environment Minister Mary Polak said the government authorized the company to start pumping after the latest results from Polley Lake suggested water quality is similar to that of samples taken in the 1980s...
Except, well, there is this matter of everyone kept out of the area.
Why?
Well, the Chair of the Cariboo Regional District, Al Richmond, explains:
...Authorities are also restricting access to the area surrounding Polley Lake because of concerns the wall of debris may be unstable, and authorities want to make sure no one is in the area if a washout occurs.
Al Richmond, chair of the Cariboo Regional District, said the restriction does not affect any populated areas and no one is being forced from their home.
People have been visiting the area to get a look at the accident site, and they could be interfering with work in the area while putting themselves at risk, Mr. Richmond said.
“We know that some folks have been quite curious and have been going in there,” he said. “Some folks don’t seem to realize we don’t want any activity on Polley Lake that might in fact cause that plug to breach.”
“If there’s a potential breach and you’re on Polley Lake fishing, for example, you could find yourself in Quesnel Lake pretty quick, and the outcomes may not be very pleasant,” said Mr. Richmond.
“I would suggest it would be unlikely someone would survive that type of ride.”...
Sure sounds like everything is Mary Polak peaches 'n cleaner-than-clean and closer-to-fine to me.
Yessiree.
As for all that sludge that has made its way down to Polley Lake....Why should we worry when Mary has her crack team workin' the case, hard?
.
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2 comments:
I hear the expression,"better to beg forgiveness than ask permission," all the time in construction lunchrooms. It echoes in my head now...
There's a lot of suspicious shilly-shallying going on with damage assessment at Mount Polley Mine. Claiming to not know what's in the sludge is as preposterous as the clean bill of health the conspicuously sparse and discreet water samples pretend to show.
The idea of any fisherman's punt getting sucked down Hazeltine Creek into Quesnel Lake is patently absurd: who in their right mind would go fishing in either Polley or Quesnel Lakes after tens of billions of litres of mine tailings have been released into them? In any case, a two-metre rise in water level in Polley Lake is a result of the entire Hazeltine Creek being filled with toxic sludge, not because of a "plug" (that might "breach") formed at the ventral end of the lake. It's sure looking like the government is sweating some culpability (i.e., for neglecting to shut the mine down until tailings-pond concerns were dealt with) and doesn't want anyone collecting evidence from the pond, dam breach, the two lakes or the creek that connects them. The tardiness in analyzing the sludge is conspicuous; obviously this is where the physical and chemical impacts are greatest and where culpability is best ascertained. It's relatively easy to dilute the severity of the disaster by discreet surface water samples, some taken upstream of the event (!), but it'll be difficult to fudge the sludge; that's why the government wants to exclude investigators from that immediate area.
One of the biggest questions I have is what happens chemically to the outwashed sludge now exposed to the atmosphere. Will heavy metals be encapsulated or will they react with atmospheric oxygen to become soluble? By making lame excuses for cordoning off the area, the government looks worried about this too.
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