Eye on Ekati
Environmental agency releases annual report on BHP diamonds mine

BHP's watchdog
Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency was established Feb. 5, 1997 as a condition of the federal environmental assessment and review process.
Serves as a watchdog over the environmental management of Ekati and government regulatory agencies for the mine.
Members include Kitikmeot Inuit Association, North Slave Metis Alliance, Dogrib Treaty 11 Council, Akaitcho Treaty 8, BHP, federal and territorial governments.
Chaired by Kugluktuk's Red Petersen, a former MLA. Other members are impact assessment specialist Bill Ross of the University of Calgary; traditional knowledge specialist and marine scientist Fikret Berkes of the University of Manitoba; aquatic specialist Peter McCart; University of Saskatchewan wildlife biologist Francois Messier; First Nations resource planner Tony Pearse; and Kevin O'Reilly of Yellowknife-based EnviroWatch.
Over each of its first two years, the agency's budget is $450,000 -- $350,000 in both year 1 and year 2 comes from BHP. Ottawa contributes $100,000 in year 1 and the GNWT $100,000 in year 2.

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Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 13/98) - Ekati's environmental watchdog can claim validation.

The Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency, which recently released it first annual report, was responsible for identifying reduced oxygen levels in a lake at the BHP diamond mine.

Kodiak Lake is located within the site near Lac de Gras, 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.

The oxygen depletion happened quickly -- evidence of the fragile nature of the Northern environment. Though no dead fish were found after the ice melted, the long-term ecological effects are unclear.

"The effects on the eggs and juvenile fish may be unknown for many years. At this point, the entire issue has become simply a matter of waiting and watching what happens," warns an agency briefing.

BHP said in its 1997 environmental agreement annual report that the "fish were not affected. Biologists predict fish will start to grow faster in a year or two and there will be more fish."

Once informed, BHP responded quickly by pumping air into the lake. By the end of April, oxygen concentrations had reached at least one and a half times desired levels at two depths. Concentrations in the deepest water, however remained low.

Agency member Tony Pearse, a resource planner who has worked with aboriginal groups since 1980, said the Kodiak Lake problem could have been handled earlier.

"Had BHP had an integrated system within its organization or on site, somebody would have recognized (the oxygen problem)."

Oxygen is depleted as bacteria break down complex organic compounds. Kodiak Lake's oxygen was being depleted by a combination of sewage effluent, organic matter picked up by water flowing through a diversion channel and the pumping of water from Panda and Koala lakes into Kodiak.

The agency made six recommendations on the Kodiak Lake oxygen problem, among them that BHP should discharge effluent somewhere other than Kodiak if the problem persists.

In all, the agency made 18 recommendations on the entire Ekati project. "Certainly there have been improvements over the year but there is still work to be done," Pearse said.

BHP and government groups must act on the recommendations or provide reasons for not taking action. If the agency remains unsatisfied, it can call on the minister of resources to intervene.