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'Interim solution for 100 years' Review board rejects federal plan to leave arsenic underground indefinitely at Giant Mine
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Friday, June 21, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The federal government's plan to leave 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide underground indefinitely at the Giant Mine site has been deemed unacceptable, although it has been given 100 years to come up with an alternate solution.
The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board released the findings of its environmental assessment report on Thursday. The 233-page report included 27 proposed measures the government must adopt in order to proceed with its remediation project. - NNSL file photo |
That was the command given in the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board's environmental assessment report on the Giant Mine cleanup, released Thursday.
"The Board didn't agree that that was reasonable," said Alan Ehrlich, environmental impact assessment manager with the review board, of the plan to leave the arsenic underground indefinitely.
"The board concluded that there would be significant adverse affects partly arising from the perpetual timeline of the project."
He added while the 233-page report, which contains 27 measures, approved of freezing the arsenic underground, it should not be considered the final solution for remediation at the site. "It's only an interim solution for 100 years," he said.
As part of an attempt to find alternative solutions to leaving the arsenic frozen underground, the report stated the government would have to commission an independent review of the project every 20 years, and that it would have to create a multi-stakeholder research agency to facilitate active research in emerging technologies, with a view to finding a permanent solution for dealing with arsenic at the Giant Mine site.
To facilitate the research and the future independent review process, the report also proposed the government investigate funding options for ongoing maintenance of the project, including the establishment of a trust fund with multi-year up front funding.
"One of the key issues that we continued to bring forward throughout the hearing was the need to have a legally-binding environmental agreement to cover the mine site and allow interested parties to engage better and to provide for some independent oversight," said Alternatives North representative Kevin O'Reilly, who participated in the review.
O'Reilly said although those kinds of arrangements are already in place for diamond mines, the government had been reluctant to make any commitments. For O'Reilly, making these initiatives legally binding added assurances the government would act in the interest of all parties.
"It makes it clear that promises that are made are kept, and that there are ways to enforce that," said O'Reilly.
Fears over water quality also led the report to include measures to divert Baker Creek, and to mandate that government add an ion exchange process to its proposed water treatment process to improve water quality.
"Government originally brought it forward as an idea then quickly backed away from it, I think largely based on cost," said O'Reilly of the diversion of Baker Creek. "I think many people would agree that it's not a good idea to have a creek running through a major contaminated site anywhere in the world, especially one that spills out into a very large fresh water body that's next to a capital city," added O'Reilly.
O'Reilly said the government had originally proposed installing a steel diffuser just north of Latham Island, approximately 400 metres north of the tip of Ndilo, to deal with water coming from the site.
"They're idea was to basically put a big sprinkler into Back Bay and squirt the water out," said O'Reilly. "They didn't really do any work on what effect it would have on water quality. Quite frankly, the government didn't do its homework."
Due in large part to objections from representatives of the Yellowknives Dene, the report concluded the effluent water coming from the mine's water treatment plant must at least meet "Health Canada drinking water standards."
Neither Ehrlich nor O'Reilly would comment on whether they thought the government would sign the report. However, O'Reilly believes the report provides a solution to a lot of the problems at the site.
"It's a clear reflection of public sentiment," said O'Reilly. "We like the recommendations that the Review Board has made, and we think they should be accepted by the government."
O'Reilly said the government now has the option to accept the environmental assessment report; reject the report, which would send the remediation project to a higher level of review; or attempt to negotiate amendments to the report's proposals.
The estimated cost for cleaning up Giant Mine, prior to the review board's environmental assessment report, was $903 million.
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