Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Society members lead a rally against Imperial Metals (Youtube/ ochiese) Read this Aug. 12 story from Global News on the Neskonlith Indian Band’s eviction notice to Mount Polley owner Imperial Metals regarding exploratory work for a proposed zinc-lead mine in their territory, near Revelstoke, BC. VANCOUVER –
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The Common Sense Canadian: After Mount Polley, Alaska Senator doesn’t trust BC’s environmental reviews for mines
US Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) The following is an open letter from Alaskan US Senator Lisa Murkowski to Secretary of State John Kerry. Dear Secretary Kerry, I am writing to reiterate my concerns about large-scale mining in British Columbia, which has the potential to adversely affect downstream fisheries and communities in
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Oops! Mount Polley owner may not have any environmental insurance
Aerial image of recent Mount Polley mine tailings spill (Cariboo Regional District) Read this Aug. 12 250news.com column by Peter Ewart, raising concerns about Imperial Metals’ insurance for cleaning up its toxic tailing pond spill at Polley Lake, BC. Does Imperial Metals have environmental insurance? It is a statement that
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Toxic Mexican copper mine spill prompts water restrictions
Grupo Mexico’s Buenavista del Cobre mine Read this Aug 11 story from mining-technology.com on a toxic wastewater spill from a Mexican copper mine. Mexican authorities have imposed restrictions on water supplies in some cities and towns in the northern part of the country, including the Sonora state capital of Hermosillo, following
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Mount Polley Mine: Concerns linger amid positive water quality tests
Aerial view of debris from Mount Polley Minine tailings pond breach (Cariboo Regional District) Read this August 9 update from CBC.ca on the water quality situation surrounding the Mount Polley Mine tailings pond breach. The B.C. government has approved the controlled release into Hazeltine Creek of water in Polley Lake
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Tahltan renew pressure on Imperial Metals’ Red Chris Mine in wake of Mount Polley
Tahltan First Nations and their supporters peacefully occupying a Fortune Minerals drill in the Sacred Headwaters last year Read this August 8 story from the Terrace Standard on the renewed pressure for members of the Tahltan First Nations on Red Chris Mine, a project being developed in northwest BC by Mount Polley
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Mount Polley owner donated half a million dollars to Liberals, gets easy ride from Bennett
BC Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett (CP) By Alex Hanson The Bill Bennett dog and pony show has been wheeled out in the media once again, this time to cover for his long time pal and major campaign contributor Murray Edwards – the biggest shareholder at the now infamous
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Mount Polley Mine proves Liberal “de-regulation” doesn’t work
Blame the BC Liberals’ lax regulations for Mount Polley Mine, says Rafe Mair (BC Liberal facebook page) The Mount Polley Mine/Imperial Metals disaster is such that one scarcely knows where to start. Fortunately, the people of British Columbia have a writer like Stephen Hume, who in the Vancouver Sun tells chapter and verse
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Government allowed massive production, toxin increase at Mount Polley Mine before tailings pond disaster
Aerial image of tailings pond breach (Cariboo Regional District) Mount Polley’s tailing pond breach is the worst environmental disaster in BC History. It will be a BC Day that goes down in infamy and, from the environmental perspective, may be one of the world’s worst mining disasters when all is
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Aerial video of burst Mout Polley Mine tailings pond
Watch this aerial footage of yesterday’s Mount Polley Mine tailings pond breach, courtesy of the Cariboo Regional District. The failure of Imperial Metals’ gold-copper mine tailings pond prompted an emergency water use ban and threatens fish in the Quesnel and Fraser rivers. This from the Regional District yesterday: The Cariboo Regional
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC mine’s tailings pond breach forces emergency water use ban
Photo: Cariboo Regional District Emergency Operations Centre facebook page The apparent breach of a tailings pond connected Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley Mine, near Likely, BC, has led to an emergency water ban from The Cariboo Regional District. The following update was issued by the district on its Emergency Operations facebook page this morning:
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: KSM Mine promises epic gold, copper, jobs…and waste
The location of one of KSM’s three proposed open pit mines (Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska) The $5.3 billion proposed Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) mine, which received BC government approval yesterday, boasts one of the world’s largest gold and copper deposits. But with big promises of jobs and ore come serious concerns over the staggering volumes of tailings and
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Liberal govt hubris handed Tsilhqot’in Nation bigger legal victory
The statue ‘Ivstitia’ (Justice) guards the entrance of the Supreme Court of Canada (Sean Kilpatrick/CP) The BC Liberal Government just couldn’t leave well enough alone. In choosing to appeal the Tsilhqot’in First Nation’s BC Supreme Court victory over land title and rights, the government set in motion a chain of events
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Northwest Transmission Line: Environmental, financial boondoggle
According to new documents obtained via Freedom of Information search by the Vancouver Sun, the construction of the wildly over-budget, 344 km Northwest Transmission Line has been rife with environmental mismanagement. The line – which departs from a junction near Terrace, will carry power to a series of new mines in northwest
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Ajax Mine video featuring TRU dean unearths conflict
TRU’s dean of trades and technology is featured in an Ajax mine video (Youtube: Ajax Project ) The latest chapter in the controversial Ajax mine proposal planned for the edge of Kamloops, BC was released as a sleek corporate video titled “The Conversation” by mining company, KGHM International. “The Conversation”
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Taseko appeals Prosperity Mine rejection…again
The location of Taseko’s proposed New Prosperity Mine, west of Williams Lake VANCOUVER – The company behind a proposed B.C. gold and copper mine that was rejected twice by the federal government is asking the Federal Court to quash the environment minister’s decision. Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX:TKO) says it’s filing
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Taseko Mines “like a cancer that just won’t go away”
The Tsilhqot’in First Nation is fighting a seemingly never-ending battle to save their land Read this Feb. 27 story from CBC.ca on Taseko Mines’ plan to appeal the second rejection by a federal review panel of its proposed Prosperity Mine. Ottawa’s second rejection of an open pit gold and copper
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: No prosperity for Taseko: Harper govt rejects BC mine
The location of Taseko’s proposed New Prosperity Mine, west of Williams Lake After three years, several court cases, two project designs and as many federal reviews, the Harper government has rejected Taseko Mines’ controversial Properity Mine proposal for BC. A statement issued earlier today on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s website noted that Environment
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Giant Mine clean-up involves freezing underground arsenic
Photo: Wikimedia Commons By Bob Weber, The Canadian Press YELLOWKNIFE – Plans to clean up what may be Canada’s worst toxic site are moving ahead with changes suggested by those who live beside Yellowknife’s Giant Mine. Last summer, a northern environmental regulator told the federal cabinet that it wasn’t entirely
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: US woman sues Canadian mining titan Teck over toxins, disease
1988 image of effluent from Teck’s lead and Zinc smelter in Trail, BC (photo: Joel Rogers) by Dene Moore, Canadian Press VANCOUVER – A Washington state woman has filed a class-action lawsuit against Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B), claiming toxic pollutants from the company’s smelter in southeastern British Columbia are to blame
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