Ottawa Hiding Pollution Figures From Mining Industry, Watchdog Alleges

By Michael Oliveira, THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO – Three environmental advocacy groups are seeking a judicial review of the actions of federal Environment Minister John Baird for allegedly counselling mining companies to ignore their legal responsibility to fully report all the pollution they’re responsible for.

Ecojustice filed an application Wednesday in Federal Court on behalf of MiningWatch Canada and Great Lakes United, alleging the government has told mining companies they needn’t report millions of kilograms of pollution to the National Pollutant Release Inventory.

Until 2006, mining companies were exempt from making mandatory reports about their pollutant releases and transfers to the national inventory, but Joan Kuyek of MiningWatch Canada said the government has since told the industry it can omit two categories of pollution.

And the pollution from mine tailings and waste rock, which is associated with the remnants of mining, would account for the overwhelming majority of what companies produce, she said.

“The amount of these contaminants is so enormous and poses such a threat to the communities where they are, and to the ecosystems where they’re deposited, that the public has the right to know about this.”

Eighty metal mining facilities across the country reported to the national inventory in 2006, including 33 from Ontario, 19 from Quebec, nine from British Columbia, six each from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, three from Newfoundland and Labrador, and two each from New Brunswick and Nunavut.

“When you live in these communities where there’s mining, you need to know what the threats are potentially to you and your family,” Kuyek said.

The notice of application filed in court alleges that Baird “has abused his discretion by communicating to mining facilities in a manner that permits them to violate Canadian Environmental Protection Act.”

“Actions by the minister and his delegates have conflicted with the . . . requirements relating to the reporting of releases and transfers to waste rock dumps and tailing impoundment areas from mining,” the document continues.

“Environment Canada officials made numerous representations and communications to mining facilities advising that mining facilities would not be required to report releases or transfers of substances of concern to tailings areas and waste rock areas for 2006.”

The court challenge will include a record of Baird’s course of conduct, including documents providing advice and representations to the industry, said Justin Duncan of Ecojustice, formerly the Sierra Legal Defence Fund.

Lawyers argue the mining industry’s undisclosed numbers could equal as much as 50 per cent of all the pollutants currently reported to the national inventory, when using the U.S. industry as a benchmark.

The U.S. mining industry accounts for only 72 of the 23,566 industrial facilities that report to an American pollution inventory, and yet those few dozen facilities make up 27 per cent of all the pollutants reported in the country, Duncan said.

And pollution data for American mine tailings and waste rock make up more than 97 per cent of the pollutants reported by the mining industry, he added.

John Jackson of Great Lakes United said he’s concerned about the “toxic legacy” being left behind by mining operations.

Environment Canada should not be telling companies to hide their pollution, he said.

“We’re not asking the government to spend any money, we’re not asking the government to change any regulations, all we’re asking the government to do is make it clear to industry . . . the exemption no longer exists.”

Kuyek said public disclosure of full pollution output will put pressure on the industry to keep clean up its act.

“It would certainly make the industry an awful lot more careful about how it assessed the feasibility of its mines, and would make the government more careful about how they dealt with mining issues,” she said.

“But it’s going to increase the public concern about some of the pollutants coming from the mining industry, and we think that’s important.”