Kamloops environmentalists join Williams Lake announcement on Mount Polley legal action

UPDATE: MiningWatch Canada today filed a private prosecution against the B.C. government and the Mount Polley Mining Corporation for violations of the federal Fisheries Act in connection with the breach of the tailings pond at the Mount Polley open-pit mine in 2014.

MiningWatch said in a press release the legal action contends that both the Province and the Mount Polley Mining Corp., owned by Imperial Metals, violated sections 35(1) and 36(3) of the Fisheries Act.

“MiningWatch is taking action now because almost two and a half years after the disaster, the Crown has failed to lay charges and enforce the Fisheries Act, despite clear and ample evidence to justify proceeding.”

Ugo Lapointe of MiningWatch Canada said there is “clear evidence of impacts on waters, fish, and fish habitat.”

MiningWatch filed the charges this morning in Provincial Court in Williams Lake. It used a provision of the Criminal Code that allows a citizen to initiate a private prosecution if he or she believes, on reasonable grounds, that a person has committed an indictable offence. “These reasonable grounds clearly exist in this case, under the Fisheries Act,” said MiningWatch.

EARLIER STORY:

Kamloops environmentalists will join a host of environmental organizations gathering in Williams Lake today to announce the latest court action in connection with the impacts of the Mount Polley Mine tailings pond disaster.

Lawsuits resulting from the breach of the tailings pond in August 2014 are piling up.

Ugo Lapoint of MiningWatch Canada said representatives of local, provincial and national groups will gather in front of the court house in Williams Lake for the announcement at 10:30 a.m.

Attending will be representatives from MiningWatch Canada, Amnesty International Canada, First Nations Women Advocating for Responsible Mining, Concerned Citizens of Quesnel Lake, Kamloops Physicians for the Environment Society, Kamloops Area Preservation Association, and Clayoquot Action.

Lapointe said the Wilderness Committee, Sierra Club B.C., Fair Mining Collaborative, and Rivers without Borders are among the other groups supporting the action.

The tailings pond at the Mount Polley Mine burst a little more than two years ago, spilling 24 million cubic metres of water and tailings waste into Hazeltine creek, Quesnel Lake and Quesnel River.

In July, mine owner Imperial Metals filed a lawsuit for damages alleging negligence and breach of contract by engineering firms Knight Piesold, which designed the tailings dam, and AMEC Earth and Environmental, which later took over monitoring of the dam.

In August, five separate lawsuits were launched against Imperial Metals and others in connection with the spill. Among the complainants were several First Nations as well as wilderness adventure and accommodation companies.

A Tsilquot’in Nation’s lawsuit says the breach deposited tailings along a nearly 10-km stretch from the creek to the lake.

“The flood waters caused by the (tailings storage facility (TSF) breach) created a debris path 150 metres wide,” the claim says. “Aquatic and terrestrial life in Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake were immediately lost.”

Also this past summer, a Calgary-based shareholder in Imperial Metals started a class action lawsuit.