B.C. allows mine waste into lake

I wish to alert people to an ongoing crisis in B.C. The B.C. Ministry of Environment has quietly granted Mount Polley Mining Corporation permission to drain mining waste directly into Quesnel Lake, B.C.’s deepest fiord lake.

This lake was the only source of drinking water for the residents of the town of Likely.

The B.C. government allowed this mining waste as part of a “long-term” water management plan.

The waste water discharge permit comes nearly three years after the collapse of the Mount Polley mine tailings pond spilled an estimated 25 million cubic metres of mining waste into Quesnel Lake, in what was considered the worst mining disaster in Canadian history.

No charges and no fines have been laid for the spill that cost B.C. taxpayers an estimated $40 million in cleanup costs and that B.C.’s chief mine inspector, Al Hoffman found was the result of “poor practices” and “non-compliances.”

Due to the above, I feel the B.C. government has no right to protest or fight the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Sharon McCloy, Sherwood Park