04) MAJOR FEARS FOR COPPER-GOLD MINE IN KAMLOOPS AREA
By Kimball Cariou
Few left-wing activists in British Columbia held out much hope that electing an NDP government on May 14th would have led to far-reaching reforms. But most agreed that the unexpected Liberal victory makes it much more difficult to achieve even limited progressive changes over the next four years.
For example, armed with her new majority, Premier Christy Clark will continue the drastic under-funding of public education, and even the tiny $20 monthly increase in social assistance rates proposed by the NDP is off her radar screen.
Some of the most serious consequences of the election are on the environmental front. Clark is much more likely to strike a deal with the Conservative federal and Alberta governments to allow the Enbridge and Kinder Morgan tar sands pipelines and tankers to move ahead, providing a few hundred jobs at the risk of oil spills which could inflict huge damage to the fragile coastal ecosystem and the tourism sector.
Another project which has received little attention in the corporate media could devastate the Kamloops area.
As Allison Griner wrote recently for the Tyee website, some preparation work has already begun for the Ajax copper/gold mine planned by KGHM International. This area of grassland, forest and lakes on the southwest edge of Kamloops will be transformed into a 261‑hectare open pit mine, with a 150-meter-high tailings storage just a few kilometres from schools and residential neighbourhoods.
Two similar projects are within ten and seventy-five kilometers of this central B.C. city of 85,000 people. But the push for an open-pit mine within the natural geographic "bowl" which contains Kamloops has many residents deeply worried.
Dr. Jill Calder recently formed the Kamloops Physicians for a Healthy Environment to press for an independent health assessment of the mine.
"We don't disagree with mining and the creation of jobs and projects that are good for the economy. But this particular mine, in this location, we are against it," says Calder.
The mine's proposed boundaries will overlap with Kamloops city limits. Wind and the sloping nature of the land could carry pollutants towards schools, hospitals and seniors' residences.
Worried that KGHM has not been "transparent and forthcoming" about health concerns, the 50-member Kamloops Physicians group is looking into other projects, including the Rio Tinto Kennecott copper mine near Salt Lake City, Utah. The evidence from Utah points to serious health issues, including increases in lung disease, cancer, heart attacks, strokes and neurological diseases like Parkinson's.
The physicians warn that heavy metals unleashed through mining will seep into the soil or be picked up by the wind as dust. The local water table could plummet under the strain of the mine's operations, and added emissions from burning diesel at the site will be released into the city.
For its part, KGHM is conducting its own environmental assessment of 41 components of the project. No physicians have been employed in the company assessment, which is gauging potential effects on air and water. KGHM says it aims to finish sampling and testing by the end of September, when the results will become part of its application to the provincial government.
During the following 180-day period, the provincial Environment Assessment Office (EAO) will review the application and hold open houses to hear public concerns. Among those expected to speak out are local ranchers, whose families have been in the area for over a century, and First Nations people who trace their origins around Kamloops back for thousands of years.
Dr. Calder's group are sceptical of KGHM's claims that the company has a good record of not polluting urban areas at nine similar operations across the western hemisphere. Critics stress that existing mining rules were established for construction in areas with large geographical buffers and few nearby inhabitants - not on the border of major cities.
The mine became a big issue for Kamloops voters in the May 14 election. While serving as Clark's environment minister, the Liberal incumbent in Kamloops-North Thompson, Terry Lake, declined to call for a joint federal-provincial review of the project. Both Kamloops ridings were held by the Liberals, increasing concerns that the Ajax mine could become virtually unstoppable.
Supporters like MLA Terry Lake argue that the mine will generate jobs, a view which swayed some working class voters at a time of economic uncertainty. But the Ajax mine would only employ some 380 people, for a period of just 23 years. Critics say the negative impacts on health and the environment far outweigh this relatively small economic benefit, and that the local tourism industry would also suffer.
Having received huge financial support from the resource corporations going into the May 14 election, Premier Clark and her cabinet will try to ignore the opposition of many Kamloops area residents. But a big enough mobilization of public opinion could still affect the outcome of this project.
For more information, visit www.stopajaxmine/home.
(The above article is from the June 1-15, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)