Mt. Polley - You Can Help

Mt. Polley - How You Can Help

by Alexandra Morton

Hello; I have been posting blogs on my onsite investigation into the situation around the largest mining disaster in history that tragically entered Quesnel Lake, where 1/4 of the Fraser sockeye rear.

Alexandramorton.typepad.com

The BC government's first response was that all the grey slurry pouring out of the mine was just sand, no different than an avalanche and that we got "lucky" - the water is safe to drink. That is not at all what the situation looks like and the people in the area and downstream have virtually no confidence in the BC government's assessment. The federal government is completely missing in action - a stunning silence.

My sense is that this is very similar to the situation with European salmon viruses in BC waters. Government appears to be doing what they can to support the companies, not the public. However, this disaster is bad for the mining employees, as well as, the rest of the public. Everyone knew this was going to happen and government and Imperial Metals apparently just let it happen. The BC government likes to promote itself as pro-industry, but have catastrophically failed once again in that capacity. Salmon farms have lost social licence and this mining disaster confirms they have transformed Canada into a third world country. 

I am writing to ask that you sign and share a petition below to inspire government to clean up this mess. Imperial Metals knows how to move massive amounts of material, they need to apply this expertise to their tailing waste on land and underwater. If this is not cleaned up it is going to leech into the Fraser watershed for 100s of years impacting the ability for juvenile salmon to rear in Quesnel Lake (all sockeye spend a year in fresh water) and the entire watershed.

Clean up is not going to happen unless government knows the people demand action.

So, once again if we want wild salmon it is up to us. Here is the petition to save you the effort of going to my blog https://www.change.org/p/premier-christy-clark-clean-up-the-mt-polley-mine-disaster-put-the-sludge-back-in-the-tailings-pond-or-step-aside-and-make-room-for-a-leader-who-puts-the-health-of-the-land-and-the-people-first

Please check my blog as I will update it as this continues to unfold.

Thank you for your efforts on this.