plan id ISES From page 8 Britannia Creek and 80 kilometres of underground mine tunnels have been acting as a conduit for the effluent. The effluent coniains elevated levels of copper, zine and lesser amounts of arsenic, lead and cadmium. The discharge is toxic to fish, Currently, as much as +50 kilograms of copper enters Howe Sound daily and the flow of water draining from the min: tunnels is comparable to the amount of sewage coming from a town of 25,000 people according to Robert McCandless of Environment Canada. To fund the cleanup, trucks would deliver metal-bearing soils along the Sca-to-Sky highway depositing it in a land- fill ac che Jane Pit basin seven kilometres east of Britannia Beach. Currently this waste is shipped to Alberta and the United States. The contami- nated soils would come from excavated building founda- tions, ash residue and general industrial waste. No bio-med- ical or municipal waste will be allowed on the site and ail materials would comply with the B.C. Waste Management Act. Money from tipping fees charged for this waste would fund the treatment facility and help clean up the shorelines and marine habitat. A two-kilometre strip of coastal waters along Britannia Beach is scriously polluted, affecting 4.5 million juvenile chum salmon from the Squamish Estuary — half the entire salmon run. Wayne Knapp of the Department Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) said Britannia Creek is essen- tially devoid of all aquatic life. A DFO report revealed that chinook salmon held in cages off Britannia Creck diced in less than 48 hours because of the toxic metals in the watezc, whereas fish held off Porteau Cove had a 100 per cent sur- vival rate. Brine shrimp and mussels are also effected by the copper contamination and are very important in the food chain — one that could be revived as a potential habitat for salmon and trout. Residents at the West Vancouver Seniors Centre voiced concerns over a public consultation process that is proceeding too quickly. Several residents from Britannia Beach view Copper Beach as a corpo- rate villain cashing in on an environmental problem the provincial government should have solved years ago. West Vancouver Coun. Bill Soprovich said the hearings are cerned over the expected truck traffic that would add to the highway 26 trucks per day, five days a week. From December to March, the landfill, would cease operation because of road conditions and the heavy ski season traffic, bur many homeowners in West Vancouver have creeks running in their b; rds and a spill by a truck loaded with heavy- metal industrial waste could contaminate their yards. West Vancouver Mayor Pat Boname said that an important traffic study will nor be com- pleted until after a decision on the project has been decided. “Pm concerned about trucks full of contaminated waste going along the Upper Levels Highway and I hope to get some answers to those questions. You know how we feel about trucks in West Vancouver,” Boname said. Other people, including the. Environmental Mining Council, a watchdog organiza- tion, seemed worried over the stability of the mine shafts in the event of an carthquake. Pam ‘Tattersfield who lives at Britannia Beach, is similarly worried about contaminating the- the mine shafts collapse. “Pm concerned they're going to grant the permits prior to the treatment plant and (environmental} studies being done,” Tattersfield said. West Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA Ted Nebbeling who was- n't at the meeting, is con- cerned about earthquakes and avalanches washing or leaching away material because of the porous shale bedrock under- neath the mine. Engincers, Nebbeling said, told him that leaching of the heavy-metal soils could effect the Britannia Creek watershed and possibly Furry Creck to the south. Engineers from both H Simons, an engineering firm on contract with Copper Beach, and technical experts from the Ministry of Energy and Mines deny that claim. Brennan Lang, a geotechni- cal consultant working on the project said there is no risk to the landfill structure from avalanches. “We've made an assessment of that risk and we see it as an extremely flow,” Lang said. Nebbeling would like to sce the provincial government fund the cleanup project them- selves without a landfill site and is also concerned over how the Sea-to-Sky Highway will han- dle the extra waffic if Whistler wins its bid for the 2010 urry Creek watershed if tannia waste fears advocated to make Britannia part of the growth strategy for the Sea-to- Sky corridor and an opportuni- tv in that area to create 2 resi- dential base that would form the new tax base,” Nebbeling said. That tax base could then fund its own treatment facility without private investors Nebbeling argues. However, V cr, Pemberton and Squamish have all approved the Britannia Mine reclamation project in principle in one form or anoth- er according to Brent Leigh, economic development officer for Squamish. Start-up costs for the treat- ment plant and a diversion pipeline will run to $11 million all paid by Copper Beach. Annual operating costs for the landfill and treatment faci will cost $800,000, which will necessitate the issuing of $25 million in bonds. The transfer of residential land north of Britannia Creck to a government-administered housing corporation is also part of the proposed deal, which would give self-govern- ment to the residents living there. George Shank, an investor in the Copper Beach project, said the effluent could not be cleaned up without the com- mercial landfill to pay for it. “All of these things, the treatment facility, pipeline and road works create a capital requirement and it has to fund- ed or (the area) will never recover,” Shank said. Previous governments have considered various treatment technologies to fix the acid drainage problem, but the political and financial will to address the situation has never come to fruition. The issue of excess mining effluent is the biggest environ mental problem | facing the mining industry today, but sev- eral. miites ig Norway and Sweden are successfully being treated with the same technol- ogy proposed by Copper Beach. Copper Beach is hoping for a decision by July and if suc- cessful in its a plic tion, would like to comple ete construction of the treatment facility by next ring. It has been trying for whe past six years to devise a sustainable plan to clean up the area. The 8.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines and Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks along with the DFO are the regulatory agen- cies involved in the permit process and will reach their decisions sometime this sum- Sunday, May 23, 1999 - North Shore News - 5 NEWS photo Paul McGrath GORDON Tate, with the Environmental Mining Councii of 8.C., checked out an information display at meeting held May 20 regarding pollution at Britannia. mer. The Fraser Basin Council, a non-governmental organiza- tion, which has organized the public review hearings, will release its own report by mid- June. Fraser Basin chair and former Liberal member of Parliament Jona Campagnolo, took the opportunity to encourage all parties to work together, noting there are many old mining sites in B.C. where the chance to clean it up wili never happen. “We have a private-sector Shopriders from $995 If you have been injured in an auto accident Cail Stephen Anderson 922-8831 SAGER ANDERSON LAWRENCE Barristers & Solicitors 235-15th Street, West Vancouver FF Coupon ANY OIL CHANGE PACKAGE Formerly Shell Rapid Lube Lonsdale & 13th . Vancouver 1050 Women are 7 éiL CHANGE —_ 1978 LTO. aie living longer solution to something that was once a public sector problem,” Campagnolo said. 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