VANCOUVER -- Some residents of the small British Columbia community of Likely, downstream from a mine breach say they don't trust that the provincial government is dealing with the disaster.
More than a month after the failure of the tailings pond at the Mount Polley mine northeast of Williams Lake, B.C., cottage owner Carla Zanotto said area residents aren't getting any answers.
"I choose not to believe the government because I don't think that Imperial (Metals) is doing any cleanup. They're doing nothing," Zanotto said Monday.
The breach released 17 million cubic metres of water and more than seven million cubic metres of slurry -- much more than the original estimate when the spill occurred Aug. 4.
She said the clean up so far seems to involve pumping the slurry -- the ground rock particle left over after metals are removed -- from Polley Lake near the mine downstream into much larger Quesnel Lake.
She has a three-year-old and six-year-old and they draw their drinking water at the cottage from Quesnel Lake. The potentially toxic slurry should be removed from the watershed altogether, she said.
She's emailed the federal minister, B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett and to her local Cariboo North MLA looking for more information.
"All of the emails I receive back in response are basically just to pacify me, and to tell me that they're monitoring," Zanotto said. "Monitoring is not enough."
Company officials were not immediately available to comment.
Test results last week showed levels of copper, iron, manganese, arsenic, silver, selenium and vanadium in excess of provincial standards near the spill site but the ministry said similar testing last spring also found concentrations above guidelines.
Testing continues but in the absence of information, fear has flourished.
Zanotto was at a news conference in Vancouver held by opponents of the mine, who demanded an immediate moratorium on mining.
They released a report containing allegations about everything from health effects to the company's economic activities.
"The specific long-term outcomes of this disaster are not known as it is the largest tailings storage facility dam break this world has seen," it said. "We do know though, that a spike in cancer rates is guaranteed."
A volunteer "legal advisor" said a class-action lawsuit is in the works.
There were no representatives from the two area First Nations bands, but Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said if First Nations cannot rely on the federal and provincial governments, they will set up their own indigenous laws and institutions "to protect the integrity of the environment."
"It will mean industry will not be welcome in our territories with respect to large resource development projects and for good reason. Governments have completely sold out the environmental values of this province to industry," Phillip said.
Environment Minister Mary Polak declined an interview request.
In an emailed statement, she said her ministry wants the company to commence restoration as soon as possible.
"We will continue to share all test results as well as restoration plans with the public on our dedicated Mount Polley website, but I must caution that full clean-up will likely be measured in years not months," it said.
"We recognize that this event has impacted communities and First Nations in a very dramatic way, and everyone is trying to do their best to provide to the community what will help them get through this."
