Upcoming Webinar: 
No More Mount Polleys: How Far Have We Come?

As we approach the 6th anniversary of the massive Mount Polley mine tailings disaster, we are interested in exploring best practices for mine waste storage and assessing where British Columbia is in comparison. Please join us for a webinar that includes personal stories of the aftermath of this mine disaster, an overview on tailings waste designs, laws and best practices that help reduce risks to communities and watersheds, and looks at how far B.C. has actually come since Mount Polley toward improved mining waste management.

What: Webinar on mine waste storage and how B.C. measures up
When: Wednesday, July 29th from 10:30 am to noon (Pacific) (1:30 pm to 3:00 pm Eastern)
Who: This webinar is being hosted by the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria, Earthworks, Salmon Beyond Borders, First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining, Northern Confluence, MiningWatch Canada, and the B.C. Mining Law Reform Coalition.
How: Please register here for the webinar. The webinar will also be live-streamed on Facebook.

The webinar will cover:

• Experiences from communities affected by the Mount Polley spill.

• An overview of the new Safety First: Guidelines for Responsible Mine Tailings Management. A set of guidelines that prioritize safety over profits, require community consent for any tailings project, and ensure corporate accountability.

• A discussion of how B.C. mining regulations stack up against Safety First.

Background: On August 4, 2014, a tailings dam breach at the Mount Polley mine in central British Columbia released 24 million cubic metres of mining waste into nearby salmon-rich lakes and rivers of the Fraser River watershed. Tailings dams, which contain the processed waste materials generated from mining metals and minerals, are failing with increased frequency and severity. Current industry standards, including B.C. mining regulations, do not go far enough to adequately protect communities and ecosystems from these dam failures and toxic pollution. The design, construction, operation, and closure of tailings facilities require significant changes to protect people and the environment.

Speakers

Bev Sellars is a former councillor and chief of the Xat’sull (Soda Creek) First Nation in Williams Lake, British Columbia. Her community was directly affected by the Mount Polley mine disaster in 2014. She served until 2018 as the chairperson of First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining (FNWARM) and is a senior leader with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative. Ms. Sellars is also the author of the award-winning book They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School, and of Price Paid about the contributions of Indigenous peoples to Canadian history.

Jan Morrill is the tailings campaign lead at Earthworks. Earthworks works to protect communities and the environment from the adverse impacts of mineral and energy development while promoting sustainable solutions. Jan’s work focuses on the social, environmental, and cultural disasters that result from tailings dam failures, as well as on supporting communities working to protect themselves from tailings dams. She is one of the co-authors of Safety First: Guidelines for Responsible Mine Tailings Management. 

Dr. Steven H. Emerman has a B.S. in Mathematics from Ohio State University, M.A. in Geophysics from Princeton University, and Ph.D. in Geophysics from Cornell University. Dr. Emerman has 31 years of experience teaching hydrology and geophysics and has 66 peer-reviewed publications in these areas. Dr. Emerman is the owner of Malach Consulting, which specializes in evaluating the environmental impacts of mining for mining companies, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations. Dr. Emerman is one of the co-authors of Safety First: Guidelines for Responsible Mine Tailings Management. 

Dr. David Chambers is founder and president of the Center for Science in Public Participation (CSP2), a non-profit corporation formed to provide technical assistance on mining and water quality to public interest groups and tribal governments. He is a registered professional geophysicist (California #GP 972) with a Professional Engineering Degree in physics from the Colorado School of Mines, a Master of Science Degree in geophysics and a Ph.D. in environmental planning from the University of California at Berkeley. His recent research focuses on tailings dam failures, and the intersection of science and technology with public policy and natural resource management; financial assurance for mine closure and post-closure; and the impacts of mining on water. Dr. Chambers is one of the co-authors of Safety First: Guidelines for Responsible Mine Tailings Management. 

Deborah Curran is the Executive Director of the Environmental Law Centre and an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria. As a lawyer practicing in the areas of watershed and municipal law, she works with students in the Environmental Law Centre to provide pro bono legal services to First Nations and community organizations across the province.