As a long serving senior leader in the resource industry sector, an avid outdoorsman and like most avid outdoorsman an environmentalist I'll offer my perspective on this event.
First off, it is a disaster. The only thing in BC that is worse than this was the decision by the BC Government in the mid late 90's to let the latest Pine Beetle infestation "run a natural course" under advice from a Dr. David Suzuki. For our friends south of the 49th who don't know him Dr Suzuki is a rather extreme left wing environmentalist. This decision by the then left wing NDP government will have far reaching consequences for generations to come in this corner of North America. So it is a disaster, but not the worst.
Watching the media up here...it is almost as if they want it to be worse than it is. Some factual details are glossed over or missed while others are presented in a way that infers something other than the facts. Until very recently I lived in the area, am very familiar with the mine site, the entire watershed to the Fraser involved in this event, and have hunted and fished in the area for the last decade.
My understanding of the event.
There was a catastrophic failure of the tailings dam.
It was not overloaded.
There is some question about how it was built when the site reopened about 10 years ago. The contractor apparently did not put enough of the right kind of material in the area where the failure occurred. A fair amount of fingerpointing behind the scenes over this right now. He blames the company. Company blames him. etc, etc, I suspect it will turn out to be a combination of the two. If there was negligence here the guilty parties need to be held to the full account of the law.
The water of Quesnel Lake is fine. The water of Polley Lake has been affected but it is potable and the fish are fine.
One of the guys I hunt with has been a millwright there since it reopened. I jut had dinner with him last night as he came to town to see a doctor. He was looking out over Polley Lake Tuesday afternoon watching a hatch get fed on.
Due to the fact that the tailings pond's contents met or was under all guidelines there has been minimal impact on the water.
There is a heck of a mess out of Hazeltine Creek. It will be cleaned up.
At this point it does not appear that the watershed will be materially impacted at all.
