MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
January 19, 2009
Canada's toxic mine tailings
secret goes to court
Information on toxic pollution from mines being hidden from public
TORONTO - Canada's
Federal Court will be hearing a lawsuit today against the Minister of the
Environment for failing to ensure that Canada's mining industry publicly
reports the hundreds of millions of kilograms of toxic pollution it generates
each year.
The lawsuit was filed in Federal Court in late 2007 by Ecojustice (formerly
Sierra Legal Defence Fund) on behalf of MiningWatch Canada and Great Lakes United. The
Application for Judicial review alleges that the Minister broke the law when he
directed mining companies to not report huge amounts of pollution sent to tailings
ponds and waste rock piles to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI).
"We are arguing that the Minister has ignored his legal duties under the
Canadian Environmental Protection Act to provide the public with the full
extent of pollutants released by mining companies in Canada," said Justin Duncan,
Staff Lawyer with Ecojustice. "The Canadian public - and especially
residents living downstream from mining operations - have the right to
scrutinize the environmental and health hazards these mining companies continue
to create"
In stark contrast, for more than a decade the U.S. government has required mining
companies to report the amount of pollutants they release under the American
equivalent of the NPRI, the U.S. Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). In 2005, in
the United States, mining operations represented less than one-half a percent
of all industries reporting to the TRI; however, they accounted for 27% of all
pollutants released - more than 530 million kilograms of toxic materials.
Pollution in the form of mine tailings and waste rock - the data being withheld
from the Canadian public - accounted for more than 97% of the total pollutants
reported by the U.S.
mining industry.
"Given the enormous amounts of carcinogens and heavy metals like lead and
mercury reported in U.S. mine tailings, it is absurd that Canadian mines are
being let off the hook and not reporting this massive form of toxic
pollution," said MiningWatch Canada spokesman Jamie Kneen. "Whether
you live in Smithers, British Columbia,
Voisey's Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, or anywhere in between, Canadians have a right
to know what poisons industry is releasing into our air, water, and soil."
"There are at least 80 facilities across the country not reporting their
tailings and waste rock pollution to the NPRI. If the U.S. figures
are any indication, this could be many millions of kilograms of toxic
pollution," said John Jackson, Director of Clean Production and Toxics for
Great Lakes United. "But, so long as the Minister of the Environment
continues to direct the mining industry to break the law and conceal these
figures, we'll never know."
For further information please visit www.ecojustce.ca or contact:
Justin Duncan or Marlene Cashin, Ecojustice (416) 368-7533 ext.22 or ext. 31
John Jackson, Great Lakes United, (519) 744-7503 or 519-591-7503 (cell)
Jamie Kneen, MiningWatch Canada
(613) 569-3439
____________________________________
Brent Gibson
Director, Communications
(613) 867-9861
bgibson@glu.org
| www.glu.org