A Rossland group fighting a local magnesium mine is urging the province not to issue an environmental discharge permit for the project.
The Save Record Ridge Action Committee says there are “serious issues” related to human health, air quality, water contamination, and environmental monitoring that have not been resolved. The permit, under the Environmental Management Act, would allow discharges to the area’s air and water.
Nils French with the action committee said the group has provided the government with hundreds of pages of material from scientists, medical experts, and engineers.
“It’s about a dozen reports and we probably talked to at least another two dozen different experts about the project,” he said. “We have not heard back from the province on the issues that are identified in these materials. We think that those need to be resolved before this [project] moves forward.”
French said the material has been formally submitted over the last three years but there has been little response. The comment period on a draft permit has closed. The Ministry of Environment said the file is expected to be referred to the decision maker in the coming weeks.
Save Record Ridge has several areas of concern, including risks from asbestos exposure. They also say gaps have been identified in information around groundwater and metal leaching.
French said Interior Health previously told provincial reviewers that it does not recommend the project proceed because of the outstanding issues. Area physicians also raised public health concerns in a letter sent to various ministries.
Save Record Ridge further points to concerns raised by the Washington State Department of Ecology around air emissions and fugitive dust, water pollution, asbestos and chromium exposure.
West High Yield, the company behind the project, said in an email that many concerns raised by Save Record Ridge, including those regarding health, environmental monitoring, and water quality, “have been subject to exhaustive, multi-year reviews by professional subject matter experts, government regulators, and independent third-party consultants.”
The company said many of the same arguments were previously examined by regulators and were the subject of a recent judicial review, which a Supreme Court of BC judge dismissed in June. Save Record Ridge sought the hearing to force a full-scale environmental review of the project, which the government decided was not needed.
West High Yield chief operating officer Barry Baim said the project’s operating plans, including dust suppression, water management, and air monitoring, were designed based on data vetted by professionals.
“We are committed to operating in full compliance with all safety and environmental thresholds set by the province,” he said. “We are confident in the robustness of our plans and will continue to work constructively with provincial regulators as we advance this project toward construction.”
