Snap Lake Mine, 220 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife, where elevated levels of dioxins and furans were pumped into the atmosphere. Photo Fire Prevention Services
Last July, two incinerations at De Beers’ Snap Lake Mine were belching out clouds of smoke, one sending an average of 65 times the approved nationwide limit of cancer-causing toxins into the atmosphere.
The hugely elevated levels of dioxins and furans — released when plastic is burnt or garbage isn’t fully incinerated — were listed during a four-day”stack test” According to the World Health Organization,”dioxins are highly toxic and can cause developmental and reproductive difficulties, harm the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.” The company contracted to do the testing at Snap Lake discovered that one of the mine’s incinerations was emitting 6.5 times the acceptable limit, although the other incineration was emitting a whopping 65 times the acceptable limit (5,220 picograms per cubic metre on average, as
It’s uncertain how long this was going on for, though the report noted the problem was clearly visible:”Black opaque smoke was noted for all tests early in the incineration cycle”
De Beers didn’t respond to EDGE’s petition for an interview by the time of publication. But, according to a letter from De Beers’ Environment and Permitting Superintendent, Alexandra Hood, delivered to the GNWT and Environment Canada in January, the origin of the issue was”not following standardized work procedures,” and conducting the incinerations, which were just installed in 2013, at too low a temperature.
Since flunking the evaluation, De Beers has retrained personnel, rewritten operating procedures and brought in fresh policy to close down the incinerations if they are not fulfilling the correct temperatures (if it is safe to do so), based on Hood’s letter. A review of the Snap Lake incinerations by a GNWT Lands Officer at March indicates De Beers has ameliorated the issue, at least in part:”No issues were noted during this review,” it states, and”the west incineration which was burning waste at the time of inspection was emitting apparent exhaust gas with no smoke coming out of the stack.”
Whether or not adequate steps are taken, however, will not be known for years: another stack test isn’t scheduled before 2019, according to a source close to the issue wishing to stay anonymous.
No GNWT regulation
The simple fact , for an undetermined time period about July 2014, the Snap Lake incinerations were pumping out unacceptable levels of toxic emissions is troublesome in itself. However, it points to a far bigger problem in the land; the GNWT doesn’t govern emissions, require organizations to satisfy the CWS, or mandate stack testing. (The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, likewise, doesn’t regulate air pollutants.)
At several points in her letter, Hood notes the lack of regulation, asserting De Beers”will conform with any regulatory requirements regarding incineration stack testing after empowering legislation is developed and approved at the NWT.”
Without laws in place, there’s nothing to induce De Beers or alternative groups with incinerations (i.e. each mine in the territory), to keep their emissions at a safe level or undertake stack testing on a regular basis. Each mine has an Air Quality and Emissions Management Plan as a part of its environmental arrangement, but these plans simply dictate reporting requirements, not actual emission targets. And while Hood claims”deficiencies, as measured against the Canada Wide Standards, will be handled through adaptive management and continuous improvement by De Beers,” there’s little government oversight of the”continuous improvement” without any penalties or other mechanisms to induce polluting companies to remedy their manners.
This difficulty has been going on for several years. According to a Canadian Press report from 2011, the scientific journal Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management discovered sediments at a lake close to the Ekati Mine that had amounts of dioxins and furans 10 times greater than those collected in a nearby lake. The identical report cited a 2007 study commissioned by Environment Canada which suggested”broad, uncontrolled burning of wastes could lead to substantial accumulations of both dioxins and furans in the area ecosystem, a few of which can persist for a few 81/2 years at levels approaching those believed to be of toxicological concern”
“In most cases we are below the level that health bureaus would (watch) to get…” the study continues,”but we are getting there. And if you have more incinerations and more burning off, you might well exceed those amounts.”
The GNWT’s Department of Environment and Natural resources didn’t reunite EDGE’s request for comment on the lack of regulation.
Why no regulation?
The record states:”Parties need to take measures to reduce total releases from anthropogenic sources of dioxins, furans… with the goal of their continuing minimization and where possible (technically and socio-economically), ultimate elimination.” However, it adds,”each jurisdiction will determine the precise means of ensuring compliance” — essentially defanging the record by letting provinces and lands renege on their commitment with no consequences.
Other jurisdictions have taken proactive steps, bringing in legislation to govern emissions in line with the CWS. The GNWT has not. They did bring in guidelines for handling biomedical waste in 2005, but they have been unwilling to regulate incinerations at mine sites. Their reason? The”waste incinerations operating at remote industrial sites within the NWT… are located on federal crown land and are not regulated by the Government of the Northwest Territories,” states a report from 2009.
This might have been accurate in 2009, however post-devolution it is no longer true. Since April of last year, the mines are on property managed by the GNWT, yet there have been no moves out of legislators to start regulating toxic emissions from other industrial incinerations. The last time the issue was discussed at the legislative assembly in 2011, Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley said a”loophole in environmental principles is allowing a growing amount of unregulated waste incinerations to discharge exceptionally toxic chemicals into the water and land.” He proposed,”when we take on new abilities, we must be prepared to proceed with law.”
Devolution has arrived, and incinerations are still operating in an unregulated environment. Considering all the talk of fracking and opening new mining jobs in the land, it is now time, more than everfor the GNWT to get its act together.
Devolution has come, and incinerations are still operating in an unregulated environment. With all the talk of fracking and opening up new mining projects in the territory, it’s now time, more than ever, for the GNWT to get its act together.
from: https://edgeyk.com/article/mine-spews-toxic-fumes-nwt-air-regulations-not-in-place/