Environment Canada raises alarms on chromite mining in First Nations traditional lands
Environment Canada raises alarms on chromite mining development in Ring of Fire
June 25, 2012 - Tanya Talaga, Queen's Park Bureau
The same toxic material that Erin Brockovich discovered in the water of a small California town could pollute northern Ontario due to chromite mining in the Ring of Fire, documents obtained by the Star show.
Environment Canada has raised a series of red flags regarding a massive chromite mining initiative in the Ring of Fire, located 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.
The federal ministry warned in a letter to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency of potential adverse effects of mine waste, including the carcinogen chromium-6.
The letter is further proof of the need for proper environmental assessments on the Ring of Fire - something environmental advocates and First Nations leaders say has yet to happen.
However, Kate Jordan, an official with Ontario Ministry of the Environment, told the Star mining projects undergo "extensive reviews and approvals by a number of provincial and federal agencies" to make sure the environment is protected.
American mining firm Cliffs Natural Resources, is expected to sink roughly $3 billion into developing the mineral-rich ring. The investment encompasses an open-pit mine, a processing facility and an all-weather road to ship the ore south.
Environment Canada said in the letter it expects hexavalent chromium "will likely be released" into the area due to the mining activity and it may have "immediate or long-term harmful effect on the environment . . . or may constitute a danger to human life or health."
Chromium-6 is a priority substance regulated by the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. It was the industrial pollutant in the drinking water that was linked to illness in Hinkley, Calif., and unearthed in the 1990s by Brockovich, a crusading law clerk.
The Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also considers chromium-6 to be a potential carcinogen. Occupational exposure is associated with lung, nasal and sinus cancers.
Chromite is a key ingredient in stainless steel. All levels of government want to hasten development of the mine to bring jobs to the struggling north.
On Monday Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak toured the remote region with MPPs Vic Fedeli, Laurie Scott and Norm Miller.
An all-weather road is planned to transport the chromite through a vast area of boreal forest and on to a processing facility in Capreol, near Sudbury.
"This new road is to be located in one of the largest areas of intact boreal forest on the planet and within or adjacent to the globally significant peatlands of the Hudson Bay Lowlands," the Sept. 12, 2011 Environment Canada letter said.
A number of species-at-risk, such as the woodland caribou, the Canada Warbler and the common nighthawk, have the potential to be affected.
Nine northern First Nations have called for an immediate moratorium on all mining development in the ring until a trilateral, environmental assessment process is negotiated between governments and questions of aboriginal jurisdiction and resource sharing are settled.
Obviously the federal agency has similar concerns with environmental groups, said Anna Baggio, director of conservation planning at the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Wildlands League.
"Everyone is just pretending they can mitigate everything but that is just a big myth," said Baggio. "We need much more work done. That is why you need a rigorous environmental assessment and we don't have that now."