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Booked By Cossette Send Files To [email protected] Material Deadline Oct 5, 2014 RRU Contact Brad Tribbeck Size 6.88” x 9.25” 250.391.2600 ext. 4788 Colour 4c [email protected] Watershed November- December 2014 Sentinel Vol. 24, No. 5 Special Feature: Mining 18 Oceana Gold versus Clean Water Meet the Company suing El Salvador for the right to poison its water 20 Democracy in the Pits How Harper has set up international development assistance to serve mining companies 22 Open for Justice Accountability for Canadian companies abroad 23 Mount Polley Spill 26 The End of China’s Coal Boom and Vancouver Island update First Nations Health & Toxics 6 Paddle to the Sacred 5 Fukushima Encore Beyond Boarding goes to the source 12 Antibacterial Chemicals 29 Reckoning with Reconciliation Bev Thorpe tells us that triclosan and Andrea Palframan on the Grace Islet graves triclocarban are ubiquitous in products 30 Pulling Together 32 Zero Waste! First Nations in the courts to stop Enbridge It’s not waste until someone throws it away Energy News & Other 8 The Little Bean & the Fracking Giants 36 Wild Times Joe Foy on Dasiqox Tribal Park Joyce Nelson explains that without the guar bean, 3, 15 News Briefs the gas fracking industry could come crashing down 4 Letters 14 Lemon Creek Spill Gas in the creek; citizen lays Fisheries Act charge 17 Attending the People’s Climate March Land & Wildlife 11 Artists for Conservation 34 Bad News Bambi 23 Kevin Van Tighem warns of a mad deer epidemic Cover Photo by Wu Di Greenpeace China Not a Subscriber Yet? Printed on Enviro 100, post consumer recycled, Look for the subscription form FSC®-Certified paper, with vegetable inks. 18 inserted for your convenience EDITORIAL Watershed We Hate to Ask We really do, but this fall we have mailed all our subscribers asking Sentinel for a little extra support. We only do this every two years, because all of Publisher Watershed Sentinel us in the social change movement are flooded with requests for help. Educational Society But we do publish this little magazine on a barebones budget, pretty Editor Delores Broten well embarassingly small, and we are struggling to expand our coverage Managing Editor Susan MacVittie of what is happening in the communities across the land. Only by em- Associate Editor Don Malcolm Graphic Design Ester Strijbos powering communities to take action can we affect the inexorable move- Renewals Manager Dawn Christian ment to extract every last resource out of nature, out of watersheds, out Special thanks to David Kattenburg, Caro- of homelands, and into someone’s pocket. line Sturdy, Karen Birch, Patricia Robison, And resistance is indeed growing, from the shores of Vancouver to Arthur Caldicott, Gloria Jorg, Dyane the Prairies and beyond. People are coming to understand that the eco- Brown, Norberto Rodriguez de la Vega, nomic drivers of destruction must be brought under community control. Kathy Smail, Ray Woollam, the writers, advertisers, distributors, and all who send We know the Watershed Sentinel helps make that sea-change which information, photos, and ideas. is slowly swelling under our feet, and we want to continue to serve you, Deep thanks to our Board of Directors: our readers, with the news as it develops, online and in print. Anicca de Trey, Alice Grange, Mike Delores Broten, Comox BC, October 2014 Morrell, Norberto Rodriguez de la Vega, Susan Yates, and Lannie Keller. Published five times per year. Innocence Lost, or Lessons Re-Learned? Subscriptions: Canada $25 one year, “No sooner had some commentators declared the loss of Canadian inno- $40 two years; US $35 per year, cence, [after the attacks in Montreal and Ottawa in October] than others were Electronic only $15 a year protesting that we’ve long since crossed that threshold. The FLQ crisis of 1970 Distribution by subscription, and to brought soldiers into the streets, not just of Montreal, but in Ottawa, too. The Friends of Cortes Island and Reach for bombing of Air India Flight 182 in 1985 brought home for many Canadians that Unbleached! Free at Vancouver Island their country wasn’t insulated from international terrorism.… Canadians need and Vancouver area libraries, and by sponsorship in BC colleges, universities, to find a way to talk about this week’s attacks that doesn’t pretend it’s the first or and eco-organizations. worst event in our recent history that falls under the the broad heading of violent extremism.” Member Magazine Assn of BC and Magazines Canada —John Geddes, Maclean’s,October 24, 2014 ISSN 1188-360X At the ’Shed Publication Mail Canada Post Agreement Calendar Offer: Once again our friends at the Wilderness Committee PM 40012720 Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: are helping us out with a fine calendar to inspire you. Our special gift offer of a calendar, a one year subscription along with a gift card, is a seasonal deal of beauty and information for you or your friends and family. Available now. Missing a Copy? If you are missing a copy or a bundle, please let us know and we will make it right. Email [email protected] Watershed Sentinel Finished Reading your copy? We love to hear from folks who leave their Box 1270, Comox old issues of the magazine in offices, coffee shops, or waiting rooms. Word of BC, Canada V9M 7Z8 mouth is often the way that other people hear about us, and that keeps those Ph: 250-339-6117 precious subscriptions flowing. Email [email protected] http://www.watershedsentinel.ca Disclaimer: Opinions published are not neces- When you want your message to reach thousands of concerned sarily those of the publisher, editor or other and active readers, please contact us for our ad rate sheet at: 250-339-6117 staff and volunteers of the magazine. www.watershedsentinel.ca or email: [email protected] Next Issue Ad Deadline: December 16, 2014
Watershed Sentinel November-December 2014 NEWS Around The World
Compiled by Susan MacVittie
Fracking Fingerprints Peer reviewed research published in Environmental Science & Technol- Online peition via the Rainforest pristine coral reef and open ocean ec- ogy announces a new forensic tool Action Network: www.ran.org/tell_ osystems in the world. The monument that can distinguish fracking waste- klk_leave_collingwood_bay_now now protects important foraging areas water pollution from contamination —Rainforest Action Network, for tropical seabirds and provides re- that results from other industrial October 22, 2014 covery zones for tuna and other fishes processes – such as conventional oil that are heavily exploited across the and gas drilling. The tracers track two Banning Plastic Bags Pacific. elements, boron and lithium, which In October, California banned — The Marine Conservation Institute occur naturally in shale formations. plastic bags, the first state to do so. Ocotber 21, 2014 When fracking fluid is injected under- Across the US, more than 150 cities ground, those two elements are natu- and counties are implementing bans Biopiracy Bill rally released along with oil, and the or fees to reduce the estimated 100 bil- The Foreign Investment Promo- fracking fluid then becomes enriched lion plastic bags used in the US each tion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) with the elements. When the fluid year. The energy required to make 12 between Canada and China was comes back to the surface, they have plastic bags could drive a car a mile. signed in September without parlia- an isotopic fingerprint that is differ- — www.ecowatch.com, October 7, 2014 mentary debate. The trade deal will ent than any other type of wastewater, have important implications for re- including wastewater from conven- Cherokee Ban Fracking source development. If the provinces tional oil and gas operations. The Eastern Band of Cherokee decided to change the rules on hy- — www.thinkprogress.org Indians has declared a ban on frack- draulic fracturing of shale gas to pro- October 21 ,2014 ing in North Carolina. tect water or to reduce methane leaks, Until June, there was a statewide those changes could be contested by Unethical Palm Oil moratorium on the controversial prac- Chinese investors as unfair and a vio- In May, the National Court of tice, but the state legislature lifted that lation of their expectations at the time Papua New Guinea ruled that Ma- and added a clause that forbids local they invested. laysia-based palm oil giant, Kuala governments from outlawing the ex- — www.thetyee.ca, September 24, 2014 Lumpur Kepong’s (KLK) claims to traction method. The Eastern Band of a 38,350-hectare forest in Colling- Cherokee also join several other tribes Open Source Seeds wood Bay were null and void. KLK across the US that have taken a stand Open Source Seed Initiative has was forced to give up two leases on against fracking. released 36 varieties of 14 food crops, customary lands, but the company — www.indiancountrytodaymedianet- which could help poor farmers get still claims a third lease and has yet to work.com, October 20, 2014 access to better quality seeds. Many leave the country. countries place complex international Unlike many countries, Papua Marine Monument legislation on seeds, involving rules New Guinea recognizes the author- The US has created the Pacific on patents and other forms of intellec- ity of communities to make decisions Remote Islands Marine National tual property protection, which pro- over their ancestral lands. Claims Monument – 490,343 square miles hibit farmers saving their own seeds. against KLK range from the use of which includes six remote islands and and using them the following season. child and forced labor and destroy- the surrounding waters in the Central — www.positivenews.org.uk ing orangutan habitat in Indonesia, to Pacific Ocean. The expanded protec- September 25, 2014 land grabbing and assault in Liberia. tions encompass some of the most
Watershed Sentinel 3 November-December 2014 TOXICS Fukushima Encore The overwhelming issue, outside of not knowing where the nuclear cores really are, is water.
by Delores Broten
Since the Japanese Fukushima ous task is about 75% complete as of turies perhaps, and certainly decades Daichi nuclear reactors blew up dur- October 19th, with no accidents. to come … Fukushima is contaminat- ing the earthquake and tsunami in ing the entire Pacific.” March 2011, there has been an un- Cooling Water ending stream of suspicion and fear The reactors are kept “cool” by Monitoring about the situation there. That has not the continual addition of water. The The Center for Marine and En- changed. Nor should it. For one thing, cooling water is contaminated with vironmental Radioactivity at Woods no seems to know what really hap- radioactivity and must be stored, so Hole Oceanographic Institution has a pened, or where the cores of the reac- various not-completely-successful at- crowd-funded ocean monitoring pro- tors actually are – because the area is tempts at cleaning the water for re-use gram, using very sensitive analysis of still too radioactive even for robots to have been initiated, and the remaining water samples along the Pacific coast. investigate. radiation is stored on site in casks. as As of August 2014, they reported: “… long as there is room. We have detected only cesium-137, Muzzled Media the ‘legacy’ cesium that remains from As inquiries move forward, and Rain Water and Groundwater 1960s atmospheric weapons testing scattered hot spots are discovered, During heavy rain events, the site … The Fukushima reactors also re- more informants speak about what is flooded and overflows contaminat- leased cesium-134 into the ocean … really happened three years ago. The ed water into the Pacific Ocean. Af- Though we do detect this isotope in Japanese government has reacted by ter the recent typhoons, the water is abundance off Japan, cesium-134 is enacting broad new secrecy laws. highly contaminated. not YET present in any of the samples Journalists are now liable for five Groundwater is flowing below collected by citizen scientists along years imprisonment if the state deter- the site, becoming contaminated, and the North American west coast and mines the use of “grossly inappropri- flowing into the Pacific Ocean in the Hawaii.… But it’s important to con- ate” means to acquire state secrets. trillions of litres. Various attempts to tinue making observations with real dam the groundwater off from the site data!” Radioactive Pick-Up-Sticks have all failed. t There has been encouraging news on one front. Spent and new fuel rods Radioactive Contamination Sources: www.fairewinds.org were stored on the top of Unit 4 (don’t How bad is this contamination? www.ourradioactiveocean.org ask!) and when that reactor, although Arnie Gundersen, nuclear engineer www.ENEnews.com turned off, suffered a hydrogen explo- at Fairewinds, says, “… Fukushima www.ex-skf.blogspot.ca sion, the fuel rods fell in a twisted and continues to bleed into the ocean, be- www.tepco.co.jp/en/index-e.html dangerous heap. They are now being cause those nuclear cores have melted carefully removed, one by one, and down and are in direct contact with placed in storage casks. This danger- the groundwater. It will bleed for cen-
Watershed Sentinel 5 November-December 2014 LETTERS
Lack of Supervision in the Woods The article “Report From the Woods,” printed in ures that the licensee will achieve in order to satisfy gov- March-April 2014, sheds light on serious issues with forest ernment objectives for all identified forest values. It is true management in British Columbia. A lack of government that direct government oversight of harvesting and other supervision is one of the largest problems with forestry to- operations is not as prominent today, but the pre-harvest day. I agree with statements made by Clive Johnson about approval and post-harvest accountability system through the conservation of wildlife in forest management. The the Forest Stewardship Plan is an efficient way for the gov- importance of features such as wildlife corridors and high ernment to keep licensees in check, and implement penal- quality wildlife tree patches are stressed in the educational ties for objectives that were not met in the plan. setting, but are lost in industry. In my experience, ecosys- Jeremy Siewert, Rock Creek, BC tems and habitat values change drastically from season to season and can vary greatly from one year to another. Clive Johnson’s 20-30 days per year in the bush do not Mi’kmaq Warriors constitute enough observation time to make reasonable es- I really enjoyed the article, “Mi’kmaq Warrior Society timates on the impact of forestry on wildlife. With several Visit.” These people are terrified of what fracking will do cutbacks in government (specifically around research) in to their land, and water sources. They are not being con- the last five years, one can’t help but ask why the govern- sulted about the operations that the government is allow- ment chooses not to recognize the importance of long term ing to take place, even though it will happen on Mi’kmaq studies of wildlife habitat and the impacts of forestry? It First Nations land. It seems that the Mi’kmaq band thinks is clear to me that this issue is one that must be considered that they have no other way than using civil disobedience by the foresters and we shouldn’t wait for government to to get their point across. It doesn’t seem in the best interest address this problem first. The key question in all of this of the SWN Resource Canada Inc. to force this decision then becomes, how do we get the forest industry to value on the First Nations band, and not consider an alternative habitat more than timber? option. Chelsea Barker, Prince George, BC Chelsea Chilibeck, BC Responsibility on Licensees Coral Reef Evolution Re: “Report From the Woods,” I would like to ad- Re: “Coral Reefs Recover,” Jan/Feb, 2014. It is re- dress several assertions made in the article; that there is an freshing to hear positive news in the world of pollution almost complete lack of government oversight of forestry science! This article brings encouraging light to the topic, practices, and that government no longer reviews licensee and offers a gentle reminder that decreasing ocean pollu- plans. The transition from the Forest Practices Code to tion may restore coral reef habitat. The article talks spe- the Forest and Range Practices Act in 2004 has reduced cifically about dark spot syndrome, which was one of the government involvement in forest management processes most common diseases found on the experimental coral. and instead put more responsibility onto licensees to pro- Although the syndrome is not explained in detail, “these vide management results. The Forest Stewardship Plan dark patches on the coral can disrupt nutrient exchange was created to provide accountability for results based and photosynthesis; ultimately facilitating a decrease in management, and must be submitted by all licensees and ecosystem productivity (Coral Bleaching: Causes and approved by the provincial government before any harvest consequences, Brown, 1997). operations. This plan states results, strategies and meas- It is incredible how these organisms can be resilient to such an interruption of basic needs. Since evidence sug- The Watershed Sentinel welcomes letters but reserves the gests that corals predate 500 million years (Ecology and right to edit for brevity, clarity, legality, and taste. Evolution of Cambrian Reefs, Pratt et al., 2001), I wonder Anonymous letters will not be published. if this resilience is due to such long evolutionary history Send your musings and your missives to: (plenty of time to adapt). If this hypothesis proves correct, I Watershed Sentinel, Box 1270, Comox BC V9M 7Z8 also wonder if other “ancient” organisms (e.g. fungi) would [email protected] or online at have similar adaptive resilience. www.watershedsentinel.ca Hayley Scott, BC
Watershed Sentinel 4 November-December 2014 FIRST NATIONS
A journey to Northern BC to meet the Klabona by Desiree Wallace Keepers at their blockade
What started off as a farfetched idea quickly became a reality this summer. After an indescribable 2000 kilometre bike tour through British Columbia, we arrived at our final des- tination, the Sacred Headwaters of the Stikine, Skeena and Nass rivers. It is the most sacred of places I have ever had the honour of being. The Klabona Keepers, an organization of elders and families who occupy and use traditional lands near Iskut, BC, known as Tl’abāne, exude that same power and strength embedded in the land and water. It’s an incredible feeling being in Sacred Headwaters, which would un- stories my friends came back to share the headwaters amidst the untouched doubtedly decimate their traditional and it ignited something within me, to Earth for as far as the eye can see. It’s hunting grounds and cultural centre. take action, to learn more. the feeling you get when you look out And so, Landon Yerex, Nicole at what seems to be an everlasting Kilistoff and I made an impromptu horizon on the coast’s oceanic body. decision to adventure on bicycles to Humbled. Connected. Empowered. these people and their territory this Bewildered. Mother Earth is so vivid summer from Vancouver, raising here. Her heart beats strong and life- funds and sharing their story along the blood runs thick through the wind, way. Additionally, we had the honor rain, sun, soil, plants, and animals. It of traveling across many different ter- is host to the most valuable salmon- ritories and meeting indigenous lead- bearing watersheds in this nation, ers and communities. Everywhere we which are at risk, but nevertheless went there were people who had been protected by those connected to it. “We use and occupy that land there, time immemorial, who under- I was first exposed to the Klabo- every summer. We take our kids there stood the depths of the world around na Keepers and their territory when a to teach them our culture, and that’s them. few of my closest friends, Tamo Cam- where we gather our moose meat pos, John Muirhead, Landon Yerex, for the winter,” said Rhoda Quock, History Lesson and Jasper Snow Rosen, travelled spokesperson for the Klabona Keep- Growing up in an institutional- there last fall to document the Keep- ers. At the time I didn’t understand the ized education system, I was blinded er’s battle with Fortune Minerals. The full significance of what the term “un- from the truth – the real history of company had been given a permit to ceded” land meant, but I was deeply so-called British Columbia. On this proceed with exploration drilling for moved by their connection to place, journey, I was able to begin to under- a proposed 4000 hectare open-pit an- and in their relentless protection of it. stand colonization not as great Euro- thracite coal mine in the heart of the It transcended the videography and pean exploration and discovery, but
Watershed Sentinel 6 November-December 2014 FIRST NATIONS
for what it was – the geno- met by heavily armed cide of indigenous people RCMP after peacefully in the conquest of resource occupying a Firesteel- extraction. To this day, Blackhawk mining governments have used an drill pad, and current- agenda built on oppression ly, they are blockad- and assimilation for the ing Imperial Metals’ benefit of mainstream cul- Red Chris Mine, the ture and economic growth. company responsible From the smallpox epidem- for the Mount Polley ic, to residential schools, to Todd Wells disaster – all of which the introduction of alcohol took place on their ter- and drugs, to the thousands of cases ritory. I am overwhelmed with admi- of missing and murdered indigenous ration of this collective of people who women, many have suffered tremen- have been assumed authority over dously. It became clearer as we cycled since contact was made, and that con- that this is not only a struggle in The tinue to fight regardless of that disem- Sacred Headwaters, but across BC, powerment. Canada and world. A bike marathon to northern BC There is a groundswell of indig- was quite insignificant compared to enous resistance and settler allies who the work they have done. But it is not have come together to resurrect the only their responsibility to protect the truth – actively decolonizing together Earth. We need to stand shoulder to and using our gift of voice to uphold shoulder in solidarity with those who rightful sovereignty. The Klabona Keepers have sacrificed the most – those on the When we visited the Tsilhqot’in For millennia, Klabona Keeper front lines. It is one of the largest in- peoples, we learned of a recent deci- Elders have protected their homelands tact ecosystems in the world and that sion in the Supreme Court that has and way of life in the Tl’abāne area, is attributed to the resilient voices and affirmed this collective title and juris- and in particular over the last decade, actions of the Klabona Keepers, who diction of unceded and unsurrendered from gas fracking, coal mining devel- have, and will continue to keep it the territory of the Indigenous Nations. opment, and resident hunting issues. way it is now – sacred. When we shared with them the story “We can not be blinded by mon- “Right now, all I can say is that of the Klabona Keepers, there was a ey. The land and water is the lifeblood we will continue to fight,” Rhoda resounding sense of solidarity, for of our Nation and we will not compro- Quock said. “We’ll continue to fight they too, are exercising their natural mise it. We are doing this for our fu- for that place to be protected, and law, and asserting their jurisdiction ture generations,” said Mary Quock, we’re not giving up. We’ve invested to regulate industry in their own ter- Klabona Keeper Elder. nine years into this fight and we will ritory. Klabona Keeper Elders note lit- not back down.” I’ve spent time bearing witness to tle relationship between the Klabona t exactly that, as I lived with the elders Keepers, the BC Government, and Desiree Wallace is co-founder of and families. I can now say, with un- third party developers in a way that Beyond Boarding, a collective dedi- derstanding of the significance, the respects and works with their Abo- cated to spreading environmental and Sacred Headwaters is the unceded riginal rights and title. Yet, they have social activism in the snowboarding home of the Klabona Keepers. They kicked out the second largest com- community. She will be spending the act upon an ancient responsibility to pany in the world, Dutch Shell. They winter in Iskut, a part of the Tl’abāne uphold their beliefs, customs, values, have kicked out Fortune Minerals and area, co-facilitating a youth program and laws for future generations and their proposed 4000 hectare open-pit that includes snowboarding lessons they have shown me that there is noth- coal mine. They have blockaded the and reconnecting the youth to the land ing in this world that can undermine over hunting of the Tl’abāne area sev- and their traditional culture and lan- that. eral times. This September they were guage. www.beyondboarding.org
Watershed Sentinel 7 November-December 2014 by Joyce Nelson markable feat that has not been fully Billionaire Harold Hamm is understood. Take, for example, the right: the shale revolution is pretty Last year on July 4, statement made by Pioneer Natural astonishing, and the most surprising North Dakota oil and gas Resources (PNR) CEO Scott Shef- thing about it is that it all pretty much billionaire, Harold Hamm field during a quarterly conference depends on a little bean. just couldn’t contain his pa- call in 2013. Sheffield was discussing triotic enthusiasm. In an op- PNR’s horizontal drilling and frack- A Little Bean ed commentary published ing in the Permian Basin of Texas. It sounds like something out of by Forbes, Hamm wrote, Sheffield said, “What’s interesting, in Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian “America has a long history Anderson. The giant shale oil/natu- of achieving the impossible. ral gas industry is actually depend- We defeated the British. We ent upon a little green bean, which landed on the moon. We in- is grown mainly by peasant farms vented the Internet. And now in India. Without the guar bean, the we can add horizontal drilling to industry would come crashing down the list of American innova- like the giant felled in Jack and the tions that have changed the Beanstalk. world forever.” Guar beans are crushed to make Frustrated that hydrau- guar gum, which has unique binding, lic fracturing (fracking) has thickening and emulsifying proper- been getting all the attention ties making it a crucial ingredient in surrounding the shale oil/gas six months, it’s reached 140,000 bar- the drilling slurries used to fracture revolution, Hamm insisted, rels of oil equivalent. Our typical ver- shale rock formations. In the fracking “What is new is horizontal tical well takes 30 to 35 years to pro- process, millions of litres of water and drilling. In 2000, there were duce 140,000 [barrels] on a vertical fracking chemicals, mixed with large less than 50 horizontal drilling rigs in well. So we did that in six months.” volumes of frac-sand, are pumped un- the US and experts believed we had What seems like an offhand com- der extreme pressure into each well. reached peak oil. In 2009, the Domes- ment needs to be spelled out clearly: Guar thickens the fluids, helping to tic Energy Producers Alliance issued By switching from vertical well drill- keep the grains of sand in suspension its Declaration of Energy Independ- ing to horizontal drilling and frack- until they are forced into the fractures ents [sic] due to the phenomenal turn- ing, the company was able to suck blasted into the shale rock. The sand around caused by horizontal drilling.” out three decades worth of oil and gas holds the fractures open while the With 1,200 horizontal drilling rigs production in six months! No wonder oil or gas seeps out to the wellhead. in the US by 2012, Hamm enthused, shale wells are depleted in about three Without guar gum, the frac-sand “This advanced technology allows us years, as Canadian geologist David would simply fall to the bottom of the to drill two miles down, turn right, go Hughes and others have pointed out, well. another two miles, and hit a target the creating a drilling treadmill just to Until about a decade ago, guar size of a lapel pin.” maintain continuous production and was bought mainly by the food in- The combination of horizontal resulting in areas of North American dustry, which uses guar gum as a drilling and fracking certainly is a re- that look like a pin cushion. thickener for things like for ice cream
Watershed Sentinel 8 November-December 2014 and ketchup, and as an ingredient guar acreage. A few bought SUVs or stockpiled 4 months’ worth of guar that keeps bakery goods moist. Guar gold bars, becoming the envy of their gum, adding to the panic buying by grows best in heat and full sun, with neighbours. Then those neighbours others. frequent rains. Thousands of farmers by the thousands stopped growing As The Wall Street Journal (De- in India, where most guar beans are lentils and millet and jumped on the cember 5, 2012) reported, “U.S. oil- grown, make a hard-scrabble living guar bean bandwagon. By 2012, 8.6 services companies, worried that planting guar in July and selling their million acres of guar beans were be- a drought in India would hurt guar few acres at the farm-gate in October. ing grown in India and the price just output, began to stockpile the gum, Most of those farmers also grow mil- kept rising. which they buy from Indian proces- let, lentils and carrots. sors or through commodity-trading Then, like something in a fable, a companies like Connell Bros. Co., big change came. a division of Wilbur-Ellis Co. At the With the advent of horizontal same time, India-based commod- drilling and multi-stage fracking, the ity speculators began to ramp up the primary frackers like Halliburton, price of the bean and gum on local fu- Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Calf- tures markets.” The WSJ writer called rac Well Services gradually started it “a classic bubble.” buying up guar gum like there was no tomorrow. The Bubble A report by IMR International Like many agricultural commod- placed the turning point at 2010. IMR ities, guar is overlaid by an infrastruc- founder, Dennis Seisun, told the me- ture of traders, bankers, speculators, dia, “Basically the oil people are big exporters – all of whom were getting buyers, big spenders. They go to the very rich on guar. According to The guar suppliers and say, ‘What’s your Guardian UK , as the price of guar price, and give me all you got.’ The was escalating in the summer of 2012, food industry is getting left behind.” The price cut into the profitabil- “one of India’s biggest guar exporters, Before the shale boom, the food ity of the frackers, who were paying Vikas WSP, gave away 3,000 tonnes industry was paying about $2,000 for some 30 per cent of their well-service of guar seeds to encourage farmers a ton of guar gum. By 2012, the price costs just for a bean. During the sum- to switch away from cotton and other was $28,000. mer of 2012, the situation reached a crops to guar bushes.” Between 2006 and 2011, North climax. As The Guardian UK (De- Finally, India’s commodity-mar- American frackers quadrupled the cember 18, 2012) reported, by that kets regulator (the Forward Markets amount of guar gum they were using, point demand for guar was so strong Commission) stepped in during late driving the amount up to one billion “that panic buying set in and prices summer 2012 and suspended futures pounds in 2011. According to Report were doubling week-by-week.” trading because of suspicions of “mar- on Business (December 2012), a typi- While the guar gum price was ket manipulation.” As globalresearch. cal shale oil well “consumes roughly reaching toward US$28,000 per ton ca reported (September 18, 2012), 4,000 kilograms” of guar gum. By (with an increase 1,400 per cent in a day-traders and rogue brokers were 2012, Halliburton alone was using single year), one of the fracking giants having such a guar speculating frenzy 14 million pounds of guar gum per took action. Halliburton CEO David that “twice the size of annual produc- month.” Lesar complained to Reuters (July 20, tion of the [actual] crop was traded in Meanwhile, those peasant farm- 2012) that guar had “the fastest-mov- the futures markets on a single day.” ers in northwestern India (especially ing commodity price that I have ever Other speculators were buying up and in Rajasthan state) couldn’t believe seen.” But the Reuters writer noted storing guar in warehouses (financed their good fortune. With the frackers “Halliburton itself probably contrib- by private banks) to raise the price. and the bakers and the ketchup mak- uted” to the volatility “by embark- The FMC’s market suspension, ers all vying for guar, the price start- ing on an aggressive and successful coupled with the massive stockpiling ed rising like some moist gluten-free campaign to build up a private stock- by US frackers, suddenly plunged the muffin. Guar farmers took out loans pile that would protect it from future price of guar to about $7,000 per ton to buy equipment and extend their supply gaps.” Halliburton reportedly Continued on Page 10
Watershed Sentinel 9 November-December 2014 FRACKING
Fracking Giants continued advertising its trademarked guar-sub- seasons. Many peasant farmers them- stitute, “HiWay.” Most of these labo- selves, who profit little from the price – a bursting of the bubble that meant ratory substitutes use biodegradable increases, appear to be turning away many farmers who had taken out bank polymers, thought to be more “green- from guar, apparently having lost loans based on the high guar price friendly” than other chemicals. faith in the economic “trickle-down” were suddenly in trouble. But according to market trends theory. A July 2014 Guar Gum Re- Nonetheless, with free seeds analyst Thomasnet.com (May 9, port: India from corporate advisor available from exporters, farmers in 2013), “...there isn’t anything current- threeheadedlion.com quotes farm- three Indian states increased their ly available with the reliability and ers saying they are less interested in guar acreage by almost 30 per cent in quantities of guar gum.” Others have growing guar. This year a delayed 2013, only to see another price bubble, noted that the industry likes to claim monsoon season was followed by in- and another crash by November 2013, its proprietary fracking fluids contain tense monsoon flooding that wreaked with the regulator again stepping in to common food ingredients, like guar. havoc across India. investigate. For example, the American Petroleum Perhaps fossil-fuel induced cli- Given such a volatile market, the Institute’s July 2014 report, Hydrau- mate change will itself be the giant- oil-services giants decided to make lic Fracturing: Unlocking America’s slayer that brings down the fracking their own fracking guar substitutes. Natural Gas Resources, uses images industry. Otherwise, maybe the Big of a tube of lipstick and an ice cream Green NGOs could use their millions Into the Laboratory bar (which both contain guar gum) as to provide free seeds for other crops Calgary-based Trican Well Serv- examples of the nonthreatening ingre- and help India’s peasant farmers tran- ices Ltd. touts its trademarked guar dients in fracking fluids. sition away from guar. substitutes TriFrac-C and Novum, By 2014, India’s The Economic which the company’s 2012 Annual Times (February 6, 2014) was report- t Report says “have been field tested ing that guar demand from the US oil/ by Trican customers and results have gas sector was again on the rise, with Joyce Nelson is an award-win- been equivalent to or have exceeded Halliburton and Baker Hughes “the ning freelance writer/researcher and guar-based systems.” two major buyers of India’s guar gum.” the author of five books. Baker Hughes trademarked Whether that means “PermStim and something called “AquaPerm,” while “AquaPerm” delivered less than stel- Halliburton rolled out “PermStim” lar fracking results is not clear. – leading a business writer for Reu- Ironically, however, increasing ters (August 13, 2012) to note that climate change is causing weather- they “sound like hair care products” extremes that endanger India’s guar but could be “a big prize for oil serv- crops – another form of volatility for ices companies as they try to stabilize the sector but this time by delayed, costs.” By 2013, Schlumberger was weakened, or heightened monsoon
Watershed Sentinel 10 November-December 2014 BEARS
by Jeff Whiting
s bears are of- The Symposium Aten considered During Septem- the ambassadors for ber’s BC Conserva- BC’s majestic wil- tion Symposium, derness, it’s no sur- we heard scientists prise the province’s and experts in bear recent bear hunting conservation argue season opening has that trophy hunting sparked much con- puts our bear popu- troversy and public lation at risk. This is discontent among especially alarming BC residents. One of given that in many our most important ways, a healthy bear duties as Artists for population translates Conservation is to inspire healthy dia- Most controversy around hunt- to a healthy overall forest ecosystem. logue around wildlife and conserva- ing arises over trophy hunting, which Also during the symposium, we tion issues. For this reason, we thought is done only for the pleasure and pride declared the first ever International there was no better topic for our sec- of the individual hunter and has no Bear Day. Conservation leaders from ond annual BC Conservation Sym- sustenance value. It is important to the David Suzuki Foundation, Rain- posium and fourth annual Artists for mention that even trophy hunting has coast Conservation Foundation, Bears Conservation Festival held September resulted in conservation success, for Forever, Coastal First Nations and 27- October 5 in North Vancouver. example, in African reserves. For this Grouse Mountain’s Refuge for Endan- As apex predators in the ecosys- reason, no one approach or policy can gered Wildlife led a dialogue around tem, bears are slow to reproduce and serve all cases effectively. Intelligent the critical role bears play in our eco- are spread out over vast areas and pop- conservation policy can only be possi- system, their economic and cultural ulations. This makes the species much ble by openly considering the science value. The panelists and Symposium more sensitive to loss of an individual and research, and not emotion-based guests participated in the establish- than other species who are abundant in lobbying by either side of an issue. ment of International Bear Day, de- numbers. Being positioned at the top This year, BC has issued the clared to be the first Saturday of April of the food chain means that by pro- highest number of hunting authoriza- each year, beginning in 2015. tecting bears, we help conservation of tions in decades, with roughly 1,800 With the declaration of Bear Day the entire ecosystem they live in. trophy-hunting licenses sold. Given and through our annual 10-day Artists Though a sensitive topic, hunt- that 88 per cent of BC residents op- for Conservation Festival, we hope to ing is a crucial factor when it comes pose bear trophy hunting, the number leave a legacy for increased public to the dialogue around conservation. is surprising. awareness and understanding of the Hunters actually represent some of Bear hunting can actually under- importance and fragility of these in- the most ardent supporters of conser- mine bear tourism by making bears in credible animals. vation. Indeed, conservation of some natural and unhabituated conditions species in many parts of Europe has scarce from their natural stomping t only been achieved through maintain- grounds. Trophy hunting often sparks ing hunting preserves. Hunters are the debate around the morality of Jeff Whiting is the President and hugely responsible for the rise to the sport hunting versus sustenance hunt- founder of Artists for Conservation. conservation movement. ing and issues around conservation.
Watershed Sentinel 11 November-December 2014 TOXICS Reinhold Brezovszky
by Bev Thorpe
Most people are unaware of how health, My colleagues and I, ence of dioxins in Minnesota’s lakes widespread triclosan and at the Canadian Environmen- that resulted in the state taking action. triclocarban chemicals are in their tal Law Association, decided to do On May 16, 2014, Minnesota became daily lives. Many products labelled GreenScreen assessments of both the first US state to ban the retail sale as “antibacterial,” “fights odours” or these chemicals. GreenScreen assess- of any consumer product containing “kills germs” may contain triclosan ments look at the inherent hazards of a triclosan that is used for sanitizing or triclocarban. In fact by 2001, 76% chemical against a comprehensive list or hand and body cleansing. The ban of commercial liquid hand soaps in of 18 human and environmental health comes into effect January 1, 2017. the US contained triclosan and a wide categories. It turns out, both these variety of cosmetics, drugs, clothes, chemicals are reproductive toxicants What Do Regulators Say? school products, and kitchenware also as well as endocrine disruptors, based The story of how both these now contain this antibacterial chemi- on animal studies that demonstrate af- chemicals became such wide con- cal. Plastic products such as toys, fects to the thyroid and sex hormones. taminants demonstrates again why toothbrushes, shower curtains, and In addition, both chemicals are highly chemical policy reform in the US (and cutting boards may contain triclosan hazardous to living organisms in the Canada) is urgently needed. Triclosan as well as mattresses, carpets, tents, aquatic environment. and triclocarban were patented in the and even garbage cans. Triclocarban 1960s mostly for use in health care may be less widely used than triclosan settings. But in 1994 when the FDA but it is found in 84% of all antimicro- removed antibacterial soaps from the bial bar soaps sold in the US. drug category, the use of triclosan in Today, triclosan and tricocarban consumer products dramatically in- rank in the list of top global contami- creased. By 2002, triclosan was listed nants and both compounds are now as a top 10 water contaminant while detectable in house dust worldwide, concern grew at the same time that in ocean water, and in locations as re- the use of triclosan and triclocarban mote as the water loop of spacecraft! in consumer soaps and personal care Triclosan is found in 97% of breast products did not show any benefit. milk samples and US streams have a According to both the US FDA and 60 to 100% likelihood of containing the Public health Agency of Canada detectable quantities of both these “soaps with added antibacterial ingre- chemicals. Is this a problem? It turns dients, such as triclosan, are no more out this is a BIG problem from a hu- effective than the mechanical action man health impact, an environmental of washing with plain soap and water impact and is a classic case of our fail- This is very bad news for our to remove bacteria from hands.” ure to regulate common chemicals in lakes and streams, considering that In addition to this concern, both consumer products. 95% of triclosan and the vast majority the American and Canadian Medical of triclocarban are flushed down the Associations have called upon our re- Our Health drain where triclosan then goes on to spective governments to ban the sale To better understand how these form other toxic by-products includ- of household antibacterial products chemicals may be affecting our ing dioxins. In fact, it was the pres- due to the risk of antimicrobial resist-
Watershed Sentinel 12 November-December 2014 TOXICS
ance. It is clear our regulators need to be prioritizing action on chemicals such as these, which are known to be both highly persistent and toxic in the environment, and requiring safer substitutes – assuming the chemical’s function is needed at all. California has begun to take this approach in its Safer Consumer Prod- ucts Regulations where manufactur- ers need to answer two questions: 1) Is this chemical necessary? and 2) Is there a safer alternative? No product manufacturer should be using these antibacterial chemicals unless a clear and strong case can be made that these biocides are indeed needed in the product in the first place. In fact, the FDA has issued such a challenge to manufacturers to provide more substantial data by December 2014 to demonstrate the safety and effective- ness of antibacterial soaps.
Next Steps While we should lobby our regu- lators to take action on triclosan and its close relative, triclocarban, compa- nies and retailers need to be taking re- sponsible action. That is why triclosan ample, since 2005, Co-op DK, Den- bels and playing “chemical detective” is listed on the Hazardous One Hun- mark’s largest retailer of fast mov- to avoid these chemicals. Beyond dred list of chemicals of concern by ing consumer goods, has banned the Pesticides and the US Department of the Mind the Store campaign to help use of triclosan from products on its Health and Human Services’ Prod- retailers understand which chemicals shelves with one exception for Col- uct Database lists many products that need to be prioritized for elimination gate Total toothpaste which must be contain triclosan. from their suppliers’ products. clearly labelled that it contains tri- For more information on these The phase-out of products with closan to prevent gingivitis. Seeing chemicals and what needs to be done, triclosan can indeed be done. For ex- the writing on the wall, some brands download the report Chemicals in are at the fore- Consumer Products are draining front of elimi- Trouble into the Great Lakes Eco- nating triclosan system: GreenScreen®Assessment from their prod- Shows Triclosan and Triclocarban uct lines includ- Should be Avoided. ing Procter & Gamble, John- t son & Johnson and Avon. But Bev Thorpe is the Clean Produc- more needs to tion Action, Consulting Co-Director. be done. In the meantime con- sumers need to be reading la-
Watershed Sentinel 13 November-December 2014 SOCIETY
difficult to say that you couldn’t have foreseen that.” Burgoon says she decided to lay charges when it became apparent that neither the federal nor the provincial government was going to do so. At a meeting she and Lysenko attended with an Environment Canada official BC & EFC in early spring, the official advised that the Province had taken the lead on the investigation, and the federal Charged Over government likely wouldn’t lay any charges unless the Province decided Lemon Creek Spill to. Then in June, the Nelson Star re- Photo credit Art Joyce and the Valley Voice ported that “a Ministry of Environ- ment spokesman told the Star he by Jan McMurray wasn’t aware of any charges being alin, and in the pleadings in the civil contemplated against Executive Flight The Lemon Creek jet fuel spill class action case. “That part is not Centre under the Fisheries Act.” on July 26 last year has spawned an- controversial,” she said. The Fisheries Act specifically other legal action. Long-time Slocan Lysenko explained that environ- provides for private prosecutions by Valley resident and activist, Marilyn mental law requires companies to individuals. Burgoon says she learned Burgoon, has laid charges under the take all reasonable steps to prevent of- this from Alexandra Morton’s case Fisheries Act against Executive Flight fences from occurring, and it appears against Marine Harvest fish farm. In Centre (EFC) and the Province of BC. that this did not happen in this case. that case, the government stepped in “If government is not going to ap- “Part of the frustration is that it and laid charges, and was successful. ply the laws of Canada, it is up to the appears this was an entirely preventa- “We expected the government to people to do so,” said Burgoon. “The ble incident,” reports Lysenko. “There lay charges in the Lemon Creek spill,” release of 33,000 gallons of jet fuel were a number of things both parties Burgoon said. “That’s their job under into Lemon Creek is a clear violation could have done easily to prevent this the Fisheries Act. A ministry official of section 36 (3) of the Fisheries Act.” from occurring.” stood up at the public meeting and said Section 36 (3) of the Fisheries In the pleadings in the civil case, they would follow it through and they Act states: “… no person shall deposit it has been stated that prior to the day haven’t. I’ve worked for clean water or permit the deposit of a deleterious of the spill, another driver took the for years, and I’m glad the Constitu- substance of any type in water fre- same wrong turn. He was following tion gives us the ability to do this.” quented by fish….” the same directions, issued by the However, she acknowledges that Burgoon’s lawyer, Lilina Lysenko Province, to the same helicopter stag- the average citizen cannot afford to go of Trail, reported, “We have reason- ing area, also to deliver fuel. Luckily, through the courts, and is very grate- able and probable grounds to believe the driver encountered an individual ful to have received funding from that both parties deposited or permit- who stopped him and redirected him. West Coast Environmental Law. ted the deposit of a deleterious sub- When he arrived at the staging area, Lysenko adds, “This is an oner- stance – in this case, jet fuel – into a he told the Province that the direc- ous undertaking for a private indi- waterway frequented by fish – in this tions were incorrect and caused him vidual.” case, Lemon Creek, which flows into to turn up the wrong road. The next step in this case is the the Slocan and Kootenay rivers, and “The Province and EFC could say process hearing, where the judge will all three rivers were affected.” they couldn’t have been reasonably determine if there is sufficient evi- She said that the fact that deleteri- expected to take different steps to pre- dence to proceed. If so, the judge will ous materials were deposited into the vent the spill, but this does not seem issue a summons for the accused to creek and impacted fish is well es- to be the case,” said Lysenko. “When appear in court. tablished – it’s been widely reported you have a situation where the same t in newspapers, in the environmental set of circumstances occurred imme- An unedited version of this arti- impact assessment done by SNC-Lav- diately prior to the spill, it makes it cle was published in the Valley Voice.
Watershed Sentinel 14 November-December 2014 CANADA NEWS
Have You Heard? Compiled by Susan MacVittie
NEB Ruling for Burnaby Texada Coal Challenge Cree Occupy Hydro Dam The National Energy Board (NEB) Voters Taking Action on Climate Cross Lake First Nation in Mani- ruled against the City of Burnaby, BC in Change, with support from West Coast toba have occupied Jenpeg Generating its attempts to block Kinder Morgan from Environmental Law, have launched a BC Station since late September. There doing test pipeline drilling on Burnaby court challenge against the expansion of has been a long history of disputes be- Mountain. The company will be able to the Texada Coal Loading facility. tween Manitoba Hydro and the Pim- proceed with its geo-technical work to Texada Quarrying Ltd., which is icikamak Cree, who say the province explore the feasibility of an underground owned by Lafarge Canada, plans to store has yet to implement the Northern tunnel for its $5.4-billion Trans Moun- up to 800,000 tonnes of coal on site (up Flood Agreement, which is supposed tain pipeline expansion project. The from a maximum of 400,000 tonnes) each to compensate northern First Nations Mayor of Burnaby says many citizens do year, from a facility located at its lime- affected by hydro development. The not support the expanded pipeline, which stone quarry on Texada Island, which will Pimicikamak say community mem- would carry a much larger volume of dil- enable up to 4 million metric tonnes per bers pay high electricity bills. It is in- bit through the densely populated city. year of imported US coal to pass through sult, they say, considering the power is The Mayor’s office said they will carry the expanded Texada facility – more than generated on their own lands. this fight to a federal court. 10 times the amount of coal currently han- —www.aptn.ca, October 17, 2014 — www.vancouverobservor.com dled at the facility. October 24, 2014 — West Coast Environmental Law Beekeepers File Suit June 13, 2014 Canadian beekeepers filed a class Selenium Pollution action lawsuit in Ontario Superior A report by a US selenium expert, Solar Co-op Court against two chemical compa- sent by Environment Canada recently to Thirty homeowners in the Cow- nies, Bayer AG and Syngenta AG, for Teck Coal Ltd. and the provincial gov- ichan Valley on Vancouver Island, BC over $400 million in losses, allegedly ernment, warns bluntly that selenium have signed up for solar panels as part caused by neonicotinoid pesticides to pollution in BC’s Elk River has reached of a project for a citizen-owned Cow- Ontario bees. levels that threaten a total population ichan Renewable Energy Cooperative. This is the first Canadian class collapse of westslope cutthroat trout. Households could make money by action lawsuit filed for harm to bees The problem has existed since the selling their solar electricity to the BC Hy- caused by these widely-used pesti- 1800s, when coal mining began, but it dro grid when the sun shines, and buy it cides. Since the 1970s, honeybees has become worse over the past 40 years back when they are producing less, as part have been declining, prompting sci- because of a shift to large-scale, open- of BC Hydro’s netmetering policy. entists around the world to research pit mining operations. —Cowichan Valley Citizen potential causes, e.g. cell phone radia- — www.globeandmail.com September 12, 2014 tion, parasites, and the thinning ozone October 19, 2014 layer. After eight years, the conversa- Taseko Seeks Damages tion has focused on neonicotinoids. Site C Dam Taseko Mines has asked that its judi- Corn, soy bean, and other crop The Site C Dam, which would flood cial review into the rejection of the New seeds are treated with these pesticides 55 square kilometres of the Peace River Prosperity mine in BC, be turned into a to prevent insects from damaging Valley, BC, has been given environment- lawsuit because damages are not awarded them before they sprout. According to al approval by the provincial and federal in a judicial review. Taseko claims the the Grain Farmers of Ontario, neonti- government. The final decision will be federal environment minister acted im- cotinoids have been used on all corn made by the end of the year. properly in rejecting the $1.5-billion gold seeds in Ontario since 2004. — www.globeandmail.com and copper mine proposal. —www.huffingtonpost.ca October 21, 2014 —www.ctvnews.ca, October 22, 2014 September 17, 2014
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Watershed Sentinel 16 November-December 2014 CLIMATE Attending the People’s Climate March
by Peter Nix
I went to the people’s bles; bugles trumpeting; stern climate march in New York socialists handing out pam- on September 21 to expe- phlets; and, ever hopeful envi- rience something bigger ronmentalists performing skits than anything possible in showing beautiful butterflies Cowichan, BC – 300,000 fluttering over a massive oil people in the biggest march spill with a white scull painted in history for action on cli- on its black plastic forehead. mate change. Yes, all types of people Actually, I was in were there ... and why not? Toronto to watch my son Climate change will impact us play for Canada’s national all. And you don’t get to be my para-soccer team, in a pre- age and think that everyone is qualifying tournament for always going to be on the same the 2016 olympic games. page. But that is another story. So, did this carbon-busting I was near New York, and snake of a parade squeeze de- so seized the chance to be lusions out of global-warming there. deniers; digest fossil fuel lobby- But I had to work hard ists; and transform slithery pol- for my “big experience”: iticians to become leaders on four days on VIA Rail’s climate change? I don’t know. economy seat to Toronto; But the news after the march two overnight bus trips to that the incredibly wealthy New York and back; and Rockefellers are selling their oil one night sleeping on a stocks to fight climate change concrete church floor in was a hopeful sign. Brooklyn. You and I can be leaders As for the hard church too. OK, maybe we don’t own floor, I naturally had not oil stocks, but we can buy so- taken a mattress. Hey, lar panels, and electric vehicles wouldn’t you think a 67 and furnaces, and so phase out -year-old grandfather-of- our use of gas and oil. Ultimate- three would be smarter than that? In the march near Central Park. Ironi- ly, a snake-like parade of electric cars place of foresight, I used my shoes cally, I was once an environmental on our roads would be the best way to to prop my feet off the cold floor, my consultant for tar sands companies. swallow up oil companies. inflatable neck pillow to cushion one The front of the march started Personally, I drive an electric hip, and my knapsack to rest my head promptly at 11:45 a.m., but since we scooter. And in some strange cosmic and shoulders. occupied at least 45 blocks, it took manner, even knowing that many Maybe the church knows more three hours before people near the end lives are being destroyed by this his- than me about the benefits of suffer- even got to move. toric crises, it feels good to have the ing. But what the heck, if my trip was opportunity to act. a tad high in discomfort, it was very Once started, the cheerful mass low in carbon emissions. of humanity unfolded like a giant ac- t The day of the big event, I arose cordion anaconda – constantly gulp- Peter Nix is a retired environmental painfully and went to my assembly ing in supporters from sidewalks and consultant and scientist and a member point in the anti-tar sands section of side streets: old ladies blowing bub- of the Cowichan Carbon Busters.
Watershed Sentinel 17 November-December 2014 MINING
In the wake of the Mount Polley disaster, the environmental and social implications of mining are once again on the nation’s radar. Canadian companies are the biggest players in the mining sector, so we begin our special section on mining with an aritcle on OceanaGold taking aim at El Salvador, a gold mining company that is part of a little known tribunal at the World Bank in Washington DC. That will determine whether El Salvador will be forced to let the company mine or to pay hundreds of millions of dollars. How do these things happen? Governments often pave the way with policy, as we see in “Democracy in the Pits,” which outlines how the Canadian government has begun to use its foreign aid apparatus to subsidize mining projects. Canadian organizations have issued a call for action so that people in other countries affected by Canadian mining can access justice in Canada with their “Open For Justice” campaign. There are often warning signs before a disaster, as we learn from the Mount Polley Mine in “The Failure of Regulatory Oversight and the Culture of Compliance.” But what about all that coal we need to be shipping to Asia? It seems that China may not need so much after all, as told in “The End of China’s Coal Boom.”
Photo by Tricia Flores
Watershed Sentinel 18 November-December 2014 MINING
Meet the Company Suing El Salvador for the Right to Poison Its Water by John Cavanagh and Robin Broad Lempa. The river provides water to over half of El Salvador’s population. An obscure tribunal housed at the And so, as Morales stressed, peo- World Bank in Washington, DC will ple said “yes to life and no to mining.” decide the fate of millions of people. This has become a national slo- At issue is whether a govern- gan. Nearly 90 percent of local land- Ciel.org ment should be punished for refusing holders refused to sell their land to Pa- to let a foreign mine operate because cific Rim, a requirement for a mining So Pacific Rim sued the Salva- it wants to protect its main source of license in El Salvador. At least four doran government for over $300 mil- water. local people who were against mining lion, even though the company only The case pits El Salvador’s gov- were killed under suspicious circum- had a license to conduct preliminary ernment against a Canadian gold-min- stances as the conflict over mining mining exploration. ing company, that recently became deepened. The killings only intensi- During the week of September part of a larger Australian-based cor- fied the anti-mining resolve. 15, a panel of three arbitrators heard poration. When OceanaGold bought this case, as hundreds of Salvadorans, Pacific Rim last year, it identified the trade unionists and environmental- Salvadoran mining prospects as a key ists protested outside the World Bank. asset, although gold prices have sunk The Tribunal members are expected by more than a third from their 2011 to announce their decision on the case high of more than $1,900 an ounce. next year. They aren’t required to fol- The case’s implications are chill- low legal precedents. Nor were the ing. If the company wins, this small Then, in an act of democratic ac- September proceedings made public. country will have to either let the countability, the Salvadoran govern- One tribunal insider, lawyer George company mine or pay hundreds of ment listened to its constituents and Kahale, decried the investment agree- millions of dollars. refused to approve the corporation’s ments that have empowered hundreds This summer, we returned to inadequate environmental impact as- of corporations to pursue these cases northern El Salvador. That’s where sessment. Three successive presidents as “weapons of legal destruction.” the Pacific Rim mining company of El Salvador have refused to ap- The fact that this lawsuit is going started to dig its exploration wells prove this or any gold-mining license. forward, never mind that El Salvador about a decade ago. El Salvador’s government and could lose, baffles Vidalina Morales Near that disputed mining site, people could not be clearer. They have and her neighbours in northern El Sal- local resident Vidalina Morales ex- rejected this ill-fated mine. Yet the vador. It also troubles top government plained how she and others came to saga continues. officials in San Salvador. oppose mining: “At first, we thought Thanks to trade and investment As they continually stressed to mining was going to help us out of laws – such as both the North Ameri- us, their country can’t afford the hun- poverty through jobs.” can Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) dreds of millions of dollars it will be But, she said, during a visit to a and Central American Free Trade forced to pay if they lose the suit. Nor mine in neighbouring Honduras, “we Agreement (CAFTA-DR) – that the can their distressed watershed bear saw polluted rivers, and people with US has championed in recent decades, the costs of mining. bad skin diseases, and we learned corporations can sue governments if t about the social conflicts that mining they perceive that government actions Robin Broad is a professor at brought between those working in the threaten their future profits. They American University’s School of In- mine and those in the community.” typically sue in a little-known tribu- ternational Service and John Cav- Morales and a majority of the lo- nal with a very long name: the Inter- anagh directs the Institute for Policy cal people became increasingly con- national Centre for Settlement of In- Studies: www.ips-dc.org. cerned about toxic cyanide from min- vestment Disputes, part of the World This piece was adapted from ing entering the watershed of the Rio Bank Group in Washington. www.OtherWords.org
Watershed Sentinel 19 November-December 2014 MINING Democracy in the Pits How Harper has set up international development assistance to serve mining interests
by David Ravensbergen
For companies in the extractive ing implicated in a range of flagrant Harper met with representatives industries, working in Canada comes human rights and environmental from Barrick Gold while in Tanzania, with significant perks. The govern- abuses around the world. The litany where the company was seeking to ment spies on activists and meets with of offenses is too long to catalogue, replace a thousand miners who were corporate executives to help ensure and ranges from involvement in gang striking in what Barrick deemed an the speedy implementation of pipeline rapes and massacres of anti-mining illegal work stoppage. During a press projects. On the international stage, activists to the poisoning of crucial conference, Harper announced the the Canadian government has begun water sources for rural communities. beginnings of the government’s new to use its foreign aid apparatus to sub- strategy for the mining sector. Rather sidize companies working on mining Government Strategy than create a legal framework to ad- projects in Central America and Sub- In 2005, the flood of criminal dress the disastrous conduct of Cana- Saharan Africa. accusations against Canadian min- dian mining companies operating in While most people have at least ing companies spurred a parliamen- developing countries, Harper planned heard of Canadian mining giants like tary report that called for a complete to turn the Canadian International Barrick Gold, what is less well known overhaul of the regulations governing Development Agency (CIDA) into is the extent to which the global min- ing sector has its roots in Canadian soil. The statistics are quite surpris- ing: more than three-quarters of all the mining companies on the planet have their headquarters in Canada. It’s no accident that the vast ma- jority of the world’s mining compa- nies are based in Canada. According to a Vice interview with Jamie Kneen, the industry. Specifically, the report the taxpayer-funded corporate social research coordinator at MiningWatch recommended that legal norms be es- responsibility wing of the extractive Canada, it’s easy for companies to get tablished so that Canadian companies industries. listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, would be held accountable by the Ca- disclosure requirements aren’t overly nadian justice system for abuses com- The Devonshire Initiative demanding, and the Canadian gov- mitted in foreign countries. Much of the impetus for Harper’s ernment doesn’t subject companies to The report also mandated the new plan for mining came from a too much pesky scrutiny about their organization of Corporate Social Re- group called the Devonshire Initiative, activities in foreign countries. sponsibility Roundtables. Held in formed out of a partnership between With such a disproportionate Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and representatives of the mining industry share of mining companies flying the Montreal, the roundtables resulted in and the non-profit sector. The aim of Canadian flag, good times for the in- a 2007 report that advocated a series the collaborative effort between these dustry means good times for Canada of sweeping changes to governance of two unlikely partners was to forge an –particularly during the recent com- the extractive sector, including man- alternative to the framework recom- modities boom. Between 2001 and datory accountability measures. But mended by the 2005 and 2007 par- 2011, the price of gold rose by 528%, rather than implement the changes, liamentary reports, particularly by silver 1,130%, copper 666% and plati- Stephen Harper took a trip to Tan- engaging the government as a partner num 435%, to name but a few exam- zania that same year to promote the rather than as a rule-enforcing author- ples. But as the decade wore on, the beginnings of what has come to be a ity. According to the organization’s social costs of the mining boom be- radical overhaul of the relationship website, “The objective of the Dev- came increasingly difficult to ignore. between the Canadian government onshire Initiative (DI) is improved Canadian mining companies were be- and mining companies. social and community development
Watershed Sentinel 20 November-December 2014 MINING
outcomes wherever Canadian mining development projects that directly In flagrant contravention of the companies operate overseas.” benefit the mining industry. Official Development Assistance Ac- The DI counts a number of high- According to Catherine Coumans countability Act that came into effect profile companies and NGOs among of MiningWatch Canada, “This strat- in 2008, as well as the 2005 Paris its members. On the NGO side, the egy provided policy cover for the first Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, membership includes World Vision time for the government to put ODA Canada no longer takes poverty re- Canada, Save the Children Canada, directly at the disposal of the extrac- duction and the perspectives of the and Engineers Without Borders Can- tive sector.” poor as the primary factors to con- ada. On the corporate side, mining CIDA rolled out its new vision sider in choosing how to implement heavyweights Barrick Gold, Gold- of development with $6.7 million in development funds. Instead it comes corp Inc., and Rio Tinto Alcan have funding for three pilot projects that down to naked, cynical self-interest, a all signed on. brought together mining companies point the Conservatives have tried to At first glance, the premise and development NGOs: World Vi- sell as common sense. After all, why sounds like it could have some po- sion and Barrick Gold in Peru, World would we spend Canadian money tential. Since mining companies are University Service of Canada and Rio overseas unless it brings direct mate- naturally competent in the field of Tinto in Ghana, and Plan Canada and rial benefit to Canadians? resource extraction, and develop- IAMGOLD in Burkina Faso. The problem is, the only Cana- ment NGOs have on-the-ground ex- dians who benefit from DFATD’s pertise leading community projects Self-Serving Assistance Orwellian redefinition of what consti- in developing countries, bringing the If these projects sound like the tutes development assistance are the two together should help to resolve beginning of the end for an agency mining companies and their share- some of the problems plaguing over- whose explicit mandate is poverty re- holders. The very same companies seas mining operations. Yet there is a duction and support for international who have been accused of egregious conspicuous lack of discussion of ac- development, that’s because they crimes in developing countries now countability or legal frameworks – in were. In 2013, omnibus budget Bill receive free community engagement other words, the responses necessary C-60 legislated the end of CIDA as an services from the government. They for dealing with rampant criminality independent agency, folding it into the haven’t changed their business prac- and environmental destruction. Department of Foreign Affairs and tices, and they aren’t constrained by It gets worse. Members of the DI International Trade to create a new any new laws. But they now receive opted to lobby the Canadian govern- hybrid department: the Department of extensive subsidies to pursue corpo- ment to provide them with funding Foreign Affairs, Trade and Develop- rate interests. and support through the Canadian ment (DFATD). And the generosity shows no International Development Agency Under the newly created DFATD, signs of slowing: $25 million in fed- (CIDA). Mining companies wanted decisions about how to utilize Canadi- eral funding for the new Canadian money that was earmarked as offi- an developmental assistance are now International Institute for Extractive cial development assistance (ODA) subject to one overarching criterion: Industries and Development (CIIEID) to fund their corporate social respon- their relevance to Canada’s commer- is only the latest example of the Harp- sibility initiatives on the ground, all cial interests. er government paying to improve without submitting to any new rules With Canada’s international the image of mining companies. Just or regulations. standing already in freefall thanks to as the resource curse works to keep As outlandish as the idea sounds, moves like Harper’s withdrawal from countries in the developing world the Devonshire Initiative’s preferred the Kyoto Protocol and the UN Con- trapped in poverty, so does the wealth approach to extractive industry gov- vention to Combat Desertification, and power of the Canadian extractive ernance found a sympathetic ear in the new direction in Canadian aid industry corrode our democracy. the Harper government. In a 2009 spending only makes matters worse. t report, Building the Canadian Advan- As CIDA founder Maurice Strong David writes about environmen- tage: A Corporate Social Responsibil- put it in a Globe and Mail editorial, tal politics and is a PhD student in ity (CSR) Strategy for the Canadian “The commercialization of our de- Social and Political Thought at York International Extractive Sector, the velopment funding further discredits University. Harper government outlined a policy Canada’s commitment to supporting An unedited version of this article was that would allow CIDA to engage in the progress of developing countries.” first published on www.desmogblog.com
Watershed Sentinel 21 November-December 2014 MINING Open for Justice Accountability for Canadian companies who harm foreign nationals
by Fiona Koza
When multinational companies with the Canadian Network on Cor- abuse human rights, it can be ex- porate Accountability to urge the Ca- tremely difficult for the rights holders nadian government to be “Open for- to obtain justice. For many people, Justice” and not just “Open for Busi- and for those living in poverty espe- ness.” cially, lack of information and finan- Specifically we are calling for cial resources, language barriers, and nadian mining companies in human a mining sector ombudsperson and legal constraints can create enormous rights abuses committed in Guate- for Canadian courts to be more open obstacles to their ability to seek jus- mala. to foreign nationals who have been tice and remedy (compensation). In In the most recent legal case, harmed by Canadian companies over- comparison, multinational companies launched in BC Supreme Court in June seas. have vast wealth and power, and may 2014, seven men who were wounded Amnesty International encour- have leverage with the authorities, es- during a protest outside a Canadian- ages all Canadians to visit our Open pecially in countries that suffer from owned mine in Guatemala last year for Justice webpage and send an on- corruption and weak rule of law. are suing the Vancouver-based silver line letter to your Member of Parlia- When people’s human rights are mining company, Tahoe Resources. ment (MP), demanding that Canada negatively affected by Canadian cor- The men allege that they were shot at be Open for Justice. Even better, take porations and they are unable to ob- close range during a peaceful protest your activism one step further and tain justice in their own country, it is on a public road outside Tahoe’s Esco- meet with your MP in person or by vital that they are allowed to seek jus- bal silver mine. telephone. Campaign updates and tips tice in Canada. In the other case, indigenous on meeting with your MP are avail- In 2009, the Canadian govern- Maya Q’eqchi’ residents from El Es- able at www.amnesty.ca/openforjus- ment established the Office of the tor, Guatemala have filed three law- tice. Extractive Sector Corporate Social suits in Ontario courts against Cana- Responsibility (CSR) Counsellor, dian mining company HudBay Min- t with a mandate to receive complaints erals over the brutal killing of Adolfo and help to settle disputes between Ich, the gang-rape of 11 women, and Fiona Koza is a Business and Hu- project-affected communities and Ca- the shooting and paralyzing of Ger- man Rights Campaigner at Amnesty nadian extractive sector companies man Chub – abuses alleged to have International Canada and based in operating overseas. The process has been committed by mine company se- Vancouver. many shortcomings, however, includ- curity personnel at HudBay’s former ing that participation in the process mining project in Guatemala. is optional, so oftentimes companies These are the only two legal cases simply walk away. Victims of human that are underway in Canada involv- rights violations involving Canadian ing human rights violations allegedly companies overseas, who try to bring committed by Canadian companies their cases to court in Canada, tend overseas. But sadly, there are count- not to have much luck either, as the less other examples of people whose courts often say that Canada is not the rights were abused by Canadian com- best location to hear the case. panies but who did not have access to Considering these enormous justice or remedy in their home coun- challenges, it is therefore remarkable try or in Canada. that two legal cases are proceeding in To address this serious problem, Canadian courts over the role of Ca- Amnesty International is working Amnesty International
Watershed Sentinel 22 November-December 2014 MINING
The Failure of Regulatory Oversightand the Culture of Compliance
by Ramsey Hart stating that buttressing needed to stabilize the dam for the On August 4 the tailings impoundment at volume of water that it was storing at the mine had not been the Mount Polley mine failed, releasing 25 mil- completed. While McBurney indicates he raised concerns lion cubic metres of mine waste and construc- with the company it is not clear that he reported his concerns tion material into the watersheds below. Some to the government oversight agencies. Another former em- of the waste backed up into Polley Lake, most ployee, Larry Chambers, has stated that he was fired after of it was dumped into the 10 kilometre Hazel- raising safety concerns with the BC Mines Inspector. tine Creek watershed and some spread down- stream into Quesnel Lake. 2010 Report Investigations into the causes and le- The Vancouver Sun’s Gordon Hoekstra found a 2010 gal implications of the spill are ongoing as is report on the tailings impoundment that is particularly trou- monitoring of the impacts. Preliminary water bling. The report noted a number of important failings of sampling results show increased levels of cop- Imperial’s management of Mount Polley including: per and other metals in the water column where • Not reporting a “tension crack” in the tailings dam a plume of fine sediments is moving with the to the design engineers. currents in the lake. There is also concern • Not constructing the impoundment to specifica- over an increase in the E. coli bacteria in wa- tions advised by the engineers. ter as residents used to draw drinking water • Failing to deposit the tailings in a way that would straight from the lake. There are observations create a “tailings beach” around the perimeter as a buffer of increased algae and weed growth due to the between the pooled water and the impoundment walls. fertilizing effect of phosphorus in the wastes. • Not conducting the weekly inspections of drainage Researchers from the Quesnel River Research systems in the impoundment as committed to in their own Centre have noted that the impacts of the spill Operations, Maintenance and Surveillance Manual. may last decades. • 40% of peizometers (small wells used to measure water level and pressure in the impoundment) were not op- Warnings and Red Flags erational, despite advice from 2006. Speculation about the cause of the breach includes After the 2010 report came to light, Imperial issued a accusations that the there was too much water in the im- response noting that they had addressed many of these is- poundment, and that the impoundment was not adequately sues. What they don’t explain is why they operated for a buttressed as its height was increased. As we wait for the number of years prior to their being addressed. conclusion of the technical review and criminal investiga- tions, information does show that there were a number of Responses to the Mount Polley spill from First Nations, warnings and red flags raised about the impoundment in NGOs and the public have appropriately included calls for recent years. Whether or not the issues identified in the past increased inspections and improved regulations. While are directly related to the spill, the response of the BC gov- these are certainly necessary, to be effective they must also ernment to the issues at Mount Polley tells us a lot about be accompanied by a change in the culture of how our gov- how the system of oversight works in BC (and elsewhere in ernments deal with compliance and enforcement issues. Canada). The situation at Mount Polley is typical of govern- Greater whistle-blower protection is also critical. ments that want to maintain an open-for-business climate, The Mount Polley case shows us that technical advice and promote compliance with environmental and engineer- from engineers, operational commitments and even warn- ing standards, but do little to force companies into concrete ings and advisories from regulators are not sufficient for action in a timely way. companies to implement changes in a timely way. Corpora- Shortly after the spill, the CBC reported that the Minis- tions must face much stronger financial penalties, and we try of the Environment issued five warnings to the company need governments that are willing to impose them and that for failing to report issues with the tailings impoundment recognize we cannot be “open-for-business” at any cost. and for allowing higher water levels than was approved. t There were no charges and no public disclosure. Ramsey Hart is the Canada Program Coordinator at Former mine employee, Gerald McBurney, was widely MiningWatch Canada and works across the country on the cited in the media criticizing the mine’s management and environmental and social issues related to the mining sector.
Watershed Sentinel 23 November-December 2014 MINING Dan Hazeltine What I Saw Broke My Heart MINING B. GlambeckB. GlambeckB. Keiron Oudshorn
by Dan Lewis began to burn, with no relief until we ens, I considered the future of Ques- hiked up the hill away from Polley nel Lake. The toxins will now begin I didn’t really want to go to Lake and got back into fresh air. to move, not just throughout Quesnel Mount Polley. I felt I had to go – to see We watched fish jumping in the Lake and down the Fraser watershed, for myself how bad things could get lake. The campsites on the shore have but also upstream, in the gills of the if Imperial Metals ever succeeded in been closed. We could see and hear spawning salmon, being eaten by opening a similar mine in Clayoquot the pumps operating, trying to lower bears, then dispersed throughout the Sound. What I saw broke my heart. the lake level by pumping the mine’s food web. This stuff will begin to We arrived on Day 24 of the spilled effluent right into a natural spread and it’s anybody’s guess how disaster, and joined the Yuct Ne waterway called Hazeltine Creek. that will play out. Next spring this Senxiymetkwe Camp established by At least it used to be a natural year’s sockeye eggs will hatch, and Secwepemc women at the entrance to waterway – a quiet woodland creek the fry will spend a year rearing in the Mount Polley mine, the night of a about two metres wide. We hiked in this toxic soup – what will happen big feast. the next day to see what had happened to the sockeye run in 4 years, and for We ran into Doug Gook, an old there. It is still hard to think about generations to come? friend whose family has lived near what we witnessed. There was a fif- It is clear that Mount Polley must Quesnel for three generations. As he ty-metre wide swath of mine tailings serve as a wake-up call to BC’s min- described the lay of the land, I began with a ten-metre deep canyon running ing industry, government and citizens. to realize that BC’s biggest mining down the middle of it. A raging lit- Mining policy in BC needs an disaster had happened in the heart of tle creek of mine effluent was flow- overhaul – some of it was written in some of the province’s best wild lands. ing through the canyon and emptying the 1800s. Quesnel Lake is one of the deep- directly into Quesnel Lake. Hazeltine One good first step would be to est lakes in the world, and home to Creek is gone – obliterated from the designate mining no-go zones. Some one quarter of the Fraser River’s sock- face of this Earth forever. places are too special to be put at eye population. At the headwaters of The BC government and Imperial risk by mining, places like Clayo- Quesnel Lake lie the wild valleys of Metals were both completely unpre- qout Sound, or the headwaters of the Cariboo Mountain Provincial Park, pared for this. The priority for the BC world-famous Adams River sockeye which connects the Bowron Lakes government appears to be to cover the run, where Imperial wants to build and Wells Gray parks. mess up, hope it goes away, and above another mine in Secwepemc territory. The entire region is unceded tra- all to not let it upset Christy Clark’s ditional territory of the Xats’ull and dream of opening eight new mines in It is our job as citizens to remem- other First Nations, and now home to BC by next year. ber what happened at Mount Polley the small community of Likely, popu- Imperial Metals had no disaster mine, and keep the pressure on to lation 350. plan in place, nor have they yet made make sure that such a disaster never While at the Camp, we hiked in to one public. They are hinting that it is happens again. Polley Lake, which used to be a sweet not possible to clean the mess up. little lake with the tailings dam loom- As we stood on the bridge at t ing above it. I got a headache immedi- Likely watching this year’s sockeye Dan Lewis is Executive Director
Dan Hazeltine ately, and my partner Bonny’s sinuses swimming into the lake by the doz- of Clayoquot Action in Tofino, BC
Watershed Sentinel 25 November-December 2014 MINING
But recently adopted air quality the trend of rapid growth in coal use policies and the growth of renewable and cut their coal consumption over- energy show signs of a major change all in just four years. No other major in trend. Given China’s major role in coal consuming country has ever global emissions, this is of global sig- implemented such rapid changes in nificance. their coal policies. To date, the pro- For the world outside China, posed coal control measures are am- grasping the scale and significance of bitious. If achieved, the measures will China’s energy choices is challenging. not only fundamentally shift the coal consumption trajectory of the world’s Airpocalypse largest coal consumer, but also signif- China’s major cities have long icantly re-shape the global CO2 emis- endured high levels of air pollution. sion landscape. In 2013, 92% of Chinese cities failed to meet national ambient air quality Game-Changer? standards. This has not held back the The road away from coal is going construction of new coal-fired plants to be long and challenging, but it has Photo by Wu Di and factories, adding to the problem. started. China’s coal appetite is inter- Coal burning is responsible for almost twined with its investment-driven, half of the country’s PM2.5 pollution heavily industrialized development by Li Shuo and Lauri Myllyvirta (particulates with an aerodynamic di- model. It will require additional polit- ameter less than 2.5 μm). ical will to decouple the growing use The killer line in any domestic In 2013 things started to change. of coal from economic development. climate debate is: “What’s the point of “Airpocalypse” episodes, with excep- Coal consumption is still expected to reducing emissions here when China tionally high levels of air pollution, grow overall. Nonetheless, the good is building a coal-fired power plant in Beijing and many major Chinese news is that there is now an active na- each week?” cities raised public concern about air tional debate about placing a ceiling The facts behind China’s coal quality and created enormous pres- on reliance on coal. consumption are daunting. China is sure to the country’s heavily coal-de- Internationally, China has to the world’s largest energy consumer pendent outlook. make a paradigm shift in its negotia- and the leading emitter of greenhouse In September 2013, China’s State tion strategy within the United Na- gases. In 2013, coal accounted for Council, or cabinet, released an Air- tions Framework Convention on Cli- 65% of China’s overall energy con- borne Pollution Prevention and Con- mate Change (UNFCCC). sumption, making it the most coal- trol Action Plan in which the Chinese The country needs to be more dependent country among top energy government recognized that tackling proactive in communicating its do- consumers. the air pollution crisis will require sig- mestic progress. Up to now, the latest China accounts for almost half nificant reductions in coal consump- coal control measures are still a sig- of global coal consumption and, from tion. The plan was accompanied by nificant “unknown” in terms of Chi- 2000 to 2010 its coal use and emis- specific coal consumption targets in na’s new climate ambition. But with sions grew on average at 9% a year. provincial action plans. these policies in the pipeline, China In 2010 alone, China’s increase in For the first time, the plans in- has the potential to be a game-chang- coal-fired power generation capacity troduce coal consumption caps for er within the UN climate negotiations equaled Germany’s existing generat- provinces. Furthermore, many prov- for a new treaty to be adopted in Paris, ing capacity. inces are now committing to reverse in 2015.
Watershed Sentinel 26 November-December 2014 MINING
by Li Shuo and Lauri Myllyvirta
Fact 1: Twelve of China’s 34 Fact 3: The major slowdown in Fact 5: In magnitude, the scale provinces, accounting for 44% coal consumption trends opens of emission reductions result- of China’s coal consumption, up a window of opportunity for ing from coal control measures have pledged to implement coal con- peaking global CO2 emissions. Im- compares to or exceed the efforts of trol measures. plementing the coal control measures the other top two polluters – the Eu- could put china’s emissions almost in ropean Union and the United States. Fact 2: Collectively, the coal line with a 2 degrees trajectory. control measures imply a re- Fact 6: As coal consumption duction in coal consumption Fact 4: China’s coal consump- decreases, renewable energy is of approximately 350 million tonnes tion has already slowed down increasingly meeting China’s (MT) by 2017 and 655 MT by 2020, recently, with a number of key new energy demand. compared with business-as-usual provinces seeing absolute consump- t growth. This translates into an esti- tion decreases in 2012. Reprinted from Greenpeace, The mated reduction in CO2 emissions of End of China’s Coal Boom: 6 Facts about 700 MT in 2017 and 1,300 MT You Should Know, April, 2014. in 2020.
China Levies New Tariff on Coal Imports In October, China announced new tariffs on imported coal, sending shock waves through the mining world, especially in Australia, which already has an $8 billion Chinese market. The tariff is to be 3% for anthra- cite and coking coal and 6% for other coal. However, the Australian government says the tariff will be dropped for Australian imports after a free trade agreement, ten years
PacificWarriors, 350.org in negotiation, is signed. Reuters reported that, “Trade CANOES VERSUS COAL talks have been hampered by Beijing’s ... worries about Australia’s tough approval process for foreign investment Pacific Climate Warriors have traveled from 12 by China’s state-owned enterprises.” Pacific Islands to Australia, to take the fight to save their —www.reuters.com, October 22, 2014 homes directly to the fossil fuel industry. Using tradi- tional canoes, 30 Pacific Climate Warriors paddled into the oncoming path of coal ships in an effort to shut down the world’s biggest coal port at Newcastle Australia for for a day. The islands represented in the flotilla include: Papua New Guinea, The Solomon Islands, Samoa, Fiji, The Marshall Islands, Tonga, Tokelau, Niue, Kiribati, Vanuatu, The Federated States of Micronesia and Tuvalu. “The coal which leaves this port has a direct impact on our culture and our islands,” said the Warriors in a joint statement. “It is clear to us that this is the kind of action which we must take in order to survive. Climate change is an issue which affects everyone and coal com- panies may expect further actions like this in future.” —www.mintpressnews.com, October 2014
Watershed Sentinel 27 November-December 2014 MINING Rebecca Bollwitt
Is the Comox Valley Destined To Become the Coalmox Valley?
While it is estimated that the iconic Comox Glacier is going to disappear with the next two decades, ironically, coal mining and exploration companies are increasing their interest in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, BC. by John Synder The proposed Raven Coal Mine near Fanny Bay, would see 850,000 tonnes of coal per year produced at the mine A. Coal found in BC ranges from low ranking coals site just 5 kilometre above Baynes Sound and trucked to such as lignite and sub-bituminous types, to hard ranking a new coal port in Port Alberni. On October 10, 2014, the coals, such as bituminous ( thermal and metallurgical) and BC Environmental Assessment Office ( BC EAO) sent out anthracite types. a memo to the Working Group on the Raven Coal Mine Project, that Compliance Coal Corp. had notified the BC B. 70%-90% of coal produced in BC is metallurgical EAO it intends to resubmit its Application for an Environ- coal which is used in steel making. mental Assessment Certificate for the proposed Raven Coal Mine Project in the next few weeks. C. In 2013, BC produced an estimated 31 million When the Application is submitted, the BC EAO will tonnes of coal. This production accounted for $4.6 billion, have 30 days to conduct an evaluation of the submission. or close to 58% of revenues from all mines in BC. The Working Group will assist the BC EAO in the evalua- tion of the Application to determine if the deficiencies iden- D. BC’s coal industry employed an estimated 5,184 tified in May 2013, in the previous Application, have been people in 2012. adequately addressed. The widespread opposition to the project continues to E. Virtually all of the coal produced in BC is export- grow in the Comox Valley and Port Alberni. ed. Only a small amount of thermal coal is used in BC for Meanwhile, in the past two years, other coal companies cement making. None of the thermal coal is used in BC for have shown interest in the Comox Valley, filing applica- electrical generation. tions for coal licenses in the Oyster River area to the north, and the Rosewall Creek area to the south. Data from the BC Ministry of Energy Mines and Natu- The combined area for the proposed Raven Coal Mine, ral Gas other coal tenures, and coal license application areas in the Comox Valley, is a whopping 416 square kilometres or ap- proximately 24% of the total land area of the Comox Valley Regional District. The debate on the future of coal exploration and coal mine development in the Comox Valley is sure to continue into the foreseeable future. The residents of the Comox Val- ley are looking towards a sustainable future for themselves and for their children. It’s clear the proposed Raven Coal Mine, or any other coal exploration or development in the Comox Valley, faces a stiff headwind in obtaining a social license from the citi- zens of the Comox Valley. t John Synder is the Chair of Comox Valley Coalwatch. FMI www.coalwatch.ca
Watershed Sentinel 28 November-December 2014 FIRST NATIONS
by Andrea Palframan
A stone’s throw from the bustling Violations of permit conditions marinas of Salt Spring Island, BC lies are nothing new: the owner violated Grace Islet. Blazing with camas and the first permit back in 2012 when lilies, the islet has been protected as a he excavated without archaeological cemetery by indigenous gravekeepers oversight. Instead of stopping work, for centuries. BC’s Archaeological Branch issued How does the BC government re- a revised permit. The Branch now late to such traditions? By allowing a appears to be ignoring photographic luxury house to be built directly over- evidence showing graves encased in top of the burial cairns on Grace Islet. concrete. The equivalent – a longhouse set-up Frustrated First Nations are turn- on Ross Bay Cemetery – would be un- ing to the courts to force consultation thinkable. in the wake of growing concerns that The double-standard around pro- the owner is running roughshod over tections afforded to settler, versus First their heritage. Nations’ burial grounds has struck a Such cultural effacement may chord with islanders. Activists have become impossible in the post- taken to the water, attempting to in- Tsilhqot’in era. terrupt construction. Businesses such The Supreme Court’s Tsilhqot’in as Slegg and Island Marine Construc- ruling re-affirmed aboriginal title tion have withdrawn from the project. to land, recognizing First Nations For many, it’s a matter of common de- ownership of burial sites. September cency: “I consider those laid there my 11, Christy Clark will meet with BC ancestors and would certainly stand chiefs to discuss how overlapping ju- up for the protection of your ances- risdictions among equal stakeholders tors’ graves,” says protestor Joe Aker- can be reconciled in light of the rul- man. ing. Writing in the Times Colonist, “Whatever happened to “rest in Minister Steve Thomson claims that peace’ for our people? Is that only for the approach he’s taken strikes “a bal- certain people?” asks Tseycum chief ance between the rights of the land- Vern Jacks. owner and the province’s obligation to The immediate fight is about sav- protect archaeological sites.” ing Grace, but this struggle exposes Thomson opines that “these the provincial government’s lacklus- kinds of disputes are better left to … ter approach to First Nations consul- open communications by the involved tation. Tsilhqot’in gives teeth to that parties.” However, owner Barry Slaw- duty, moving to a demand for ‘con- sky has worked at every turn to pre- sent’ from First Nations on matters vent such dialogue. affecting their traditional territories. According to Cowichan Chief “It’s about protection; it’s not Seymour, “It’s not the first time that only Grace Islet. It’s the whole of BC. (graves) have been disturbed, but this This government needs a crash course is the first time that the landowner has Meanwhile, despite a provision in what we believe in,” says Jacks. refused to meet with us to talk. [We] within the site alteration permit al- t have put requests in for a meeting lowing for inspection by First Na- Andrea Palframan is a journalist with the landowner, and we haven’t tions, gravekeepers have been pre- and artist living on Salt Spring Island. even got a reply.” vented from visiting the site. Photos: Gary McNutt
Watershed Sentinel 29 November-December 2014 FIRST NATIONS
First Nations are working together to raise money for court cases to stop pipelines
by Andrea Palframan bridge – and send a powerful message invites guests to her upcoming wed- to Ottawa. ding to donate to the campaign in lieu First Nations in BC are back in “While First Nations legal rights of giving gifts. She and her fiancée court: this time fighting to stop the are strong, going to court with the have raised over $3000 by creating a Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project. government is expensive and time fundraising team: anyone can set up a “With the dismantling of so much consuming,” says Smitten. “Brit- profile and start fundraising individu- environmental legislation in Canada, ish Columbians widely oppose this ally or with colleagues, family and the last – and hopefully inviolable – project and are stepping forward to friends at www.pull-together.ca. line of defense are First Nations’ con- help shoulder this financial burden.” Businesses are pulling too: Mok- stitutional rights,” says Susan Smit- sha Yoga BC have pledged to raise ten, executive director of RAVEN $10,000 for the campaign by hold- Trust. ing fundraising karma yoga classes RAVEN, together with the Si- and in-studio film screenings. They erra Club BC, have banded together have extended a friendly challenge to in support of the Gitxaala, Heiltsuk, yoga studios all across BC to “Stretch Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Nadleh Whut’en, Across BC” during the month of No- and Nak’azdli nations. All are in the vember, in order to collectively raise direct path of the Northern Gateway $50,000 for the Pull Together cam- pipeline and tanker proposal, and are Clarence Innis, Gitxaala First paign. united together with over 100 other Nation acting chief, explains, “The Meanwhile, organizations from First Nations in opposing tar sands federal government has failed in its Friends of Morice Bulkley Valley and infrastructure from crossing their tra- obligations to the Gitxaala. The gov- Northwest Watch have held potluck ditional territories. ernment has pushed this matter to the fundraisers and musical evenings in courts, so that is where it will be re- support of the campaign. Pull Together Campaign solved.” Collectively, these efforts have Pull Together aims to raise In response to those calls, com- raised $100,000 to date. $250,000 by the end of November, by munities throughout BC are hosting According to Marilyn Slett, elect- unleashing the energy of the majority bottle drives, film screenings, fund- ed chief of the Heiltsuk First Nation, of British Columbians who are op- raising dinners and raising money on- “It’s a big undertaking, but we’re not posed to Northern Gateway. The fun- line for a First Nations’ legal defense alone. We have people supporting us, draising initiative is rapidly spreading fund. really good people from all over the both online and off, as people recog- Heiltsuk councilor Jess Housty world and from BC. It’s a good feeling nize this is a strategic way to stop En- has launched an online fundraiser that knowing that we’re standing together
Watershed Sentinel 30 November-December 2014 FIRST NATIONS
united in solidarity with British Co- helping … I know they’re there and Go to www.pull-together.ca and lumbians at large.” they really appreciate all the people click Fundraise Online, Donate, or Jess Housty agrees. “Contrib- that are standing with them.” Organize an Event to get involved. uting funds and time and resources There’s a saying among BC First t when you can, every little bit truly Nations: many paddles, one canoe. As Andrea Palframan is a campaigner with helps. One of the amazing things the creative, committed, and resilient Pull-Together, and a communications about the position I’m in is that I can communities around this province consultant based on Salt Spring Island tell you the names, and the faces, and pull together, it’s turning out that the lives of the people that you are stopping a pipeline can be a lot of fun. Photogrphy by Paulina Otylia SUSTAINABLE LIVING
“The land is not waiting to be filled – call it what it is – a dump!”
by Delores Broten ing and the partnership of local televi- including batteries and Styrofoam. sion. From Sweden came the story of a They crush the packaging with a spe- I trekked off to the Zero Waste recycling park, complete with music, cial machine and send it to a factory International Alliance (ZWIA) 2014 cafes, and games for the children. for re-use: it is more valuable than conference in Nanaimo, BC in Octo- In Italy, Capanaro and 200 other wood or paper. ber with some trepidation. After years communities have achieved more than Most startling was the story of of promoting composting, recycling 70% diversion and defeated incinera- the Loaves and Fishes Community and the Three Rs, I still asked myself, tor proposals in the process. Salerno, Food Bank in Nanaimo. By collect- "How low can it go?" Sure, over the Italy went from 17% diversion to ing food from about one third of Na- last 40 years we've seen recycling 70% in two years. Flanders – a state naimo's grocery stores, using church morph from the domain of hippies to of 6 million people, is at 73% diver- volunteers to sort and refrigerate it, mainstream orthodoxy, but were peo- sion. Over 400 communities, mostly and distributing the edibles around ple really serious about Zero Waste? in Italy and Spain, but ranging from the city, including to schools and non- The people who put the interna- Scotland to Texas, have committed profits, Loaves and Fishes distributes tional into this conference certainly to a Zero Waste process, one which 800 to 4,000 pounds of food a day. were serious, and they had track explicitly excludes landfills and in- Only about 3.5% of the food collected records to prove it. In Brazil, the cinerators with the slogan: "No Burn. as grocery store discards is not suit- movement for Zero Waste has grown No Bury." Meanwhile the European able, and that food goes, not to the exponentially due to talented organiz- Union is flirting, on and off, with a landfill, but to feed the local pigs. progam called the Circular Economy, As well as the stories of hands on a package of goals culminating in a success, there was plenty of talk about Dr. Paul Connett's mandatory maximum of 5% of mu- policy, about how to organize, about Ten Steps to Zero Waste nicipal solid waste to the landfills. how Zero Waste directly confronts In the US, San Francisco, not sur- consumer-based capitalism, and why 1. Source separation prisingly, has led the charge, achiev- to fight incineration. There were dis- 2. Door to door collection ing 80% diversion three years ago, cussions of building materials, and of 3. Composting (Feed the soil) but was even so still sending 400,000 industrial redesign and of the proper 4. Recycling tons of waste to the landfills. They traffic flow in a resource recovery 5. Reuse/Repair Centres now have halved that amount, col- centre, from reuse to recycle. 6. Waste Reduction Initiatives lecting 200,000 tons of textiles for re- Philosopher Paul Palmer attacked 7. Economic Incentives processing. the existence of garbage, "a blight on 8. Politicians working with Ac- It wasn't all a story of foreign suc- our civilization," and the entire con- tivists (Create toxics drop cess though. Many local Zero Heroes cept of recycling, saying, "Recycling offs, Regulations: "If we stepped up to tell their tales. A mat- is just a cover for designing junk, in- can't reuse it, recycle it, or tress deconstruction company in Van- tended to be thrown away." Palmer compost it, industry should couver recycles all the components of charged that even 100% recycling is not be making it.") mattresses, while employing 50 peo- just a waste of time, and that the larger 9. Better industrial design ple. On the truly grassroots level, a social system needs to design reuse, 10. Interim Landfill Nanaimo woman has built her home which the individual cannot do on a The first 7 steps should get a furnishings from discarded shipping personal level, "making a delusional municipality to 80% waste re- pallets. The Gibsons Recycling Cen- decision on what to recycle." duction tre provides drop off or pick up re- BC's new recycling rules are fac- cycling for a wide range of products, ing a significant backlash, displac-
Watershed Sentinel 32 November-December 2014 SUSTAINABLE LIVING
A Millwatch Special Report From Reach for Unbleached! wind blows west to east their opposition to www.rfu.org around here and it's just incineration to lead going to suck all that to a “better way, that of pollution right back to Zero Waste.” them.” Zero Waste International 2014 Rossano Ercolini, featured hundreds of people and Zero Waste Reuse Store - Gibsons BC the passionate Chair projects, people from near and far who of Zero Waste Europe, were exciting and eccentric, talented, ing existing recycling businesses and was blunt about the idea of incinera- principled, intelligent, and dedicated handing control to corporations out- tion as part of Zero Waste: “It's a lie.” to – quite literally – saving the world. side the province: “Due to onerous red He encouraged the Nanaimo crowd to They convinced me it can be done. tape, poor communication and lack of fight the current incineration propos- public oversight, the new rules will al, saying, “If you win in Nanaimo, t impact thousands of B.C. employers, everybody in the world will have more and result in the loss of family-sup- power.” He equated Zero Waste with In 1998, Reach for Unbleached porting jobs” (rethinkitbc.ca). the mastery of the community over published Zero Discharge: Techno- Participants were clearly aware of honest democracy and pledged the logical progress towards eliminating the proposal for Metro Vancouver to support of the global anti-incineration kraft pulp mill liquid effluent, mini- incinerate its garbage in Nanaimo, but Zero Waste movement. Sharon Gaetz, mising remaining waste streams and as Mayor Ruttan declared, "We don't mayor of Chillwack, spoke of how the advancing worker safety, which advo- want to burn somebody else's garbage Fraser Valley Regional District was cated for industrial redesign of pulp in Nanaimo," and besides, “I don't fashioning a solid waste management and paper mills to eliminate toxic know if those folks know it, but the plan calling for 90% diversion, using waste. wilderness wildlife & matter Purchase a Wilderness Committee calendar and be part of our campaigns to protect threatened wilderness and wildlife. Check out our beautiful greeting cards, books and posters online. Call 604-683-8220 today!
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Watershed Sentinel 33 November-December 2014 ANIMALS
from one in South Dakota. From that first infected Canadian game farm the disease spread to others. Inevitably, it appeared in wild deer nearby. In 2005 an Alberta hunter killed our first brain-wasted deer. It was far from being the last. Other early cases were along the Saskatchewan bound- ary south of Lloydminster. Infected deer are now being found along the Battle and South Saskatchewan rivers, the Red Deer River and the Milk Riv- er. The disease is gradually spreading towards Calgary and Edmonton. Hunters can contribute deer heads to a monitoring program. Out of 47,000 heads given since the gov- ernment program began a decade ago, 164 were infected. Biologists found another 47 when wildlife of- ficers culled deer in key areas. That’s a low infection rate, but it’s increas- ing. CWD showed up in about 1.4 per Our deer are slowly going crazy cent of mule deer tested in 2012 but in almost 2 per cent in 2013. Mule deer bucks have the highest rate of infec-
Ester Strijbos tion, and doe whitetails have the low- est. The disease has been found in at least one Alberta moose, though mule by Kevin Van Tighen venison should be worried, because deer are its main victims. CWD is spreading across our prov- The Alberta government contin- ad deer disease is here. ince. Since first appearing in captive ues to actively subsidize and promote Chronic wasting dis- deer and elk in Colorado, CWD has game farming even though the in- ease (CWD) is the offi- spread across North America because dustry has proven economically mar- cial name for our latest of a public-policy disaster – the deci- ginal. That awkward policy conflict wildlifeM plague. CWD is not spread by sion to allow captive farming of na- may help account for why the govern- bacteria or viruses but by deformed tive deer and elk. Actively promoted ment’s hunting website assures hunt- proteins. Like other prion diseases, by state and provincial governments, ers that “…there is no evidence that such as mad cow disease and scrapie, including our own, game farming was CWD infects livestock or humans.” CWD kills by deteriorating the brain seen as a way to diversify agriculture. The World Health Organization has and nervous system. Prion diseases But native animals haven’t had no conflict of interest. Its advice is don’t jump from one species to an- centuries of captive breeding to help unequivocal: “All products from ani- other. That’s what government agen- them build tolerances to diseases per- mals known to be infected with any cies insisted when mad cow became petuated when animals are crowded prion disease (including BSE in cattle, epidemic in Britain in the 1990s. Then together, sharing troughs and water scrapie in sheep and CWD in deer and a not-so-funny thing happened: 140 tanks. And trucking infected animals elk) should be excluded from the hu- humans died from a fatal dementia from one crowded facility to another man food chain.” they developed after eating beef from over long distances is a sure-fire way Our government’s public back- infected cows. to spread diseases. That’s how CWD grounder on the public health risks We may well be repeating that came to Canada – an infected elk of CWD appears carefully crafted in mistake. If so, Albertans who eat shipped to a Saskatchewan game farm light of Britain’s mad cow deaths, with
Watershed Sentinel 34 November-December 2014 ANIMALS
an eye to lawsuits: “Alberta accepts the current advice from local and in- ternational public health officials that there is no known health concern as- sociated with CWD; however, persons should not knowingly consume meat of animals known to be infected with Some of those same hunters are growing mad deer disaster. Instead, the disease.” In other words, we think working against a solution too. The our government hopes hunters will do it’s safe – but don’t eat it. hunter-based Wild Sheep Foundation, it – the same hunters the government Our government makes no ref- and until recently some local fish and reluctantly advises not to eat infected erence to antler velvet or urine even game clubs, quietly subsidize trap- animals. though researchers have found that in- pers to kill wolves. Wolves are cours- This has not been Alberta’s best fectious prions concentrate in antlers ing predators; they are on the job 12 example of intelligent wildlife policy. and that urine helps spread the dis- months of the year looking for vulner- ease. All over Alberta, hunters douse able prey. CWD turns deer into just t their boots and hunting stands with the kind of prey that wolves are quick Kevin Van Tighem spent over “doe urine” bought at hunting stores, to find and kill. Dead wolves, how- three decades studying, interpreting in the hope of attracting a big buck. ever, can’t kill sick deer. and managing nature in western Can- That urine comes from game farms. The earlier a CWD-infected ani- ada’s national parks. Hunters may unknowingly be con- mal dies, the fewer prions it spreads. This article was previously pub- tributing to the spread of their biggest But hunter prejudice virtually guar- lished in Alberta Views, September nightmare. antees wolves won’t help clean up our 2014.
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Health Action spring 2013.indd 1 2013-02-21 12:00:25 PM Watershed Sentinel 35 November-December 2014 WILD TIMES
Tsilhqot’in men wore cowboy hats, western shirts and big silver belt buckles. Many of the Tsilhqot’in women wore long colourful skirts. Hand drums, each one with a differ- ent painted design, were backlit by the rising sun. Fragments of Tsilhqot’in language conversations mingled with smudge smoke, laughter and the breeze off the lake. Kids chased each other between the trees. We had been called there to wit- ness something quite special. Tim Paul, a Nuu-chah-nulth master carver from the west coast of Vancouver Island, was there with his family to present the Tsilhqot’in Na- tion with a totem pole, to honour their successful court battle to establish aborginal title and rights to their ter- ritory. The Tsilhqot’in had also been successful in fighting off a proposal to turn the Fish Lake area into a huge by Joe Foy open-pit gold and copper mine – the federal government having turned love the idea that even the small- the Chicotin Plateau to spawn in the down the mining proposal not once, est raindrop can join with others shadows of the glacier-clad Coast but twice. to become a mighty torrent. Per- Mountains. They do this in the late The title and rights court case haps it’s because I have lived on summer and early fall every year. had dragged on since the early 1990s, theI wet coast of Canada for my entire The First Nations people who live and the battle over Fish Lake had been life, and my home has always been on the plateau and who have been sus- very intense in the final five years. But within 20 kilometres of the big river the Tsilhqot’in hung in there – just like known as the Fraser. We had been called there to witness their salmon – and eventually climbed In early October of this year, I something quite special. to victory earlier this year. drove up the highway through the It was quite a sight as Nuu-chah- mountain walls of the Fraser Canyon, tained by these salmon for countless nulth dancers in red button blankets then past Cariboo country and on to generations are also endowed with danced traditional dances there on the the Chilcotin Plateau to attend a gath- some sort of special strength. This is shore of Fish Lake. And then the to- ering at a little lake at the western Tsilhqot’in Nation territory. The lake tem pole, carried by many hands, was edge of the Fraser River watershed. I had come to camp beside is Fish taken to the place where it was raised My drive paralled the trek that a Lake (Teztan Biny in the Tsilhqot’in by ropes and muscle power. special run of sockeye salmon have language). After much drumming, songs, been making almost as long as the In the morning, as the sun rose prayers and a meal together, the river has been running. These sockeye over Fish Lake, it revealed rolling Tsilhqot’in leaders had an announce- are the champion mountain climbers pine forests and meadows framed by ment to make. of their kind. When their journey is mighty peaks. All morning, pickup The Tsilhqot’in Nation was de- complete, these determined fish will trucks bounced up the rough road claring that several hundred thou- have climbed up from the North Pa- packed with Tsilhqot’in families, their sand hectares around Fish Lake and cific Ocean over a kilometre in height, neighbours and friends, until the sur- the Taseko River watershed would be having first bucked the current all the rounding meadow was filled with sev- designated as the Dasiqox Tribal Park. way up the Fraser Canyon and onto eral hundred people. The exact boundaries and manage-
Watershed Sentinel 36 November-December 2014 WILD TIMES
ment plan are to be worked out over the coming year after consultations with the Tsilhqot’in’s neighbours, but Fish Lake will be forever off-limits to large industrial schemes like mining. Seeing the pride of the people in their beautiful country I couldn’t help but believe that Fish Lake is a source of what promises to be a growing torrent of change. And that’s a good thing. It’s about time.
t
Joe Foy is the National Campaign Director for the Western Canada Wil- derness Committee, Canada’s largest citizen-funded membership based wilderness preservation organization.
Photos: Joe Foy
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