CCQL Responds to Permit Approval
Click here for details of the Concerned Citizens of Quesnel Lake Press Release in response to recent BC Ministry of Environment's approval of the amendment of Permit 11678.
"The Concerned Citizens of Quesnel Lake are very angry with the BC Ministry of Environment’s (MOE) decision to approve the Mount Polley Mine Corporation’s (MPMC) application to amended Permit 11678. Restoration and remediation of Quesnel Lake, Polley Lake and Hazeltine Creek needs to be completed. Restoration of these water bodies should not be optional!"
We have also assessed the revised characteristics of the effluent to be discharged into Quesnel lake. We have deep concerns about the change in the permitted levels.
The Table on page 3 of 21 of the amended permit (Click Here) details the new levels in terms of "Interim" and "Final" levels for HAD03- Outlet of the Water Treatment Plant and QUL58- Edge of the Quesnel Lake Dilution Zone.
We have grave concerns about the increase in many of the levels, for example-
Total Nitrate
Interim Level- 9.7mg/L
Final Level- 34mg/L
IDZ Levels- 3.0mg/L
The final levels is 3.5 times more than the Interim and interestingly 3.5 times more than the November 2015 permit.
The IDZ Level is also cause for concern, as we would expect all of the Final levels to be diluted by 100, ie- 34mg/L should be diluted to 0.34mg/L. The main reason we were told for choosing Quesnel Lake as a discharge point was due to the high level of available dilution, but the IDZ levels don't reflect that.
Why is this.
The permit table also uses a combination of mg/L (milligrams) and ug/L (micrograms. We have created a document to standardisel the levels to mg/L and also inserted some comparison figures for ease of reading and interpreting
We will be creating a permit guide in the next blog
