Heavy Metals Most Serious Threat to Mt. Polley Wildlife
Prince George, B.C. – The primary focus in the wake of the B.C. Day breach of the tailings pond at the Mount Polley mine site has been the suitability of drinking water for the human population in the area affected by the massive spill.
Some less-intensive secondary attention has been paid to the health of fish stocks in the Fraser River and its tributaries which were ravaged by the onslught of 10 million cubic metres of waste water and 4.5 million cubic metres of sediment when the wall of the tailings pond failed. While initial testing of Quesnel Lake returned results which allowed authorities to approve the use of water for human purposes, results of tests on fish samples are not back yet so an accurate assessment of the health of those fish stocks has not been presented.
One area which has received little attention to date is that of the abundant wildlife species which inhabited the area of the Mount Polley mine prior to the collapse and resulting devastation. “Definitely it would be the heavy metals, the washings of the tailings pond.” That is the matter of most serious concern to the wildlife habitat in the eyes of Chris Johnson, Associate Professor of the Ecosystem Science and Management Program at UNBC.
Johnson has a broad background over several years of looking into the effects of human developments on wildlife but says “this is a special case and I’m not sure that anyone really fully understands what the impacts are out of this particular incident or, in general, these types of events. You know a tailings pond failing like this is pretty unprecedented, it’s hard to pinpoint what any one impact might be from this event.”
Johnson stresses that his area of expertise is the terrestrial wildlife and not fish or other aquatic life. He says “you can look at some of the images of where Hazeltine Creek is washed out and any of that riparian habitat is obviously lost to creatures from moose to river otters and mink, you know the fur-bearers that we find along there. So that’s obviously an impact and you don’t have to be a scientist to see that. I’m probably less concerned about that type of impact. Any loss of habitat is a bad thing but many of those critters can go somewhere else.”
“I think from a wildlife perspective and what we know from seeing industrial activities in other areas is probably the long-term contaminant load in the system now. We have animals out there that eat fish and that eat aquatic insects and spend time in those aquatic environments and if there is, and we don’t know this, but if there is an increased or elevated, for example, mercury load in that system, that mercury will bio-accumulate over time.” He says there is ample literature available about mercury and the neurological and reproductive effects it can have on terrestrial wildlife. “Also birds, fish-eating birds, so if we do see elevated levels of mercury we could potentially see those transmitted into the terrestrial avian system and it can be really difficult to clean that stuff up.”
Johnson reiterates that his biggest concern right now is the levels of things like mercury and other heavy metals in the sludge that poured out of the tailings pond and the legacy they could hold for that area. “Mercury is highly toxic and if that makes its way into the wildlife population in significant levels then there is potentially going to be impacts that have to be monitored for probably many decades into the future, to be honest with you. Once it gets into the system, you know it’s not water-soluble so it’s not going to wash out, it can be locked up in sediments potentially.”
“So there may be a lot of that mercury still sitting there in what’s left of the tailings pond, but like I said, it starts at the very bottom sort of microbial activities through to invertebrates, insects, they work their way into fish and then they work their way up the food chain so that at some point in time we’ve got raptors, osprey, eagles other birds eating those fish and other organisms. We’ve got river otters and mink eating those aquatic organisms and things that eat river otters so it definitely spreads itself out.”
Johnson notes that researchers at the university are currently doing some work at an old mine site at Pinchie Lake near Fort St. James, monitoring mercury in higher level organisms. “We’re going to do some work on river otters for example but First Nations communities are concerned about mercury in fish and that fish is going to affect other things that live in that aquatic ecosystem. Again if I was to say what I was most concerned about it would be the danger of those toxic elements getting into the system and what’s that going to mean over the next few decades.”
Johnson says at this time it’s a little difficult to gauge the scope of the tailings pond event and that leads to many questions. “What are the consequences? Is this disastrous, you know any impact is something noteworthy, but what would it mean for populations of fur-bearers and ungulates and birds, fish-eating birds in that area. Again, those long-term impacts. An elevated level of mercury, what will that mean to population productivity over time? It would have to be very substantial for there to be, for example, the extrication or the loss of some species to that area relative to a toxic contaminant but we need to think long-term and we need to think about the small effects as well as the large effects.”
Johnson says it is very early on in this particular event and as yet nobody that he knows of is undertaking any habitat study in the affected area. “We do have a lot of understanding, knowledge and techniques for monitoring heavy metals. The science is there to do that work. We can do that stuff, it’s going to take time obviously if that’s a priority for the ministry to mobilize those studies and those people to do that work.”
Asked who else, apart from government, could go in and conduct appropriate studies Johnson says “as far as I’m concerned anyone is eligible to study these impacts. It’s crown land. That’s the beautiful thing about living in British Columbia and in Canada, it’s just a matter of, in most cases, financing to be honest with you. Who is going to pay for it and who is going to do the work?”
We asked Johnson whether his department at UNBC might have any involvement in the Mount Polley case. “It’s tough to say. We at the university, as researchers we’re typically invited. In some cases we have resources where we can initiate studies and follow up on things that we find, things that we want to explore because maybe there’s a public need or maybe because we’re curious about what’s happening. But this particular incident, I’m curious about what’s happening but I have no resources to pursue that.”
And he notes that as far as the terrestrial wildlife population goes any study is going to have to be done over a long period of time. “If contaminants is the key issue then you’re going to have to study that for a long time and you may want to get some baseline information now but monitoring is the type of approach you’d use so periodic sampling of tissue or hair from a range of different species, and then watching over time for changes in those heavy metals.”
While access to the affected area has been restricted by government in the name of public safety, and while Johnson has not recently been to the site (although he had been at the tailings pond previously), we asked whether he feels the area will be habitable for wildlife in the future. “Ya that habitat will return. If you think about the world we live in here in central B.C., these ecosystems are really resilient. So you do see landslides and do see washouts, flash floods and we think about how people affect the land, forestry and other types of development. If you give it enough time it will return. So I’m confident that trees will grow back there, it’s just a matter of how long will that be, you know it’s going to take years.”
“I can’t, without spending any sort of time looking at it, anticipate some reason why those habitats would not re-vegitate, why the stream would not go back to its natural course. Even looking at mega, mega disasters like Mt. St. Helens, the forests are coming back, the fish are coming back so again, these systems are really resilient. It will come back. That doesn’t excuse what happened of course.”
“I think about the longer term. It’s much more difficult for these systems to potentially purge things like heavy metals. Those can stay around for a long time and get locked up in the sediment. So it’s disturbing, it’s a problem, there is definitely habitat that’s been lost, but that’s a short-term type thing, you know 5, 10 years, maybe longer.”
Asked tongue-in-cheek whether we might see luminescent moose roaming at night in the woods near Likely, Johnson chuckled and said “well it’s a good point. Look at places like Chernobyl. The wildlife have come back there, you know they’re not fit for human consumption by any means, so some parallels there for sure, especially if fish start picking up mercury. But the moose will come back and the river otter will come back and the mink will come back. It’s just going to take time.”
Comments
As with Mount St Helens,nature will reclaim over time.
A lot of alarmism without facts or data. He sounds just like a climate scientist. I’ll wait for the data.
What is unprecedented about this tailings pond failure compared to others around the world is the fact the hundreds of people were not killed. This can be cleaned up, will cost bucks but they can return 99 percent back into the pond once the breach is fixed. Until the breach is fixed not much you can do unless someone out there has a million buckets in the backyard.
Too much good news lately about this. The ‘disaster of the century’ hasn’t panned out as well as some had hoped.
Really slinky. They can return %99 back..not a chance. Try maybe the opposite%1. These poisons will remain in the water shed for decades.
High levels of selenium.. Yeah JB that’s excellent news.. Nothing better than getting skin cancer to you I guess.
P Val: “High levels of selenium”
…if you eat a cup of fish gonads. I don’t know what your dietary habits are, but you might want to consider a change.
whats the matter jb did your imperial metals stock drop off of 40% get your hackles up? BUT wait if I were you I would be a lot more concerned about MT. POLLEY declaring bankruptcy and leaving you footing the bill for years to come. NOW you being such a KRUSTY LIEBRAL ADVOCATE doesn’t this just give you a warm, fuzzy feelin all over. HELL before you know it yall be voting NDP, EATIN SUNNY boy cereal. fishin and drinking the water from POLLEY LAKE.
Hey mattyc, how did your last election prediction go?
that’s mister to you johnnyboy lets seehow about I call you some mystery name like jbdf?
P Val, ever heard of a dredge? Fish are already a good source of selenium, is there a benchmark for selenium in Quesnel Lake fish to compare?
http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/herbsvitaminsandminerals/selenium
“But the moose will come back and the river otter will come back and the mink will come back. Its just going to take time”
They never left, even Alexandra Morton has pictures of grizzly tracks walking through the tailings at Polley Lake (previous story link by Peeps). Not sure how far along they are at sealing up the pond but lets hope some thought has been given to hauling the released materials back into the pond or to the mine to be run through again. When they ramped up production for Red Chris they started to miss metals they normally would have refined, it was probably in the plans to rework the tailings pond material once Red Chris was off and running. Begin with this material and off to the races.
Selenium is good at very low levels..high levels cause skin cancer and many other side effects slinky.. I know when animals eat fish.. They remove the gonads so they don’t get over doses of the chemical.
You actually think they will be able to dredge 99% of what was released.. Not a chance ..
JB and slinky either work for the government or the mining company. No other reason they are trying to downplay this disaster..
Sorry P Val, science trumps conspiracy theory hysteria every time.
JB you sure rattle the doom and gloomers.
Morton now there is a piece of work. Think I will have soon of my farmed salmon and hoist a drink to her.
So which animals do you eat that eat fish gonads there P Val. Maybe a bear…but they only eat salmon and don’t fish much for trout unless you get them a rod…maybe you are partial to otter or eagle?
Slinky. Enjoy your job at the mine..just keep poisoning the water shed..
The level of ignorance exhibited in some comments on this subject is amazing!
From the Latest results from Likely story;
The test results indicate a person would have to eat one cup of livers and gonads from these fish in one day in order to exceed the guideline for human selenium consumption. I have a few questions that perhaps the positive spin happy, happy, joy, joy crowd on here could answer:
When they say a cup of fish livers and gonads consumed by a person in one day would exceed guidelines for selenium consumption how big would that person have to be? Say 150 pounds? We know the larger the animal / person, the larger the quantity of selenium they could consume before exceeding guideline levels.
So how much selenium filled fish livers and gonads would a 10 pound eagle or osprey have to eat before guidelines for selenium levels are exceeded? What about those eagles and ospreys taking those fish back to the nests for their chicks to feed on? How much selenium laced fish liver and gonads would a 1 pound eaglet or osprey chick need to eat before selenium levels are exceeded in their tiny bodies?
You happy, happy, joy, joy positive spin people just dont get it do you? Stay in your overly simplistic La La Christy World while the rest of know, and understand, that those tailings pond chemicals and toxic metals are now out there in our environment, working their way through the ecosystem and food chain, and there is absolutely NOTHING anyone can do to stop it from happening!!!
My guess is maybe two selenium filled fish would be enough to make a baby eaglet or osprey chick toxic with selenium! Dont get me started with otters, these critters can almost eat half their body weight in fish and fresh water clams every day. So to all you positive spin La La Christy World dwellers; how are you going to stop the eagles and other raptors from feeding selenium filled fish to their young? How are you going to stop the otters from feeding on these selenium filled fish and giving it to their young?
Sorry to have to drop this bit of reality on those who are so blissfully ignorant, what a bummer this must be, hey? Hmm loons and king fisher diets are primarily fish, it would take way less than a cup full of fish livers and gonads to push selenium levels past toxic levels in their small bodies. Oh well, lets try not to think of any other birds or animals that would be critically effected.
Wait a minute, dont mosquito and dragon fly nymphs live in fresh water like Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake for a period of time before they hatch and fly? Wonder what levels of selenium they would have in them. Hmmm and what eats mosquitos and dragon flies? Oh yeah, all kinds of birds and bats will be ingesting those selenium laden insects, and what eats small birds? Hey, we are back to raptors again, getting selenium from the fish and now from small birds. Yes its one large cluster f*ck we created and all we can say is; Oops sorry about that. :-(
Peeps did you know there was frost up at pineview last night.
Lady Peeps the drama queen, those are daily limits not lifetime limits. How many fish gonads are in a cup? Maybe go catch a cup full and see how many gonads a eagle has to chow down on daily to exceed maximum human guidelines?
“My guess is maybe two selenium filled fish would be enough to make a baby eaglet or osprey chick toxic with selenium”
I thought you swore that everything you post was backed up by fact and research?
Slinky and JB.. We are all so lucky according to you two for this disaster..
4.5 million cubic meters of sludge. What harm could that do.. In your eyes we should be thanking imperial for this release..best thing ever for our environment.
You say they will recover %99 of this stuff.. How. By destroying the river beds and lake bottoms ..only where fish spawn and live..no biggie to you I guess.
What’s a few dead rivers and lakes..it just the cost of business..
Ignorance is bliss…enjoy your blissful lives
THERE is noway nohow that it will ever be put back to the way it was before this disaster, MT. POLLEY will declare bankruptcy before this mess is even cleaned up. I for one cant figure out why someone with a lick of common sense doesn’t understand how this event will not harm environment, water, food chain over the long term? WHY do you think DDT was banned from use in B.C. because it was killing all the birds. CHEMICALS can and do irreparable harm to humans, mammals birds,ungulates, with long term consequences. BUT what really irks me is the ignorance of this company to let this happen knowing full well that there berm was not in compliance which our govt. whom I hold directly responsible overlooking the matter by handing out warnings and doing absolutely nothing to enforce this matter.
The BC Gov. tests for the Tailings sand were posted here:
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/eemp/incidents/2014/pdf/aug15/Hazeltine-Outlet-sediment-lab-results.pdf
So for Mercury they have .069 ug/g or ppm (parts per million)
Looking up Health Canada’s guide lines for Tuna I see the legal limit for Mercury in Tuna is .5ppm
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/…/merc_fish_qa-poisson_qr-eng…
So you can sell tuna in Canada with 7 times more mercury that these tailings and Health Canada says it will not harm you.
So the comment in this article about mercury really don’t apply here.
Say, does anyone else notice seamut, slinky and interceptors responses to my comment were all in the form of questions? Seamuts counts as a question, he just forgot to add the question mark. I have found that intellectually impaired right wingers tend to pose a lot of questions in their comments, as questions do not invite much opportunity for debate. Its a safe approach for them ;-) Always asking questions, but never providing any answers!
As usual, I have the answer to your question interceptor and it follows this comment.
When day-old ducklings were fed 0.1, 10, 20, 40, or 80 ppm Se, as sodium selenite or as D,L selenomethionine for 6 weeks, both forms of Se impaired duckling growth at 20 ppm and survival at 40 ppm, with effects of sodium selenite being somewhat greater (Heinz et al., 1988). Both forms resulted in virtually complete mortality at 80 ppm Se.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1583&context=usgsstaffpub&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dselenium%2Btoxicity%2Bin%2Bbirds%2Bof%2Bprey%26form%3DIE10TR%26src%3DIE10TR%26pc%3DASU2JS#search=%22selenium%20toxicity%20birds%20prey%22
So what will it be, only 20 parts of selenium per million which will impair duckling growth, or just 80 parts of selenium per million which will kill ducklings! This must be near the same level of selenium toxicity that would have similar effects in other birds.
Real funny stuff if youre a red neck tool. Lets hear some more jokes boys, because if its in the fish, this selenium is everywhere now!
Earlier today, I read an article entitled “Reclaiming Mount Polley” in the September 01, 2014 issue of Macleans Magazine. Following are some excerpts from the article.
Interesting reading….
“No one has denied that the spill is anything short of terrible, but, in the wake of the incident have come some “crazy assertions” about the extent of the environmental impact before any reports have emerged, says Carl Walters, a professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia who has been studying sockeye salmon in the area for the last 40 years.”
“Unless they have another breach, it’s not really a big deal”, he said. “Anytime anything happens, the eco-babble comes out and, mostly, it sounds like science and, mostly, it has no scientific basis”.
That matter of knee-jerk environmental judgement such as the David Suzuki Foundations recent call for a freeze on new permits for B.C. mines until every tailings pond is reviewed also threatens to mask real issues. Take Jason McNamee, for instance: Hes a B.C. conservationist and a scientific advisor to the World Aquarium and Conservation for the Oceans Foundation, making him an unlikely dissident in the narrative that the Mount Polley leak is an unmitigated catastrophe. The Mount Polley mine disaster is unacceptable, he said, but using the word disaster? Ah, I dont know if thats the correct terminology. Its all about perspective? He notes that volcanoes spew out ash that contains sulfuric acid and arsenic in several orders of magnitudes more that the Mount Polley spill did; the city of Victoria, too, unleashes around 130 million litres of untreated sewage every day into the Juan de Fuca Strait. Some environmental groups like to rage at the system, but that doesnt help. We need to be looking at solutions, and back that up with voting and other mechanisms of having your voice heard, he said. The miners are doing what miners do. Theyre providing a necessary resource and making a profit. Theyre not bad guys, and we dont need to paint them as such.
The article also discusses some of the options regarding cleanup of the spill and one suggests that “the best course of action might actually be to leave the tailings in the lakebed, with the expectation that vegetation will grow over it.”
“In a situation where a decisive response is demanded by the local community, doing nothing, as some experts suggest, may yet be the best option.”
Interesting reading . or we could just ignore it and keep reading Peeps eco-babble instead!
@ Peeps (aka BeingHuman)
Looks like I’m a redneck, Peeps!
I’m ok with that, considering that I have Carl Walters, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia and Jason McNamee, a B.C. conservationist and a scientific advisor to the World Aquarium and Conservation for the Oceans Foundation as part of my redneck club!!
BeingHuman, aka Peeps, aka Chicken Little!
“The sky is falling, the sky is falling!”
Yep, it all fits, even to a redneck like me!!
Comments for this article are closed.