Coal waste spill in Tulameen River

[matai]

So.. something failed at the mine plant... can we force them to find a better "emergency" system?



Late Saturday afternoon, a small tailings spill of approximately 6,500 gallons, breached an emergency containment pond, making its way to Collin's Gulch and ultimately to the river.

"The spill was the result of emergency repairs to the coal processing plant thus requiring parts of the plant to be evacuated of water," he said. "Under normal operations, all water used in the coal mine plant is fully self-contained, with no water leaving the plant site, as it is all recycled and re-used in the plant processing operations.

"I have lived here 20 years, and never seen anything like this," said Anne Jones. "It worries all of us. I have friends who scooped water out of the river and it looked like glue."

http://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton/ ... ck-as-coal

[Atomoa]

Bad summer for BC rivers. Slocan and now this so called small spill.

[Star Light]

The statement that there is a labour shortage & difficult to find qualified workers is nonsense.

Mining Jobs In Limbo

Posted on September 13, 2013
Filed Under Local Issues, News | 2 Comments

The Coalmont Energy Corporation coal mine was supposed to be back in operation this week – it’s not.

Here is what we know from public statements issued by Coalmont Energy.

As of Monday, September 2, a temporary operational curtailment, that is expected to last between seven and ten days, was put into effect. During this curtailment, only those staff required for ongoing response and recovery efforts as well as those necessary to maintain basic mine operations will be working. This curtailment affects up to 100 Basin Coal Mine employees and sub-contractors.

The expected maximum 10 days would put the mine back in operation yesterday so we are now officially in limbo. Back in August we were told that it was a matter of implementing ministry recommendations.

Ministry officials have completed their initial on-site investigation and have advised that once the plant repairs have been completed and their recommendations implemented, the mine can go back into full operation.

At this point we can only speculate as to what is going on. Did the mine do the repairs? One would assume that they would be most eager to get back into production since that is what pays the bills. The best guess might be that the Inspector of Mines has not issued the go-ahead yet. We have left a message with his office, but as of this writing, have not yet received a reply.

This is starting to look like a political problem. All the talk is about the environmental impact of the spill but frankly, that’s getting a little old at this point. Of course cleanup is a big priority, but it is a separate issue from mine operations.

Who is responsible for the delay? One hundred people are waiting for that back-to-work call. Government communications tell us that there is a labour shortage which is threatening to slow down what could become booming jobs and development possibilities in B.C.’s resource sectors. We are also told that it is difficult to find qualified workers, particularly for coal mining. Here we have them now, let’s not lose them because of bureaucratic procrastination.

This has gone on too long already. At this point perhaps we need our government leaders to step in and confirm that they are indeed all about jobs. Do they realize that every day the mine stays closed is a day that workers don’t get paid and a household that depends on the mine will have to go without money for yet another day? One hundred coal miners certainly do.
Comments

2 Responses to “Mining Jobs In Limbo”

Helen on September 16th, 2013 9:12 pm

What are they waiting for? The water, livestock, community is safe. My son, who is an employee is starving. They need to get back to work. If its politics then Christy Clark, do your job!


Trevor on September 17th, 2013 8:04 am

This is becoming very ridiculous now we should have been back to work already why are we not getting any answers as to what is taking so long workers need to support their families and yet no one seems to care or is giving us any idea on when we will be returning to work people are going hungry and into debt does the mine not care about its workers they need to pay there bills and get us back to work its been almost three weeks now this is becoming a sadder story then just the environment issue witch seems to be taken care of now what are they waiting for?