Back
Mark Angelo: This Rivers Day, let us renew our commitment to cleaning up B.C.’s waterways
Sep 26, 2020
Sunday (September 27) marks the 40th anniversary of B.C. Rivers Day.
Since its beginnings in 1980, B.C. Rivers Day has become Canada’s largest river-appreciation event. In 2005, using the B.C. celebration as a template, we worked with the United Nations to create World Rivers Day, which now takes place in more than 70 countries worldwide.
Our province has been a leader in honouring rivers. It should also be a leader in protecting them.
But on each of B.C.’s 40 consecutive Rivers Day celebrations, a remote mine in the province’s northwest has been discharging toxic waste into the wild and remote Taku watershed.
In fact, for more than six decades, acid rock drainage—the result of sulphide minerals in rock exposed to air and water—has flowed from Tulsequah Chief Mine at an estimated rate of 12.8 liters per second, or over 400 million liters per year.
Though it may feel remote to many, the Taku is an important cultural and ecological hub for northwest B.C. and an economic driver for southeast Alaska. It encompasses nearly 2 million hectares at the heart of a series of transboundary watersheds and is the largest intact river system on the Pacific coast of North America. It boasts world-class runs of all five wild Pacific salmon species.
Tulsequah Chief was operated by Cominco (later bought by Teck Resources) in the 1950s. Since it was abandoned in 1957, two companies have attempted to re-open the mine: Redfern Resources and, most recently, Chieftain Metals. Both went bankrupt before any cleanup could be completed.
0Shares
0Comments
0Favorites
0Likes
Say something to impress...
Loading...
Comments
Hot

No content at this moment.

Relevant people
Life Buzz
60182 Followers
lifestyle
Various life, various experience.
Related