Surrey - The Editor, Re: Debate section, the Now, Aug. 14. Your editorial, the cartoon and a letter from Bruce Holvick played tag-team beating up on B.C.'s minister of natural resources Bill Bennett, Imperial Metals and the mining industry in general. I suggest you and Mr. Holvick take a deep breath and give a little more thought before throwing all of the above under the bus.
Here are a few more positive thoughts on the spill: Yes it was a tragedy, but fortunately no one was killed or even injured.The overall environmental damage is probably hugely overstated thanks to resource-unfriendly NGO's, First Nations and an uncritical CBC andlocal media (yes, including the Now) for whom any environmental spill plays into an anti-resource development agenda.No question, videos of the tailings pond, the breach in the dam and Hazeltine Creek below the dam look ugly, but we now know the issue is mainly turbidity due to suspended solids, not "toxic" liquids. We are told the solids contain weakly elevated levels of copper and iron. In minor quantities, these are not toxic (poisonous) metals. Those believing otherwise should rip out their home's copper water pipes right now.Suspended solids will likely settle out in Quesnel Lake, as they did previously in the tailings pond. Quesnel Lake is deep and with slow moving currents. Let's wait and see if the turbidity everreaches the village of Likely at the head of the lake, some 13 kilometres north of Hazeltine Creek.The spill is hardly a "minor annoyance" to Imperial Metals, as suggested by letter-writer Bruce Holvick. An environmental bond is part of the permitting process prior to mine development, and the company is in the process of floating a further $100 million bond issue to fund reclamation. This is a bit more than a "chicken feed," Mr. Holvick, and will affect the company's bottom line for years to come.You can bet that Imperial Metals and all government agencies involved are determined to get to the bottom of the cause of this tailings spill.Chris HodgsonSurrey