Chaos in the Elk Valley

Shortly following the approval of the Elk Valley Water Quality Plan (EVWQP) by the BC government, several new mine proposals and mine expansions have reared their heads in the Elk Valley. It remains unclear how the objectives of reduced water contaminants in the Elk River can be reached in the presence of new mines. The EVWQP was drafted by Teck and only takes into consideration Teck’s mining plans. It doesn’t allow for any additional contaminants from other non-Teck mines. This means that any new mine would have to have absolutely zero impact on water quality. Can this be achieved?

The proposition of new mines in the already stressed Elk Valley raises many questions. How can a mine promise that they would have zero impact on water quality? What would the impacts be to wildlife habitat and corridors? recreational and hunting access? cumulative effects? socioeconomic impacts to our communities?

And to top it all off, two rock quarries have also been proposed in the Alexander Creek drainage and a new forestry company plans to increase the cut rate on their recently acquired private forest lands by up to 800%.

How can this much industrial resource extraction be entertained in one watershed? The answer is the grossly unbalanced Southern Rocky Mountain Management plan (SRMMP) that guides land use in this region. It not only says that all of the land in BC’s Southern Rockies is open to mineral exploration, it further states that mining is valued more than anything else.

All lands in the plan area displayed as “land open to mining” in Map B.3.1.1 (above) are available for mineral exploration and development, subject to existing legislation.

Objective 3.1.2
Management intent and objectives for other resource values in the SRMMP (including, but not limited to, old-growth, connectivity, ungulate winter range, riparian, visual landscapes and recreation) will not preclude application for, or approval of, mining activities anywhere in the lands referred to in Objective 3.1.1