Mine Spews Toxic Fumes: NWT Air Regulations Not in Position

The elevated levels of dioxins and furans — published when plastic is burned or garbage is not fully incinerated — were captured during a four-day”stack test.” According to the World Health Organization,”dioxins are toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.” The company contracted to do the testing in Snap Lake found that among the mine’s incinerators was emitting 6.5 times the acceptable limit, although another incinerator was emitting a whopping 65 times the acceptable limit (5,220 picograms per cubic metre on average, as

It is uncertain how long it was going on for, though the report noted the problem was clearly observable:”Black opaque smoke was noted for all tests early in the incineration cycle”

De Beers did not respond to EDGE’s petition for a meeting from the time of publication. But, as per a letter from De Beers’ Environment and Permitting Superintendent, Alexandra Hood, delivered to the GNWT and Environment Canada in January, the root cause of the issue was”not after standardized work practices,” and running the incinerators, which were just installed in 2013, at too low a temperature.

Since flunking the evaluation, De Beers has retrained personnel, rewritten operating procedures and introduced in new policy to shut down the incinerators if they are not fulfilling the right temperatures (if it’s safe to do so), based on Hood’s letter. A review of the Breeze Lake incinerators with a GNWT Lands Officer at March indicates De Beers has ameliorated the issue, at least in part:”No issues were noted during this inspection,” it states, and”the west incinerator which was burning waste in the time of inspection was emitting apparent exhaust gas without a black smoke coming out of the pile.”

Whether or not sufficient steps have been accepted, however, won’t be understood for decades: another stack test is not scheduled before 2019, according to a source close to the problem wishing to remain anonymous.

No GNWT regulation

The fact that, for an undetermined time period around July 2014, the Breeze Lake incinerators were pumping out unacceptable levels of toxic emissions is troublesome in itself. But it points to a far larger problem in the land; the GNWT doesn’t regulate emissions, require organizations to meet the CWS, or mandate pile testing. (The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, likewise, doesn’t regulate air emissions.)

At a few points in her letter, Hood notes the lack of regulation, claiming De Beers”will conform with any regulatory requirements regarding incinerator stack testing once enabling legislation is approved and developed at the NWT.”

Without legislation in place, there’s nothing to force De Beers or other groups using incinerators (i.e. each mine in the territory), to keep their emissions in a secure level or undertake pile testing on a regular basis. Each mine has an Air Quality and Emissions Management Plan as a part of its environmental arrangement, but these programs simply dictate coverage requirements, not actual emission targets. And while Hood asserts”temptation, as measured against the Canada Wide Standards, will be managed through adaptive management and continuous improvement by De Beers,” there’s little government oversight of the”continuous improvement” without any penalties or other mechanisms to force polluting businesses to cure their manners.

This problem has been happening for ages. According to a Canadian Press report by 2011, the scientific journal Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management found sediments at a lake close to the Ekati Mine that had levels of dioxins and furans 10 times greater than those collected from an uncontaminated lake. The same report mentioned a 2007 study commissioned by Environment Canada which suggested”extensive, uncontrolled burning of wastes could lead to substantial accumulations of dioxins and furans in the local ecosystem, a few of which will persist for a few 81/2 years in levels approaching those believed to be of toxicological concern”

“In most cases we are under the level that health bureaus would (see ) for…” the study continues,”but we are getting there. And if you have more incinerators and more burning, you may well exceed those levels.”

The GNWT’s Department of Environment and Natural resources did not reunite EDGE’s request for comment on the lack of regulation.

Why no regulation?

The document states:”Parties need to take steps to reduce total releases from anthropogenic sources of dioxins, furans… together with the goal of their continuing minimization and where feasible (technically and socio-economically), ultimate elimination.” However, it adds,”each jurisdiction will determine the precise means of ensuring compliance” — essentially defanging the document by allowing states and lands renege on their commitment with no repercussions.

Other jurisdictions have taken proactive measures, bringing in legislation to regulate emissions in keeping with the CWS. The GNWT has not. They did bring in guidelines for handling biomedical waste in 2005, but they have been unwilling to regulate incinerators at mine websites. Their motive? The”waste incinerators operating at remote industrial sites within the NWT… are located on national crown land and are not governed by the Government of the Northwest Territories,” states a report by 2009.

This may have been accurate in 2009, however post-devolution it’s no longer true. Since April of this past year, the mines are on property controlled by the GNWT, yet there have been no moves out of legislators to begin regulating toxic emissions from other industrial incinerators. The last time the issue was discussed at the legislative assembly in 2011, Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley explained a”loophole in ecological rules is allowing an increasing amount of unregulated waste incinerators to discharge exceptionally toxic chemicals into the land and water.” He suggested,”if we take on new powers, we must be ready to move with law.”

Devolution has arrived, and incinerators are still operating in an unregulated environment. Considering all the talk of fracking and opening new mining jobs in the land, it’s now time, even more than ever, for the GNWT to receive its act together.

from: https://edgeyk.com/article/mine-spews-toxic-fumes-nwt-air-regulations-not-in-place/