Publish what you pollute

Enviromine

Publishing Date: 06 May 2009 2:05pm GMT
Author: Mining, People and the Environment

Legal and Legislation Pollution & Waste management

The Canadian government will soon begin publishing information on pollution from mine tailings and waste rock. This follows a ruling from the Federal Court that the Minister of the Environment was wrong to withhold the data under current legislation.

“The Minister is directed to publish pollutant release information to the public through the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) in relation to releases and transfers to tailings and waste rock disposal,” the court said in its judgement.

The decision has been welcomed by environmental group Ecojustice, which was one of the organisations that brought the suit against the government.

“The court has unequivocally upheld the right of Canadians to know when the health of their communities and the environment is under threat from one of the country’s largest sources of toxic pollution,” lawyer Marlene Cashin said.

In contrast to Canada, the US has required mining companies to report pollution from their operations since 1998, under the Toxic Release Inventory. In 2005 the 72 mines reporting to the inventory released more than 500,000t of mine tailings and waste rock, accounting for 27% of all US pollutants reported.