The plume has passed, but the consternation has not.
A 113-kilometre, muddy streak along the Athabasca River — the result of a coal mine tailings pond spill near Hinton — is winding its way up the river towards the Northwest Territories.
The Town of Athabasca, we’re told, can breathe a sigh of relief; the plume passed us last week.
Alberta Environment advised riverside communities to avoid drinking water from the Athabasca River while enough coal slurry to fill 400 Olympic swimming pools was passing. Just to be safe. The department says there are no actual health risks, so one has to wonder: is this just a drill, akin to atomic bomb drills of the ‘50s? There are, after all, about seven other coal mine tailings ponds in Alberta, to say nothing of the 925 million cubic metres of fluid tailings in the province’s oilsands. Might as well hide under your desk. Might as well turn off the intake valve from the river. It couldn’t hurt.
If an anthropomorphic turtle telling us to duck and cover seemed absurd, it certainly pales in comparison to a very real, non-cartoon government entity telling us to just sit tight while it decides if and when to release details of what exactly was in the coal slurry spill.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health has already spoken up, shattering any tenuous hold Alberta Environment may have had on the public’s trust. Dr. James Talbot stated heightened levels of mercury and carcinogens have been found near the plume, and while some substances, such as hyrdrocarbons, are returning to normal levels in the plume’s wake, heavy metals like mercury have a way of sticking around and concentrating in fish.
First Nations and others who eat fish from the river must already be scratching their head’s at Alberta Environment’s “no human health impacts” refrain.
Alberta Environment needs to come clean with what else is known about the slurry’s contents, beyond the substances Dr. Talbot ordered them to test for. We’re told the government will release the information in due course, when its investigation is complete. The problem with that line is it assumes the citizens of this province are mere receptacles for government reports; that we only deserve to know what’s going on once conclusions have been drawn and the next steps prescribed.
For all the bright minds we can only assume are furiously — and furtively — working away at analyzing the slurry, there are plenty more across the province not in Alberta Environment’s employ. The people of this province, particularly those who live along this river and understand it intimately, need to be consulted before final conclusions are drawn. We are more than a panic-prone mass of feckless water-drinkers. We have a stake in how this plays out.
The plume has passed; it’s time for this government’s patronizing secrecy to do the same.
