I fail to understand why special interest groups continue to sensationalize the Mount Polley mine incident. Yes, a dam failed and thousands of litres of water and mud knocked out a swath of trees.
However, the water was not toxic as many claim and, from my understanding, the mixture contains minimal amounts of naturally occurring minerals, metals, rock, sand, silt and mud.
Yes, the site looks horrendous. But it’s not unlike any other naturally occurring mud slide that happens regularly.
Thankfully no one was hurt or injured, and the water tests continue to confirm that the water is fit for human consumption.
There is every reason to expect that in a year natural vegetation re-growth will render the incident almost undetectable.
Yes, we need to find out why this happened and do what we can to ensure that it does not happen again.
But I am not going to let all the “anti-everything” alarmists suggest that we shut down an industry so many families rely on. Instead, let’s make it better.
Donald Leung, Burnaby
