The clean-up of abandoned mines in Canada’s northern territories will cost taxpayers nearly $3 billion, said federal auditors..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, contaminated sites, such as Yukon’s Faro Mine, have been rated among the most polluted industrial sites in the nation..“Contaminated sites originated primarily from mining, petroleum and government military activity that occurred more than 50 years ago when the environmental impacts of these activities were not fully understood,” said an audit report from the Northern Contaminated Sites Program..“In addition to posing risks to human health and safety and to the fragile northern environment, the sites represent a significant financial liability to the Crown.”.The Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations fielded the audit from 2014 to 2020 and found $653.4 million was spent on clean-up..“The total liability at the end of the evaluation period was $2.96 billion,” wrote staff..The department oversees 167 contaminated sites, a small fraction of the 2,644 northern sites managed with others like the Department of National Defence..“The Northern Contaminated Sites Program target is to reduce liability,” wrote auditors..Once a contaminated site is assessed and a cost for clean-up has been determined, the Treasury Board’s practice is to then record the liability..The old Faro Mine contains 70 million tonnes of tailings and 320 million tonnes of waste rock over a span of 25-sq. kms..According to 2016 research by the University of Ottawa, Yellowknife’s abandoned Giant Mine contains some of the highest arsenic levels ever recorded. Taxpayers have been on the hook for the clean-up since that gold mine was closed in 2004..Federal regulators have yet to determine the total costs associated with the decontamination of ex-military installations, other abandoned mines and industrial sites and tar ponds across Canada. .An Access to Information memo from the Department of Finance said remediation costs are typically revised upwards as “the net fiscal impact has typically been higher than the net change in the liability.”.“Remediation activities create uncertainty in the government’s environmental liability estimates,” said the memo..“As with other large projects, initial remediation costs are revised, generally upwards, as the nature and extent of contamination is more clearly defined and as the remediation project design is refined,” wrote staff..“As remediation work is undertaken, there is also a risk of revised costs if new contaminants are discovered, resulting in a further negative fiscal impact on an accrual basis.”
