Ch. 3 Land - Environment Yukon

This creates uncertainty and delays in
project development and may translate
into higher development costs and
increased potential liabilities to
government.
It would be beneficial to create a
favourable environment to facilitate
finding solutions before environmental
problems in the Yukon arise. This
approach was used for the Mine
Environment Neutral Drainage (MEND)
program. The MEND program was a
cooperative effort between Canadian
mining companies and provincial and
federal departments. It was designed to
develop and apply new technologies to
prevent and control acid mine drainage.
It is estimated that the liability due to
acidic drainage has decreased by at
least $400 million due to a research
investment of $17.5 million over the
eight year life of the program. The
MEND program was completed in
December 1997; however, in light of its
success, a post-MEND initiative funded
by NRCan and the Mining Association
of Canada emphasizing technology
transfer has commenced.
The Mining Environment Research
Group (MERG) is a cooperative
working group of government
agencies, mining companies, Yukon
First Nations and non-government
organizations for the promotion of
research into mining and
environmental issues in the Yukon.
Participants bring their resources and
knowledge to work cooperatively on
mining environmental issues and
projects in an advisory capacity.
PROGRESS &CHALLENGES
Progress since 1995
■ Viceroy Minerals Corporation won
the 1999 Robert E. Leckie Award
for its ongoing reclamation work at
the Brewery Creek gold mine near
Dawson City. In the placer mining
category, Tic Exploration cap-
tured the award for its reclamation
practices on Gladstone Creek.
■ Pamicon Developments Ltd
undertook the clean up of the
Fairchild property at Bonnet
Plume on its own initiative. At the
Copper Point camp, all garbage
was picked up by hand and the
disturbed area was re-seeded.
■ The Mine Environment Neutral
Drainage (MEND) Program was
designed to apply new technologies
to prevent and control mine contamination
through mine drainage.
Challenges
■ Reclamation of abandoned
hardrock mines.
■ Achieving oil and gas development
with minimal environmental
impacts, particularly in the area
of carbon dioxide and sulphur
dioxide emissions.
■ The clean up of contaminants in
old exploration sites and mines
across the Yukon.
3.5 Solid Waste
Not so long ago, one main word was
used to describe the items that people
no longer wanted. Everything from old
tires to empty paint cans was called
garbage and chucked into the local
dump. Today we are much more
sophisticated about the subject of
garbage, both in how we define it and
how we handle it.
Solid and special waste are two
classifications that we have for garbage
today. There are strict definitions for
each of these terms, and we have
come a long way in setting regulations
for managing different types of waste.
Unfortunately, we now generate so
much waste, and so many different
types of it, that action to reduce and
manage it is essential.
Yukoners throw out on average almost
two kilograms of trash per day.
This adds up to about 700 kilograms
of waste/person/year. But efforts are
being made at every level to reduce
this amount 1.
There are federal and territorial
objectives to reduce the 1988 volume
of waste by 50 per cent by year 2000.
In 1995, the City of Whitehorse was
diverting 16 per cent of its waste
stream. It has increased that amount to
21 per cent, and started new programs
in 1999 to divert even more waste from
the landfill.
Since the publication of the 1995 State
of the Environment Report, several
major initiatives have been introduced
to deal with waste in the territory.
These include:
City of Whitehorse:
■ 1998 Solid Waste Action Plan
Yukon government Environment Act
Regulations:
■ Beverage Container Regulation
– amended in 1996 and 1998
■ Contaminated Sites Regulations
– January 1997
■ Storage Tanks Regulations
– January 1997
■ Spills Regulations – January 1997
■ Solid Waste Regulations – 2000
All of these initiatives will help both to
reduce waste and manage it more
responsibly. While more progress is still
needed, a brief look at the past shows
how much we have improved already
in some areas.
History of Yukon Wastes
Before the Klondike Gold Rush, the
territory did not have a garbage
problem. First Nations had no
dangerous wastes to worry about, and
all of their garbage would have been
organic. The World War Two era is
often seen as the time when garbage,
pollution and special wastes became an
issue in the Yukon.
When the Alaska Highway, the Canol
Road and Pipeline, the airports of the
C H A P T E R 3 L A N D ❧ 5 1