Jane Armstrong, Alberni Valley Times, March 03, 2011

Re: "Coal mining is around," (Alberni Valley Times, Feb 28)

Yes, coal was processed in the late 1800s at Union Bay and remediation is still underway today. A paper presented at the 2005 Remediation Technologies Symposium on the problems posed by the 13 hectares of coal waste on the shore of Union Bay laid out the chemicals leaching out of the coal waste that exceeded guidelines or standards.

Arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, sulphate, iron, copper, manganese and more were found in groundwater, marine sediment and marine surface water according to the study. The coal waste is between three and 18 metres in depth.

With an estimated 500,000 tonnes of coal waste annually from the proposed Raven mine just above Baynes Sound, and one-million tonnes to be transported and exported through Port Alberni, what will the environment and all that inhabit it experience in the future?

When the dust settles in Port Alberni, and it will, all over the city and Somass estuary, Pincock Allen and Holt, consultants, forecast 21 jobs as "port requirements."

Jane Armstrong
Port Alberni

© Alberni Valley Times 2011

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