Mine waste spill in Canada puts Southeast Alaska fishermen on edge

http://www.adn.com/article/20140808/mine-waste-spill-canada-puts-southeast-alaska-fishermen-edge

Mine waste spill in Canada puts Southeast Alaska fishermen on edge
Pat Forgey
August 8, 2014

JUNEAU -- A huge mine waste spill in one of Canada's most productive salmon-producing rivers has Alaska fishermen fearing for their livelihoods and sympathizing with their counterparts in Canada.

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"This is what we've been afraid of happening here, and just seeing it play out in someone else's life the way it could happen here is terrible," she said.

The ground rock from which metals have been extracted are called "tailings," and are often held behind massive earthen dams, often made of tailings themselves, as they were in the recent Canadian spill.

Tailings can submerge salmon spawning habitat, or salmon eggs themselves, in silt and introduce toxic contaminants such as metals and acid runoff into waterways. Tailings dams and water treatment plants attempt to prevent that.

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Previous thread about this spill: http://www.democraticunderground.com/112773423