WILD THEORIES

Idon’t get it. When I look at a map of Canada, I see wilderness covering at least three-quarters of its surface. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) sees the “pestilence” of modern civilization everywhere. I’m referring to a recent report from the WWF which prompted front-page treatment by The Globe and Mail. It hinted at dire environmental consequences if we Canadians don’t curb our voracious wilderness gobbling. Mining, forestry and hydroelectric projects were the chief villains cited. Minus even an iota of scientific data to back it up, the WWF says wilderness to be truly called wilderness requires utterly pristine tracts of land 500 square kilometres in area. The reporter noted that environmentalists “feel” this to be about right for environmental integrity.

On the ecological impact of forestry and hydro dams, I won’t comment. I know nothing about it. But on mining’s effect I can.

Mining is not the devouring Pac Man of the wilderness. Mines have, in the past, been villains of larger-scale environmental degradation — infecting whole waterways with heavy metals that have poisoned fish and put ecosystems at risk. I can think back to when a tailings pond flooded near Elliot Lake, Ont., polluting a system draining into Lake Huron. Inco in Sudbury has poured plenty of sulphurous fumes into the atmosphere and contributed to the denuding of once forested acreage.

But I fear the WWF lives in that past, when mining companies, indeed governments and ordinary people, were far less environmentally concerned. Inco today works to reclaim despoiled land. And its stack emissions are well within provincial guidelines. In Elliot Lake, tailings dams are engineered to withstand events that might occur once every 100 years. And mining’s worst fault — acid mine drainage — is the object of intensive study. In fact, practically every province has strict rules on airborne and water-borne emissions. Just review the closure rules for mines and even advanced exploration plays in Ontario. Just try to get government approvals for mine startups.

There are ancient tailings ponds out there that will be troublesome. There still are polluted waterways. But in reality the wilderness is reclaiming its own. If anything, mining and, therefore, civilization, is in retreat.

Mining towns especially are either disappearing or downsizing as the orebodies that nurtured them are mined out.

Besides the complete disappearance of many wilderness communities, new ones sprouting from new mines will be rare. Any mines in the near north or far north that come on-stream nowadays are fly-in operations. No towns. No municipal services. No garbage. No sewage. Just a mine and mill perched on a few acres and an environmentally-correct tailings pond.

So how can the WWF wag a finger at mining and accuse it of destroying wilderness acreage? If anything, it is working at reclaiming the wilds of Canada. The wilderness group is woefully out of touch when it accuses modern-day mining of destroying wilderness.