Mount Polley Mining Corp. (MPMC) is suing the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, Local 1-2017, claiming a blockade by union members has prevented the company from finishing work ordered by the Ministry of Environment.
The company filed a notice of civil claim in BC Supreme Court on July 9 against the union and persons unknown who are “obstructing, blocking, physically impeding or delaying access to the Mount Polley Mine” near Williams Lake.
According to the claim, the parties’ collective agreement expired in December 2017, and unsuccessful bargaining led to the dispute, which began in late May of this year. Since then, the claim says, union members have set up picket lines at the mine’s main access point and intermittently at secondary access points.
Mount Polley claims picketers set up barriers and started blocking access to contractors on July 4, including a firm scheduled to deliver equipment for remediation work ordered by the B.C. government after a catastrophic tailings pond breach in 2014. In addition, picketers allegedly blocked access to a contractor delivering a water pump for a fish farm set up after the breach in order to restock a creek to pre-spill levels.
“If the work is not performed, it risks flooding in the pit mine or the inadvertent and uncontrolled release of water contrary to the Ministry’s order,” the claim states. “Construction work on the dam and creek are limited by weather and water conditions to a three-month window in the summer.”
The company claims it’s operating on stockpiled ore, set to run out in December 2018, and that dredging work must be completed to commence mining at its Springer Pit in early 2019.
“It is essential to MPMC’s economic viability that the dredging not be halted so that mining can begin in the Springer Pit on schedule,” the claim states.
Meanwhile, it claims its “operations have been subject to heightened scrutiny with respect to environmental compliance” after the 2014 tailings pond spill, and breaching ministry orders would jeopardize the company’s permits. Moreover, should the company shut down, the lawsuit says, it would have a devastating effect on the local economy.
“Historically MPMC has purchased approximately $12,000,000 per year in goods and services from Williams Lake and the surrounding community,” the claim states. “If MPMC were forced to shut down, the direct and indirect impact on the local economy would be significant.”
Mount Polley Mining Corp. seeks an injunction to halt the blockade, an enforcement order authorizing law enforcement to make arrests and an order to remove all obstruction blocking access to the mine.
The allegations have not been tested or proven in court, and the union had not responded to the claim by press time.
