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It’s dangerous to frack close to tailings ponds

While it’s important to ban fracking near hydro facilities, even more damaging is the risk of the some 400 tailings dams.

To the Editor,

While it’s important to ban fracking near hydro facilities, even more damaging is the risk of the some 400 tailings dams built by mining companies throughout the province. Many of these are not even registered or known. Some are built on glacial till, like the recent disaster at Mount Polley and are far more subject to earthquake damage than the hydro dams. They should have at least a 10-kilometre frack-free zone around them. Many are upstream within community drinking watersheds and/or on fish-bearing streams.

Jim ErkiletianNanaimo