Mining and the environment

抄録

This paper discusses the evolution of public concern about man's impact on the environment and legislation enacted by democratically-elected representa tives to limit it. After decade of increasing awareness about Planet Earth's inherent limitations, especially its ability to benignly absorb man-made pollu tants, the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) was passed by the U. S. Congress, and the Fisheries Act was passed by the Canadian Parliament near the beginning of the 1970's. Both Acts carried a very broad mandate with extensive implications-“Thou Shalt Not Pollute”-and both were vague. Details were missing, of course, because no one had a clear idea of ex actly what was to be done, nor how it would be accomplished. In essence, how ever, an environmental crusade was orderred, and everyone was expected to par ticipate in it. Subsequently, very many additional rules and regulations were created by all levels of government during the past 20-plus years to clarify and implement the intent of the inital legislation, and the process is still going on.
Nevertheless, the people who find, develop and operate energy and mineral producing enterprises in Canada and the United States have proved they are capable of dealing effectively with a very wide variety of environmental and regulatory challenges, and in minimizing the adverse impacts of the instabilities (usually temporary ones) caused by extracting resources from the earth. They have been aided in this accomplishment, in most instance, by working with professional people in regulatory agencies who can also learn and understand the constraints imposed by the laws of nature and econmics, and can work together to turn legislators' dreams into practical achievements. Two coal mining operations of Luscar Ltd. in western Alberta, Canada, are de scribed as examples where experimentaion and innovation to effect solutions to environmental problems have been used throughout their history to achieve award-winning results.
The writers briefly mention longer-term environmental issues which have wide-ranging implications to the future of energy and mineral development in North America. In closing, they observe that major expenditures for environmental protection, proposed or implemented to attain long-term incremental reduction of hazards to human life and other organisms, and not supported by rigorous cost-benefit analyses, nor based on experience or science/engineeringsupportable documented facts, are speculation as contrasted to investment.These type of expenditures are likely to create the same end result as other speculations, such as penny mining stocks, lotteries and roulette: A few people will reap large rewards, because many will pay.