The independent investigation into the Mount Polley tailings spill disaster has been released by the provincial government.
The breach at the tailings pond (Photo Credit: File Photo)
The Review Panel report was delivered to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the T'exelc First Nation (Williams Lake Indian Band) and the Xat'sull First Nation (Soda Creek Indian Band) and announced to the public on Friday morning.
The Panel concluded that the breach, which took place on August 4th, 2014, was the result of a failure in the foundation of the embankment, “a failure that occurred in a glaciolacustrine (GLU) layer of the embankment's foundation,” said the Panel.
The report being presented in a livestream event by the BC Government (Photo Credit: Screen Grab)
"The Panel concluded that the dominant contribution to the failure resides in the design,” according to the panel report. “The design did not take into account the complexity of the sub-glacial and pre-glacial geological environment associated with the perimeter embankment foundation. As a result, foundation investigations and associated site characterization failed to identify a continuous GLU layer in the vicinity of the breach and to recognize that it was susceptible to undrained failure when subject to the stresses associated with the embankment."
The panel also went on conclude that there was no human intervention that caused the embankment failure, and that piping and cracking was not result of the breach.
Images from Mount Polley following the breach (Photo Credit: File Photo)
“In regard to regulatory oversight, the Panel found that inspections of the tailings storage facility would not have prevented failure. Regulatory staff are well qualified to perform their responsibilities and they performed as expected.”
The Panel made several recommendations to improve safety and reduce the potential for future failures. These included improving cooperate governance, strengthening current regulatory operations, improve dam safety guidelines and improve professional practices.
The full Final Report, Appendices, and Supporting Information can be found at: www.mountpolleyreviewpanel.ca.
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