Yukon's CO2 emissions will jump about 31% with Faro mine cleanup

It's a toxic mess so nasty, even the clean-up job will be a big polluter.

Remediation of Yukon'sabandoned Faro mine site is expected toboostthe territory's total annual carbon emissions by an estimated31 per cent a "significant effect," according to territorial officials.

"There are no known single-projects or facilities within Yukon that have reached this emission level," reads a submission from Yukon's Environment Department to the territory's assessment board.

The Faro mine, about 200 kilometres northeast of Whitehorse, was once the world's largest open-pit lead-zinc mine. It operated for 29 years before being abandoned in 1998. The federal governmentis now responsible for dealing with what's considered one of Canada's biggest toxic messes.

It's takenmore than 20 years to come up with acleanup plan.That plan, hefty as a brick of lead, was submitted by Ottawa to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) earlier this year. It's still under review.

Last week, the Yukon government, the nearby Selkirk First Nation, and some federal departments all submitted their thoughts onthe plan to YESAB.

Remediation work likely won't begin for at least 3 more years, and then take about 15 years to complete. Testing and monitoring will continue for decades after that.

According to the plan, the projectwill generate about 194 kilotonnes CO equivalenteach year that's about 31 per cent of the most recent estimate of Yukon's annual emissions (about 616ktCOe/year in 2016, according to Yukon's Environment department).

The federal government's plan put the increase at 46 per cent, but Environment Yukon said that was based on an underestimate of Yukon's current emissions.

Most of the remediation project's emissions about 89 per cent areexpected tocome from land-clearing and vehicles. There's an estimated 70 million tonnes of toxic tailings and 320 million tonnes of waste rock on site.

Lewis Rifkind, mining analyst with the Yukon Conservation Society, says the amount of material to be moved as part of the cleanup"is almost beyond human comprehension."

'Has to be done'

The cleanup plan is under review as more governments including the Yukongovernment and the City of Whitehorse declare"climate change emergencies."

Still, Rifkindsees no way around it amping up Yukon's greenhouse gas emissions isjust "the price that we pay."

"It's part of the legacy of the Faro mine, basically, disaster," he said.

"The cleanup has to be done... I mean, the mine site went into receivership about 20 years ago or thereabouts, and there's been groundwater and surface water contamination ever since then.

"We can't keep going on as we are."

The project plan does include some proposals to limits emissions, including a no-idling policy in winter. Another istominimizethe distances material ishauled.

Overall though, the Faro mine cleanup won't be a major contributor to Canada's total emissions. Yukon as a whole contributedless than 0.1 per cent of Canada's total emissions in 2016.

"The project is expected to have a negligible residual effect on global climate change," the plan submitted to YESAB reads.

Still, in their submission to YESAB, Environment Yukon officials are suggesting the plan be revised to highlight the local perspective.

"It will have a significant effect on Yukon's emissions. Language needs to be added to recognize this point," it reads.