Evaluation of the impact of reclamation regulations and guidelines on ecological rehabilitation practices at the Estevan surface coal mines (1996-1999), Saskatchewan.

Abstract

Surface mining across the world has left a legacy of highly disturbed landscapes. In a bid to reverse the trend of degradation, various jurisdictions promulgated legislation and guidelines requiring mine operators to rehabilitate disturbed lands for productive uses. This paper examines the impact of regulations and guidelines on rehabilitation practices at the Bienfait, Boundary Dam and Utility Mines around Estevan, Saskatchewan between 1996 and 1999. This is a unique case of mine rehabilitation with only one mining company and guidelines designed for the site-specific conditions of the area. The paper assesses reclamation success using both regulatory and social indicators. The findings revealed that out of the 734.81 ha of land disturbed during the years under review, 60% has been successfully graded and 17% seeded. Both residents and regulators agreed that there has been improvement in the quality, aesthetic, and safety outcomes of restoration. However, the historical period studied revealed that rehabilitation practices lagged behind the rate of mining due to climate, personnel and equipment problems. Generally, Saskatchewan Environment, the regulator, and local residents rated reclamation work as average because they considered that it was not progressing fast enough.

Partout dans le monde, l'exploitation de mines a ciel ouvert a laisse en heritage des paysages fortement perturbes. Dans une tentative de renverser cette tendance, diverses competences ont promulgue des lois et des lignes directrices exigeant des exploitants miniers qu'ils remettent en etat les terres pertur-bees a des fins productives. L'auteur de cet article examine l'incidence des lois et des lignes directrices sur les pratiques de remise en etat, entre 1996 et 1999, des mines Bienfait, Boundary Dam et Utility Mine a Estevan, en Saskatchewan. II s'agit d'un cas exceptionnel de remise en etat de mines touchant une meme entreprise miniere et ou les lignes directrices ont ete concues expressement selon les conditions de la region propres au site. L'auteur de l'article evalue le succes de la remise en etat du terrain en se servant d'indicateurs de reglemen-tation et d'indicateurs sociaux. Les resultats revelent que, des 743,81 hectares de terres perturbees au cours des annees a l'etude, 60 p. 100 ont ete niveles avec succes et 17 p. 100, ensemencees. Les residents comme les organismes de reglementation ont convenu qu'il y avait eu une amelioration de la qualite, de l'esthetique et de la securite a la suite de la remise en etat. Toutefois, au cours de la periode a l'etude, on a constate que les pratiques de remise en etat accusaient un certain retard par rapport aux activites minieres en raison de problemes lies au climat, au manque de personnel et d'equipement. De maniere generale, Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management, l'organisme de reglemen-tation, ainsi que les residents, estimaient qu'ils etaient moyennement satisfaits des travaux de remise en etat, car ils consideraient ceux ci n'avancaient pas suffisamment rapidement.

Keywords

Ecological rehabilitation, social evaluation, reclamation regulation, reclamation guidelines, post-reclamation evaluation

Introduction

For decades, government regulatory agencies across the world have grappled with the daunting task of formulating and enforcing regulations and guidelines to address the problem of open pits and massive spoils at mine sites. In China, wasteland produced by mining activities alone is 20,000 ha per annum (Marrs and Miao 2000). This is expected to exceed 33,000 hectares in the near future. Coal mining operations in the United States have disturbed approximately 2.4 million ha of land since 1930 (Skousen et al. 1998). The contentious issue is that mining operators desire to close mines and do not want to engage in a perpetual legacy of repair and maintenance. Regulators on the other hand, resent the situation that exists in Great Britain and elsewhere, where hundreds of hectares of former coal lands are either undergoing land degradation or act as a perpetual cost against host communities. Within close proximity of mine lands, such communities are required to deal with thinning soils, cracked drains and poor vegetation growth (Haigh 2002). These controversies of mine degradation and reclamation share similarities with challenges in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Estevan is a major service centre for a large agricultural and mineral-based region of southern Saskatchewan, about 200 km southeast of Regina (Figure 1). It is often described as the 'Power Centre of the Province' due to the large lignite coal deposits in the area. A total of 5,582,845 tonnes of coal was produced in 1996 at the Boundary Dam, Utility and Bienfait mines (City of Estevan 2000). The area of land disturbed around Estevan is related to the magnitude of coal production. Disturbed areas are characterized by spoil piles (piles of overburden material), box cuts (which result in high walls on both sides of the cut) and poor vegetation growth. Public outcry for a quality environment and long-term sustain-ability of stressed lands led to an overhaul of obsolete acts and the formulation of site-specific guidelines in 1993 and new regulations in 1996. The guidelines require the mine operator to stabilize the spoil piles and to undertake reclamation simultaneous with mining operations. The regulations provide Saskatchewan Environment (SE) with the legislative authority to force industry to clean up the existing backlog of disturbed lands in the area. Currently, both guidelines and regulations apply to rehabilitation practices in the Estevan area. However, the effectiveness of such regulations and guidelines in compelling compliance is questionable. Stokstad (1998) observes that while national programs to clean up abandoned mines have existed for decades, this process has been haphazard and inefficient.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Against such a backdrop, this study assesses environmental performance of mine operators in the Estevan area. The overall objective of the paper is twofold; (1) to comment on the impacts of regulation and guidelines on ecological rehabilitation practices by Luscar Mine, the only mining company near Estevan, Saskatchewan; and (2) to examine the perceptions of regulators and local residents regarding the extent of rehabilitation practices in the area. In addition, this paper outlines the strengths and weaknesses in the application of legislation and guidelines in surface mine reclamation in the Estevan area between 1996-1999.

Frequently, the terms "restoration," "reclamation," and "rehabilitation" are used interchangeably. Others argue that the terms have distinct meanings. The Society for Ecological Restoration defines restoration as a reinstatement of the original (pre-mining) ecosystem in all its structural, functional and productive aspects or a process of restoring nature to a perfect condition (SERM 1996, see also, Higgs 2003). Some scholars (e.g. Harker et al. 1993) argue that "true" restoration is almost impossible to achieve for both technical and economic reasons. Reclamation refers to the process of returning the mined site to a condition capable of supporting the same, or similar, organisms that existed prior to mining (Friedlander 2001). Allen et al. (2000) contend that rehabilitation involves creating an alternative ecosystem following disturbance, different from the original and having utilitarian (ecologically improved and socially acceptable) rather than conservation values.

These distinctions have caused disagreement among environmental practitioners and mine operators. Mine operators argue that they can minimize surface-mining impacts by restoring mine lands to their original contours, while creating loosely graded top soil for non-compacted soil growth and planting native and non-competitive ground covers and trees that will form early succession species for wildlife--reclamation, by the foregoing definitions. Environmentalists, however, have questioned the validity of these arguments on the grounds that although it is aesthetically pleasing, the rolling, grassy hills do not offer the same economic, environmental and ecosystem benefits as the original forests or grasslands they replace, especially with respect to preserving wildlife habitats and the ability to capture carbon from the atmosphere.

Beyond the definitional quagmire of ecological rehabilitation, it is important to note the progress that has been made in formulating acts, regulations and guidelines for reclamation and the impacts of these regulations on site-specific reclamation practices.

Evolution of Reclamation Acts in Canada

Regulations are enacted by parliament and generally have some degree of force in law. They set out conditions for permit approval. Guidelines may be informal directives to assist agencies in applying regulations and reaffirming policy statements, or non-statutory requirements. By their nature, guidelines are not legally binding in and of themselves. Under an act or regulation, the proponent may be required to follow a guideline, which must usually be attached as an appendix since guidelines tend to change over time.