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Sandy Pond, a 38-hectare Newfoundland lake known for its trophy-winning brook trout, cannot simply be replaced by an artificial lake.

The Brazilian mining giant Vale Inco is seeking permission to dispose of 386,000 tonnes of toxic waste a year into Sandy Pond.

If Environment Canada approves Vale Inco's proposal to turn Sandy Pond into a tailings impoundment area, the company will be spared the expense of excavating and building an underwater storage facility – a savings of more than $400-million.

To the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Sandy Pond is worth less than the estimated economic benefits from a processing plant that would open up near Long Harbour, Nfld.

The DFO environmental assessment states, “The only alternative to the project would be ‘no project,' which was not considered as there would be no economic benefit to Newfoundland and Labrador, to Canada, or to the proponent.”

But to at least some of the local residents, Sandy Pond is worth a good deal more discussion and consultation than has been allowed so far by Environment Canada, which is now screening the environmental assessment of Vale Inco's proposal.

Though five existing mines were granted permission to keep on using nearby waters as tailing ponds in 2002, to dispose of acutely lethal waste residue, in the past few years Environment Canada has granted permission to at least four proposed new mines to convert fish habitat into dumping grounds. These four lakes, two in Newfoundland and Labrador and two others in Nunavut, have been added to Schedule Two of the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations. Several other applications for further additions to Schedule Two are in the works.

Chris Doiron of Environment Canada says dumping waste into fish habitat sometimes just adds up. “As a bottom line it is sometimes what makes the most environmental, technical and socio-economic sense.” Part of Mr. Doiron's calculation is what the DFO calls the principle of “no net loss,” which requires compensation measures to offset lost fish habitat.

In the case of Sandy Pond, DFO has agreed with Vale Inco that an 18-hectare miner-made lake will make up for the loss of Sandy Pond's 38 hectares, its brook trout, rainbow smelt and American eel. This habitat compensation plan falls short by at least 20 hectares.

While it may always be a challenge to balance commercial interests in profits, community interests in employment opportunities, and community interests in environmental protection, government departments that advocate the use of fish habitat for toxic dump sites should at least stop asking others to believe that fish habitat can be made as easily as it can be destroyed.