The Feds might give cash to clean up uranium mines

John Efford said recently he is willing to revisit the idea of paying some money to get the dangerously radioactive sites cleaned up. "The doors are open," Efford proclaimed after meeting with provincial Northern Affairs Minister Buckley Belanger. "I consider this a very serious problem."

Efford's stance is in stark contrast to the Liberal government's position as recently as last fall.

In a letter sent in late September, Ottawa said the province owns the old mines and Ottawa won't help pay for the estimated $30-million cleanup.

But Efford, who was just named resources minister in December 2003, said that is in the past.

"I'm not a person who backs away from issues and I'm not an individual who's got a closed mind," Efford said.

"I'm not going to look to the past. I am the new natural resources minister of Canada."

The fight over who should clean up the abandoned mines in northern Saskatchewan near the boundary with the Northwest Territories has been simmering since the late 1990s.

The province maintains that the federal government should do the work because it was Ottawa that first developed and regulated the sites.

Most of the mines were used to harvest uranium ore and were abandoned in the 1950s and 1960s when the ore ran out.

In 2002, the province released a report saying that many of the sites pose "severe public safety hazards and possible long-term environmental concerns."

Two sites were of particular concern in the report.

The Gunnar mine, about 25 kilometres southwest of Uranium City, Sask., is said to have deposited 4.4 million tonnes of unconfined radioactive tailings into Lake Athabasca since the operation was shut down in 1964.

The site "contains numerous public safety hazards and environmental concerns and is very accessible by tourists and fishermen," the report reads.

The Lorado Mill site, about eight kilometres south of Uranium City, is also highlighted in the report. Tailings there are said to be leaching into two nearby lakes.

The abandoned mines are of huge concern to the people living in the North.

Residents are worried that the radioactive material will kill off wildlife and leach into their bodies, said Dale McAuley, chairman of the New North lobby group and the mayor of Cumberland House, Sask.

Some people fear they will get cancer, he said.

"The cleanup has to be done because it is going to get into the environment - into the fish, into the animals and so on - and it is just going to spread out more and more," McAuley said.

"The sooner we can deal with it and go on with life, the better."

Efford said his first priority will be to go back to Ottawa and consult with Finance Minister Ralph Goodale - the only cabinet minister from Saskatchewan.

He then plans to return to Saskatchewan in February to tour the sites.

Efford said he wants to give either a yes or a no quickly so that everyone can "get on with their lives."

Belanger was pleased to hear the new minister's attitude.

"I said to him 'we will do our part if they will do their part.' This is a joint effort," Belanger said.

"People have been waiting too long."