The Province of Saskatchewan is suing the federal government for its share of the cleanup costs of what used to be the world’s largest uranium mine.

Saskatchewan has spent $135 million so far with total costs estimated at $280 million; the federal government has spent $1 million, Bronwyn Eyre, Saskatchewan’s minister of energy and natural resources, told reporters during a mine site visit.

“I think any fair observer looking at that information would say that is not fair.”

Gunnar Mine, located 25 kilometres south of Uranium City near Lake Athabasca, began as an open pit uranium mine in 1954. It operated underground between 1957 and 1963.

The site was a self-contained community with more than 80 structures including an indoor mall, a bowling alley, school and hospital. When the mine ceased operations in 1963 it released 4.4 million tonnes of tailings into the environment and 2.7 million cubic metres of waste rock, the province says.

On Sept. 22, 2006 the federal and provincial governments signed a Memorandum of Agreement to address the decommissioning and reclamation of Gunnar Mine in a collaborative and equitable manner, according to the province’s statement of claim.

The governments were to split the cost of the project, then estimated at $24.6 million, according to the statement of claim.

Thirteen years later the cost has ballooned to an estimated $280 million as the province demolished the structures from the Gunnar community, all of which were laced with asbestos insulation, and is now partnering with the Saskatchewan Research Council to clean up the five million tonnes of tailings.

In its statement of claim, the province says the Gunnar mine was federally regulated when it was established in 1954 and Ottawa did not impose any decommissioning or reclamation criteria once the mine ceased operations.

The province claims the continued contamination resulting from the Gunnar mine site presents a risk of radiation exposure not only to the human population of northern Saskatchewan but also to fish, birds, animals and plants in the region.

The agreement stated that discussions would need to happen were costs to escalate beyond the $24.6 million estimate and province has made repeated efforts to have those discussions, Eyre said.

“They have fallen on deaf ears and on the other hand the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has ordered us on penalty of fine to do all of this and agrees with our efforts.

“So on penalty of fine we’ve been told to keep doing the work and Natural Resources Canada hasn’t paid us for the work that the CNSC has ordered us to do. That seems irrational at best. I assume the government agrees with its own federal regulator.”

In its statement of claim the province seeks $11.17 million in compensation for the initial share of the project when it was estimated at $24.6 million. The province also wants $50.6 million for Ottawa’s share of the remediation cost to date.

The federal government claims in its statement of defence that Saskatchewan has failed to manage the cleanup of the Gunnar Mine in a timely and responsible manner, breaching the agreement.

Saskatchewan incurred significant and unnecessary cost overruns and failed to provide financial reporting, and Ottawa repeatedly offered to enter into an amended agreement that would trigger Canada’s further funding obligations but Saskatchewan neglected to do so, the federal government says.

The statement of defence also claims Gunnar Mine was operated and closed under Saskatchewan’s provincial mining regulations and it was Saskatchewan’s responsibility to impose decommissioning and reclamation criteria.

The federal government says the 2006 agreement capped each side’s funding at $12.3 million and does not require equal cost sharing regardless of the work done to incur them.

“Canada has provided expert technical advice, has encouraged the pursuit of less costly remedial options and has repeatedly proposed amendments to the MOA,” according to the statement of defence.