Mining Permits Issued During Wildfire Evacuation
- Details
- Published on Thursday, 20 July 2017 14:30
- Written by editor
Share
Tweet
Forward
Outgoing BC Liberals Issue Mining Permits in Tsilhqot’in Territory During Wildfire Evacuation
By Carol Linnitt
The Tsilhqot’in First Nation — currently under an evacuation order due to B.C.’s wildfires — learned on Monday that permits have been issued for mining company Taseko to conduct exploration for the New Prosperity mine, an open pit gold and copper mine twice rejected at the federal level.
Monday was the outgoing BC Liberal government’s final day in power.
Copies of the documentation obtained by DeSmog Canada show the permit was granted to Taseko on Friday July 14th, as members of the Tsilhqot’in were under evacuation orders due to rampant wildfires in central B.C. Read more.
By Carol Linnitt
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) never considered the cumulative greenhouse gas emissions of the Pacific NorthWest LNG export terminal, according to documents revealed in a federal court this week.
The documents were submitted to a federal court in Vancouver during a hearing to determine whether the information should be considered as part of a judicial review of the federal government’s decision to approve the LNG project. Read more.
We’re Not Ready
By Ed Struzik
While doing research for a book I was writing on wildfire, I posed two questions to a number of experts: “Do you think there will be another Fort McMurray-like fire in the future? If so, where do you think it will happen?”
Everyone agreed on the first question. Fort Mac was not an anomaly. It will happen again, sooner rather than later, and likely with deadly consequences.
The responses to the second question varied. University of Alberta wildfire scientist Mike Flannigan had many First Nations communities, Prince George in British Columbia and Timmins in northern Ontario high on his list. Read more.
By Jeremy J. Nuttall
In the hours after the 2014 Mount Polley mine disaster, authorities were already concerned laws had been broken and the premier’s office was worried fallout from the tailing pond breach would “get in the way” of other planned mines, documents provided to The Tyee reveal.
Almost three years after the disaster, and weeks from a deadline to lay charges under B.C.’s environment act, no charges have been laid, and no fines levied.
The government’s initial reaction to the dam’s collapse is revealed in hundreds of pages of emails and other communications obtained through a freedom of information request and provided to The Tyee by Jessica Ross, an independent researcher and member of the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association. Read more.
By Judith Lavoie
One of the first controversies likely to land on the desk of newly minted Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Michelle Mungall is what to do about the proposed massive Ajax gold and copper mine on the outskirts of Kamloops that is opposed by Kamloops city council and the Stk’emlupsemc te Secwepemc Nation.
“I think this will be one of their first tests and it will be interesting to see how a new government will handle it,” said Councillor Denis Walsh, a vocal opponent of the proposed mine. Read more.
By Judith Lavoie
A First Nation in northeastern B.C. is challenging the province’s approval of a proposed gas pipeline that would cut across critical habitat of threatened boreal woodland caribou.
Fort Nelson First Nation (FNFN) has filed for a judicial review of B.C. Oil and Gas Commission’s approval last month of a pipeline, proposed by Rockyview Resources Inc. and Shanghai Energy Corp., that would run through the First Nation's territory, resulting in 78 hectares of disturbance to caribou habitat.
“The 39-kilometre proposed gas pipeline cuts right through core caribou habitat in our territory, in an area with the most concentrated and highest-known use by boreal caribou for forage, calving, rearing and protection from predators,” said Lana Lowe, FNFN land and resources director. Read more.
By Sarah Cox
B.C. Premier Christy Clark made headlines last month when she claimed that even a few months delay in evicting two Peace Valley families from their homes could add $600 million to the Site C dam project tab.
When Premier designate John Horgan asked BC Hydro to hold off forcing families from their homes this coming week as scheduled, Clark wrote to Horgan that “… with a project of this size and scale, keeping to a tight schedule is critical to delivering a completed project on time and on budget.”
But now BC Hydro’s latest Site C report reveals that — well before May’s provincial election and Clark’s headline-grabbing claims — the hydro project was already late meeting three out of eight “key milestones” for 2017 and was at risk of being late for three more. r34