OTTAWA – The Hon. Leona Aglukkaq, federal minister of the environment, issued a statement on Feb. 26 denying authorization for Taseko Mines to proceed with development of the New Prosperity copper mine in British Columbia.
A terse new release said it all: "The Minister of the Environment has concluded that the New Prosperity mine project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects that cannot be mitigated. The Governor in Council has determined that those effects are not justified in the circumstances; therefore, the project may not proceed."
From its headquarters in Vancouver, Taseko said it still believes the mine can be built to a high standard of environmental integrity, including the full protection of Fish Lake.
Nor was this the first time Environment Canada denied permission to proceed at New Prosperity. In 2010 the project 120 km southwest of Williams Lake, BC, was also given the thumbs down.
Taseko president and CEO Russell Hallbauer said, "At the invitation of the federal government in 2010, Taseko committed $300 million to address the concerns from the first panel review and submitted a new proposal. After a second lengthy and costly federal review, the federal government has once again stood in the way of the development of an important project to British Columbia."
He vowed that the company will proceed the federal judicial review that challenges the Natural Resources Canada panel that made a recommendation based on incorrect information.
See also the website at TasekoMines.com.
Comments
RkBkr
An advance look at the play out:
1: Pipeline is approved / construction starts
2: Taseko wins the court injunction saying the ERB was in error.
3: Taseko reapplies using same data and because of the abuse at the hands of the ERB the mine is fast tracked. IE: Construction starts shortly into 2016.(if the erb is found to be in error then a deeper investigation will ensue because it would mean a key piece of data was purposely misrepresented.)
4: Old school chiefs and cronies / ngo’s cry “the sky is falling” as young FN’s start pulling down cheques and purchasing things like new pickups and flatscreens or whatever they like. Old chiefs / cronies keep crying but with less vigor as their pockets fill. ngo’s keep crying.
5:Life goes on for many years with money flowing through the communities.
5: The mine is closed, groomed and the pit fills with water creating a truly beautiful, deep lake full of healthy eatable trout, unlike the lice ridden, soft fleshed fish that now reside their. (yes I have actually caught a couple fish from that particular fish lake.)
The end.
Erin Legault
Why am I not surprised! This Government has shown their motives to be completely political time and time again.
I have a suspicion that there would have been a different outcome if this project was in Alberta.