RE: Response to Letter to BC Premier... Letter to Premier Clark re going ahead with the Raven Coal Mine lacks any credibility and fails to address significant risks to shareholders and company profits.
First, the author fails to mention she works for a company in Campbell River that services mining machinery. Her credibility is further affected by inflating Compliance Energy promise of 350 jobs to 800, (Quinsam Coal Mine in Campbell River also promised 350 jobs, but the number of jobs has stabilized at around 140.) or that jobs are lost due to the mining industry moving to using larger machinery.
The author also fails to mention that promises of economic prosperity to local communities lacks any supporting evidence, given jobs and prosperity are dependent on a stable global market. Campbell River, for example, has not attracted businesses that would pull it out of an economic slump and it made MoneySense 10 worst places to live in Canada list last year, and Princeton, home of Copper MOuntain, has failed to reap the economic benefits promised by mine owners and in the last census has suffered a decline in population .
Nor does the author address the BC Auditor General's criticism of the BC Environmental Assessment Office for failing to secure adequate bonds from mines that are known to contaminate rivers and kill fish with toxins. No doubt this report and the BC government's is responsible for Quinsam Mine being ordered recently to increase its security bond from $l.5 to $7.281 million). This increase appears to also be due to a UBC report that verified the arsenic contamination of Long Lake came from mine seepage and that owners and the Ministry of Mines have denied since 2003. Quinsam was also ordered to clean up the contamination. This government shift to securing bonds that are more commensurate with the contamination caused and orders to clean up the contamination will have significant effects on company profit expectations.
The author also fails to mention the current decline in demand for coal exports, coal mine closures and production slowdowns and the loss of thousands of jobs over the summer. Expanding coal mines and coal loading ports at this time, then, poses significant economic risk both to the government and to shareholders as the likelihood of new coal mines going bankrupt is high.
The author fails to address that, given highly publicised deficiencies in Compliance Energy environmental assessment reports (see coalwatch.ca), there could be costly litigation and increased monies needed for marketing "sustainable" practices to appease opponents.
In short, the author fails to address the high risk to both the goverment and to stockholders in approving Raven and expanding coal mining in BC at this time.
mokita