radio transcript fromt the courtDecision is required before this friday I believe. read below.
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CBC Special Report, November 26, 5:15 p.m.
CBC: A battle in a Yellowknife courtroom could have important repercussions for mining in the NWT. On one side is North American Tungsten, owner of the CanTung Mine located 13 kilometres east of the Yukon/NWT border. On the other side is the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, the regulatory authority of the NWT. At issue is the company’s application to renew its water licence. Julie Green is CBC Radio’s resources reporter and she’s in the studio. Good afternoon, Julie.
GREEN: Good afternoon, Norbert.
CBC: So what’s at stake here?
GREEN: Well, fundamentally the future of the mine and the future of the 170 or so jobs at the mine now that have been at the mine since the mine reopened in January of this year. You probably have heard about this mine before. It’s been around for about 40 years. It was closed for about 15 years mostly because the prices for base metals are pretty poor, but the company negotiated a three-year contract to sell tungsten to a couple of overseas customers, but it’s not going to be able to do that if it doesn’t have a water licence. There’s no mining without a water licence. The water licence it now has is set to expire at the end of the week. The land and water board has recommended a one-year extension of the current licence while the mine undergoes an environmental assessment, but it’s that environmental assessment that’s at issue here.
CBC: So why is that, Julie?
GREEN: Because North American Tungsten believes that it’s going to cost the company up to about $1.5 million and take at least a year to complete and it says it just doesn’t have the time or the money because it’s got this three-year contract and it doesn’t want to take the time and money away from that potentially if the mine had to close while the assessment was still going on. It also says that it’s application to renew its licence should be protected by the grandfather clause in environmental legislation. Do you know what a grandfather clause is?
CBC: Yes.
GREEN: Yeah, so you know, if you have a driver’s licence and you expect to keep it, even if the legislation changes until it comes up for renewal. So the land and water board, however, has argued that even though North American Tungsten has had water licences dating back until 1975, it says that this grandfather clause in the new environmental legislation doesn’t apply. It says, in fact, the mine is looking for a new licence and the environmental assessment is the prerequisite. The board has the support of a couple of environmental groups in taking that position. Canadian Arctic Resources Committee is on board and so is the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the reason for that, Norb, is because soon after the mine reopened in January, there was a fuel spill of about 24,000 litres at the mine site. The mine is right on the banks of the Flat River and the Flat River drains into the South Nahanni River, so you can understand why the parks people are concerned. They have never been happy about the fact that there are mines so close to the park reserve although the mine was open before the park was established. What it comes down to now is the interpretation of just one sentence in the Mackenzie Valley Resources Management Act and that’s the sentence that lays out this whole grandfathering provision for old mines and their water licences.
CBC: Let’s talk about the court case. What happened yesterday?
GREEN: What happened was Justice Virginia Schuler of the Supreme Court of the NWT heard an application from the company to take a closer look at the land and water board’s decision ordering the environmental assessment. So they want the judge to take a look at that decision and say whether the board has interpreted the legislation right or have they done it wrong. This is her job to decide. There were also in the courtroom lawyers for the company and for the environmental groups making the case for and against the interpretation of this grandfather clause and the act. Lots of public interest, Norb. I have been to murder cases with fewer of people in the courtroom and that’s a fact. Now the judge didn’t make a decision yesterday, but she did promise that she would make one soon.
CBC: So ultimately then will Justice Schuler’s decision set a precedent that will have an impact on other mines?
GREEN: Well, yes, it will I think. Normally a judicial review is not a big precedent setting occasion because it’s fairly limited job the judge is asked to do. But in this case, there are old mines that have water licences from the old legislation and they are going ot want to know whether their licences are considered renewals or new licences when it comes time to extend them and the case in point, Norb, is Giant. Giant’s water licence expires at the end of June next year, so there’s a relevant question right there for Indian Affairs who’s the mine’s owner now about whether they are going to need an environmental assessment at that point in order to extend the water licence in the midst, as you know, of the whole plan to clean up the Giant site. So would they have to do both or what? The judge may be able to help them in her decision.
CBC: It sounds like the board is actually getting a little tough.
GREEN: The board is being tough, but they are appointed to represent the people of the NWT in preserving the values of the NWT and land is very important. I don’t have to tell anyone that. Jobs are really important to, so it’s a really difficult decision that they are being called on to make. Time is really of the essence here. The licence they have now expires on Friday. They have to hear form the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs by the end of the week about whether they can continue mining or not. As I said, it’s a very difficult situation because on the one hand, you’ve got this pristine watershed in the South Nahanni and on the other hand, you’ve got a whole lot of jobs.
CBC: Wow. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens eh, Julie?
GREEN: That’s it. Maybe by the end of the week.
CBC: Thank you very much for this.
GREEN: You’re welcome. Julie Green reports on resources and environmental issues for CBC Radio 1.