local supportDelegation to head to Ottawa for Prosperity answers
Published: November 25, 2010 8:00 AM
Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook will be amongst a delegation of local politicians going to Ottawa in an attempt to get answers regarding the rejection of Taseko’s Prosperity mine.
Cook, Cariboo Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett, Cariboo-Prince George MP Dick Harris, Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod, Williams Lake Chamber of Commerce officials and several business owners will meet with the federal minister of environment and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans officials at the end of this month in a bid to clarify the federal government’s decision to turn down the Prosperity mine proposal.
“We want to make a case to our elected officials,” Cook said at Tuesday night’s city council meeting, “to ask questions, to find out what options are available and to find out what needs to be changed.”
The information, theorizes Cook, could be used to: “turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes.’
Council unanimously endorsed Cook’s trip.
“We believe there is far more opportunity in a yes answer than a no answer,” said Coun. Sue Zacharias.
Mayors in the Cariboo Regional District have pledged their written support for further exploration of the issue.
The meeting with federal officials was arranged by the local Chamber, according to president Walt Cobb, to find out why the project was rejected, and if there is a “window of opportunity” to revise Taseko’s proposal. He says it is independent of any investigative work Taseko might be undertaking.
He’s hopeful, given that John Baird, the new minister of environment, has agreed to a meeting — a change from the approach of the former minister who didn’t discuss the issue, Cobb says.
In a recently released e-mail on the decision, Environment Canada states: “The project as proposed would result in the destruction of Fish Lake and, as a result, a complex and highly productive ecosystem that includes not only the lake but dozens of connecting streams, wetlands and aquatic life. There is significant risk that this cannot be successfully reproduced through man-made substitutes.”
The e-mail went on to say that Taseko is not precluded from addressing the factors that were of concern to the panel and requesting another environmental assessment in the future.
That, says Brian Battison, vice president of corporate affairs for Taseko Mines, is all that he’s heard about why Prosperity was denied.
“We’re still trying to determine if there’s a way forward for the project and that would include trying to figure out why it was rejected,” he says.
“Once we know precisely what the federal government is concerned about, is there a way to address that in a manner that doesn’t disrupt or unreasonably disrupt the provincial government approval of the project?”
Battison is impressed by the delegation’s efforts to approach Ottawa.
“That, in itself, is an indication of their degree of determination to stand up for their community.”
As for how much longer Taseko will pursue Prosperity, Battison says, it depends on a number of factors including: commodity prices, availability of capital, political and community support, and material costs for steel, fuel and energy.
“It’s not very often all those stars line up and they don’t stay lined up forever,” he says. “Things change. Politics change, commodity prices change, economic needs change, as do community desires so now is the time to build the project.”