B.C. Rejects Mine: But was the gov't decision envi
B.C. Rejects Mine: But was the government decision environmental or political?
By ResourceClips
Another British Columbia mine proposal has flunked its environmental review for reasons that might not be environmental. But the company, Pacific Booker Minerals [V.BKM], vows to continue with its Morrison copper-gold-molybdenum proposal for north-central B.C.
It was back in 1998 that the company began drilling the property, which is directly east of Morrison Lake, home to a genetically distinct type of sockeye salmon. The environmental assessment process began in 2003 and in 2009 the company applied for an environmental assessment certificate. On October 1 Pacific Booker announced that two B.C. government ministries refused to grant the certificate. They based their decision largely on the possible failure of environmental mitigation and opposition from local natives.
“We plan to move forward,” company Director Erik Tornquist tells ResourceClips. “We were required by law to do an effects assessment to determine whether there were any significant adverse environmental, social, heritage, economic and health effects, which we did. Our findings were supported by three third-party reviews. The environmental assessment concluded there were no significant adverse effects. The report that went to the minister from the EAO [Environmental Assessment Office] and dealt with the various components, like water, fish, wildlife, etc., determined that there were no significant adverse effects. Well [the government says], ‘What about the risk?’ But it’s not a risk assessment, it’s an effects assessment.”
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