Coal Mine Threatens Comox Valley

CoalWatch Comox Valley has slammed the environmental assessment process on the proposed Raven Coal Mine Project for lack of transparency and disincentives for public participation.

BC Environmental Assessment Office and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency announced a second public comment period from Nov 15 to Nov 29, based on Compliance Coal Corporation's response to the concerns flagged in the first public comment period last June.

However, the 1,100 pages of documents offered for public comment are so voluminous and unwieldy that they in themselves are an obstacle to meaningful public participation.

"The proponent has had over four months to respond to the nearly 3,000 public comments—a task they achieved using a full-time staff. Yet the public, with volunteers who have other lives and jobs, is given only two weeks for the mammoth task of responding,” said Cam Connor, Vice-President of the CoalWatch coalition, of which Sierra Comox Valley is a member.

Read the Coalwatch press release.

“It’s clear that there’s widespread public concern and opposition to the massive coal mine proposal,” said Coalwatch president John Snyder. “If the nearly 3,000 comments submitted so far are a barometer, there’s no social license for this project either in the Comox Valley or in Port Alberni.”

Read the story in the Port Alberni Times.

All the local governments in the Comox Valley and Port Alberni, along with thousands of British Columbians, have called for a more rigorous environmental assessment review, an independent review panel with public hearings. So far, those requests have been rejected at both the provincial and federal levels of government.

The public comment period for this stage of the environmental assessment is open from November 15 to November 29, 2011. Submit your comments.

Coal mining was one of Vancouver Island’s earliest industries. Now coal—the worst fossil fuel offender when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions -- is making a dubious comeback. In addition to the Raven proposal, there are two other mines planned for Vancouver Island. In all, 10 new coal mines are slated for B.C., doubling the number of coal mines in our province.

Read a Sierra Club fact sheet about the Raven mine, coal and global warming, steel-making and a recent coal victory in the Flathead River Valley.

The proposed underground Raven mine near Fanny Bay would remove 44 million tonnes of coal over 20 years. Sierra Club BC is concerned about the impacts of harmful coal dust, noise from the 24-hour a day operation, loss of salmon habitat, the threat to the shellfish industry in nearby Baynes Sound, and potential contamination of aquifers that supply drinking water. Our Comox Valley local group has been keeping tabs on the Raven mine's progression through the B.C. environmental assessment process.

The first public comment period for the proposed Raven mine drew more than 2500 letters, with 1500 people total attending the three public hearings in Courtenay, Port Alberni and Union Bay.

For more information about the proposed Comox Valley coal mine, also check out Coalwatch Comox Valley's website.

Compliance Coal Corporation plans to truck out the coal – in 42-tonne vehicles –along Highway 4 to Port Alberni. The coal will then be shipped to Asia. Since the mine will operate around the clock, that means 96 coal trucks will drive the route every 24 hours. That’s 672 coal trucks each week! Highway 4 is a narrow, winding and at times steep and slippery road. It's the only route across the island to Tofino and Pacific Rim National Park. See a new website that explains why people in Port Alberni are opposed to the Raven mine.

Compliance Coal Corp. also owns the Bear and Anderson Lake coal deposits near the proposed Raven mine.

Why all the fuss?

Coal is a dirty business. Aside from health impacts, burning coal releases carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming. In 2008, B.C.’s coal exports generated more than 55 million tonnes of carbon dioxide—almost as much as B.C.’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2007. Surprisingly, we do not count emissions generated by burning B.C. coal overseas as part of B.C.’s carbon footprint!

The High Cost to Taxpayers

Mining companies must post securities to the B.C. government, ostensibly to ensure that the costs of mine decommissioning and reclamation are borne by the mining company rather than by taxpayers. Yet the record shows that taxpayers still shoulder most of the burden for clean-up costs. In the four decades since Vancouver Island's Mt. Washington copper mine ceased to operate, B.C. taxpayers have payed $6 million for environmental clean-up costs. That doesn't include the $2 million annual loss to communities from destroyed Tsolum River salmon runs, or millions of dollars that could potentially be spent on water treatment.

In 2003, B.C.'s Auditor General reported that securities being taken under the Mines Act are "inadequate to remediate the known mines sites in BC where contamination exists." The problem persists, with $100 million in unsecured liabilities today in B.C.

Learn more about Inadequate Securities for Mines in British Columbia.