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TUESDAY September 25, 2012
WL pool talks continue The second round of public engagement on the Sam Ketcham Pool will take place from Oct. 11 to 13 at several locations in the city. Consultants from Professional Environmental Consultants Ltd. have been contracted to develop the pool feasibility study and will set up booths to engage the public. They will showcase the new concept for the possible renovation of the pool that has been modified based on information gathered during the last round of public consultations. A public open house will be held on Thursday, Oct. 11 from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Gibraltar Room. Public information sessions will be held on Friday, Oct. 12 at Safeway from 1:30 to 3:15 p.m. and at Walmart from 6 to 9 p.m.; on Saturday, Oct. 13 at Save-On-Foods from 10 a.m. until noon, Canadian Tire from 12:15 to 1:45 p.m., and at the Cariboo Recreation Complex from 2 to 3 p.m.
Inside the Tribune NEWS Pacu fish caught in WL.
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SPORTS Shifting Gears coming up.
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COMMUNITY Stampede royal update.
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Weather outlook: Mainly sunny today, high of 15 C. Mix of sun and cloud Wednesday, high of 19 C.
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take back the night walk raises awareness
Gaeil Farrar photo
Riding his horse Midnight Community Policing officer Andy Sullivan leads a determined group of walkers from Boitanio Park along city streets to Marie Sharpe Elementary School Friday evening in the annual Take Back the Night Walk. At Marie Sharpe elementary participants enjoyed a chili and bannock dinner and listened to presentations and participated in discussion to raise awareness that violence against women is not acceptable.
New Prosperity EIS submitted Monica Lamb-Yorski Tribune Staff Writer Taseko Mines Ltd. has submitted its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine Project to the federal government. “The heart and soul of this EIS is the additional $300-million commitment to environmental responsibility,” Taseko’s vice president of corporate affairs Brian Battison said Thursday. Moving the tailings facility 2.5 kilometres away from the mine to preserve Fish Lake has resulted in the additional costs. “You’ve got to make sure that there’s enough space between the tailings facility and the lake so there’s upstream spawning habitat,” Battison said. The proposed water management plan for New Prosperity is based on Taseko’s operation at its Gibraltar Mine northeast of Williams Lake. “We’re very confident about
managing a tailings facility. That’s what we do at Gibraltar. Every copper-gold mine has tailing facilities and it’s something that’s been done for decades and decades here in B.C., Canada and elsewhere around the world. The technology is well proven and there’s nothing new as far as the technologies we’re proposing to use.” The conclusion reached by Taseko in the EIS is that there will be no significant adverse environmental effects. Battison said copies of the EIS will go to the panel, the federal government, all the First Nations bands in the region, to libraries and city halls for public access, and will be available online. “It’s a public process so people have to have easy access to it,” he said. Tsilhqot’in National Government Chair and Anaham Chief Joe Alphonse said the EIS submission by Taseko starts the time clock. Once all registered parties
have copies of the EIS, the 45day public comment period on the sufficiency of the information will begin, followed by up to 30 days for the panel to review and determine if it’s ready for the public panel hearing process. “Our position has not changed,” Alphonse said. “The threat is still there and all of our concerns have not been alleviated. It wouldn’t matter if the tailings pond was moved 50 kilometres upstream of Fish Lake. The mine is still going to have an impact on that lake.” Going back to the first Prosperity Mine proposal and statements made at that time by Taseko that it was not possible to save Fish Lake, Alphonse said those are the statements he believes. “Which Taseko do you believe? The Taseko of today or the Taseko that presented during the last environmental review? What’s the use of having a lake that’s completely dead.” Describing the terrain at the mine site, Alphonse said the way
the land is sloped and shaped, there’s no way to hold anything back. “The concern is they will still destroy the lake. The drilling project that’s going on there now will demonstrate and prove our point. We have a hundred per cent faith that this is not a location to be conducting such a project.” In its list of mitigation and significant effects, however, Taseko said there will be fish habitat mitigation plans to mitigate the potential harmful alteration, disruption, and destruction of fish habitat. Extensive use of water recycling and water management strategies to protect the aquatic ecology in Fish Lake and the Fish Creek Watershed, along with seepage and runoff collection systems to monitor the quality and quantity of mine effluent, will also be put in place. See MLAs Page A2