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JANUARY 9, 2013
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PSO Theatre at Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School presents You Can’t Take it With You, a play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, at Martin Exeter Hall from Jan. 9 to 12 and Jan. 16-19. The hilarious comedy about happiness and fulfillment through the eyes of the offbeat Sycamore family sees untalented Essie Carmichael, centre, played by Rebekah Fischer, study ballet with Mr. Kolenkhov, played by Ben Pilger. Ed Carmichael, left, Essie’s husband, is played by Ryan Langford.
New shortfalls noted for New Prosperity Fifty information requests issued by federal review panel
Carole Rooney Free Press
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s review panel has sent 50 new information requests (IRs) to Taseko Mines Ltd. for its New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine Project Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The topics of these queries range from water quality models and tailings storage to fish habitat and species at risk, and from geochemistry and open pit development to soil contamination and old forest losses. The New Prosperity project had also received a single, initial IR a few weeks prior to these more recent ones. Taseko Mines Ltd. corporate affairs vice-president Brian Battison says this is not an inordinate amount of IRs to see at this stage of the
review process. “So they are as high as 505 and as There are currently 10 resource- low as 46, and we are at [about] 50. development projects in Canada In the world of review panels, it’s not undergoing an environmental review unusual.” panel process, he explains, Next steps most of which have more IRs than the New Prosperity Any delay for addressing project. these questions isn’t overly Battison notes the concerning to Taseko Mines review panel has issued either, he says. 505 IRs to Frontier Oil “That is 12 months of Sands; Marathon Platinum government time, so it Metals Group (metals/ doesn’t include the time Brian copper mine) has 157, the Battison that a proponent may take Northern Gateway pipeline in answering questions or has 102, with “a whole bunch” of providing information – the clock other subcategories; and the Pierre stops.” River Mine (oil sands) project has When the panel reviews the 77 IRs. answers, Battison adds it may decide Meanwhile, projects with slight- to conduct a 15-day public review ly fewer IRs include Jackpine process for those. He notes it may Mine (oil sands) expansion (46) accept them outright to move on to and the Encana Shallow Gas Infill a public hearing process, or it may Development Project (49), he adds. come back with more IRs.
“We really have to make sure we understand exactly what the panel is asking for [and] provide the responses it is looking for.” He won’t speculate on how long this might take, but Battison says the process is underway. This work is done by Taseko along with various consultants, engineering firms and environmental scientists hired to assist in the preparation of all the submitted material, he explains. “In our view of the IRs – in our read of them at the moment – we don’t see anything in there that requires additional field work or data gathering.” Battison says that’s the “good news,” as this may simply require a further explanation and providing more clarity of the information that’s already there. Continued on 6