The Free Press, June 11, 2015

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Tim Hortons Camp Day - Page 11 ELKFORD

Tee Off For Tots golf tournament - Page 12 SPARWOOD

Arianna Clemens, 3, was one of many children who attended Lysh’ Second Annual Princess Party on Saturday, June 6. For more photos and the full story, turn to page 13. Photo by S. Kucharski

Extending Coal Mountain Operation Open house for proposed Coal Mountain Phase 2 project hosted

Report impaired drivers signs - Page 4

ARTS

Designer Flo Barrett wins big - Page 18

By Katelyn Dingman Free Press Staff

E

lk Valley residents gathered at Hosmer Community Hall on Thursday, June 4 to review Teck’s proposed Coal Mountain Phase 2 project, a coal mining operation approximately 15 km south of Sparwood that would extend the life of the Coal Mountain mining operation. Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) representatives at both the

federal and provincial level were on hand to help identify public concerns in addition to addressing the valued components they will be reviewing in the Environmental Assessment (AE). Thus far, the valued components in the project’s AE include assessing air quality and climate; environmental noise and vibration; terrain, surficial geology and soils; hydrogeology; surface water hydrology and surface water quality. “This whole public comment

period is about ‘what do you think? Do we have the right valued component?’” Executive Project Director Karen Christie said. “When we get questions from the public, we look at if they’ve identified anything that our working group hasn’t.” Coal Mountain Operation General Manager Ed Morash noted that similar to every mining project in the valley, water quality is likely to be the biggest issue. Morash, however, emphasized

HAPPY COAL MINER DAYS.

that the Coal Mountain Phase 2 project is essential, as the original mining site is predicted to be complete by 2017. “The life of mining at Coal Mountain has gotten to be quite short,” he noted. “We have less than three years before the reserve on that mountain is depleted.” With approximately 300 employees working at the original site, maintaining Teck’s workforce is essential for Morash. Continued on page 2


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