The CBC reports that, “The Federal Environmental Assessment Panel began its final week of environmental hearings in Williams Lake on Monday. …The panel will have until June 30 to send its recommendations to the federal government for approval. The mine already has environmental approval from the B.C. government.”
If federal approval is given for the project, “First Nations chiefs in B.C.’s southern Interior say thousands of their bands’ members will use any means they can to stop a major mine in the Chilcotin region.”
“If the $1-billion (open-pit copper gold mine) project — which Taseko has named the Prosperity Mine — gets the green light from the federal government, one First Nations spokesman predicts lawsuits, protests, roadblocks and worse.”
Stone Chief Ivor Myers said, “This is a sacred site for our members. Our water is our number one resource. It’s worth more than gold. …I don’t want to see something like that (violence) where there’s confrontation with the military. I don’t want to see any bloodshed.”
“A Taseko spokesman acknowledged at Monday’s hearings that pouring tailings into Fish Lake will kill tens of thousands of trout, chinook and steelhead, but argued it’s the only (economically viable) way the mine can be built.”
The full article is at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/04/26/bc-taseko-mine-environmental-hearing.html.
