The Vancouver Sun reports, “Federal and provincial environmental assessment agencies have announced a public comment period from May 18 to June 27 for a coal mine proposed for the Fanny Bay region of Vancouver Island. The 40-day public comment period was initiated after Compliance Coal Corporation filed a draft document with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the British Columbia Environmental Office describing the environmental studies it intends to conduct for its Raven Underground Coal Project. …Coalwatch Comox Valley is leading the local fight against the mine, claiming there’s a likelihood that the mining waste could affect the waters of Baynes Bay.”
As noted by Coalwatch, there will be just three public meetings on the proposed coal mine. They note, “Public meetings will be held May 30 at the Filberg Centre in Courtenay, June 2 at the Port Alberni Athletic Hall; and June 3 at the Union Bay Community Hall. The meetings will feature information open houses from 2 to 5 p.m., presentations about the mine from 6 to 7 p.m., and public comments from 7 to 10 p.m.”
In mid-April, Ralph Shaw wrote in the Comox Valley Record, “The proposed mine is the Raven underground coal mine, approximately 3,100 hectares located about five kilometres from Baynes Sound in Cowie Creek and Tsable River drainages. The current plan is to annually produce somewhere in the neighbourhood of 650,000 to 1.1 million tonnes of highly volatile bituminous coal to be shipped to Asian markets via Port Alberni. The life of the mine is estimated to be 17 years plus or minus and it will create about 350 jobs. The primary use of the coal is in the manufacturing of steel. The surface footprint of the mine would be about 200 hectares.”
Last year, the Comox Valley chapter of the Council of Canadians presented its Community Action award to Coalwatch for its work against the Raven coal mine. Chapter activist Gwyn Frayne said, “The Council of Canadians is very committed to protecting our water and environment; we believe the Raven coal mine threatens both.”
To make comments to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, go to http://www.ceaa.gc.ca/050/document-eng.cfm?document=50238. For the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office, http://www.eao.gov.bc.ca/pcp/forms/Raven.html.
For more information, http://www.coalwatch.ca/.
