Members of the Sandy Pond Alliance
CBC reports that, “A Newfoundland environmental group trying to stop a local lake from being turned into a toxic waste dump is claiming a small victory after a court ruled that giant mining company Vale Inco could have only limited participation in an ongoing court case. The Sandy Pond Alliance went to court recently to challenge new regulations in the Fisheries Act that would allow mining companies to use natural waters as waste dumps.”
“Vale wants to use Sandy Pond to hold waste produced by the nickel processing plant being built near Long Harbour. …The group fears that if Vale is successful, the 90-acre pristine lake would be destroyed. …Vale applied for full intervener status in the case — which would have made it an active participant in the process, rather than a witness or an observer — but was granted only limited status.”
“Owen Myers, a representative for the environmental group, said the company is trying to drag out the legal process. ‘They’re abusing the process and these are just obstructionist tactics to hope they can just wear us down by attrition,’ he said.”
“Myers said he was notified on the weekend that Vale is appealing the latest ruling.”
The Council of Canadians is a member of the Sandy Pond Alliance and is committed to winning this Federal Court challenge against Schedule 2.
An earlier campaign blog on this is at http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=6484. A Sandy Pond Alliance media release on this is at http://canadians.org/media/water/2011/24-Feb-11.html.
The CBC report is at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2011/02/28/nl-sandy-pond.html.
