Dear John Tapics, President, Compliance Energy Corp:

Compliance Coal has asked the community to submit questions that need to be covered in your environmental Assessment. We have decided that we should inform you that the Comox Valley Water Watch Coalition feels strongly that there is insufficient information to proceed with an environmental assessment at all now.

Why? Because the aquifers in and adjacent to your coal tenures have not been mapped. Without knowing where the underground water is, its relation to streams and wetlands, its nature and composition, and its relationship to other aquifers from which drinking water is currently drawn for the communities, it is impossible to assess the impact the mine might have on that water.

Of course, this would seem to be necessary to predict the impact of the water on the mine too!

As you are well aware, British Columbia at this time has no legislation governing groundwater and its treatment, so environmental assessment is the only tool to protect that water.  In order to make the assessment, independent and professional mapping must be the first order of the day.

We strongly suggest that Compliance undertake discussions with the Vancouver Island University Aquifer Vulnerability mapping project so that you could fund such a study before proceeding with other environmental studies.

We hope that you find this suggestion the simple common sense it is, and look forward to the benefits such aquifer mapping will generate for the Valley. We await your reply.

Thank you,

Kathleen Kinasewich,
Delores Broten,
Linda Safford
Dawn Christian,
Steering Committee for Comox Valley Water Watch Coalition

Download the letter here.