Phillip Woolgar, Alberni Valley Times, September 07, 2010

Focus group said developer of the Raven Underground mine is 'cherry picking' the facts of consultation process

CoalWatch Comox Valley has issued their latest criticism against Compliance Energy Corp. for their handling of the Raven Underground Coal Project.

Compliance isn't delivering all the facts, According to John Snyder, president of CoalWatch, a focus group watchdog that has criticized the development of the coal mine.

He said a company news release only laid out the positive comments from a federal public consultation period.

"Basically, all the comments that have been received from the federal comment period from July 19 to Aug. 13 were received by Compliance," Snyder said. "It looks like they cherry picked the five comments amongst them all that were favourable to the mine."

He said 361 comments were documented with only five positives.

Snyder said the federal government didn't publicly release the comments from that period. A few environmental focus groups and Comox Joint Ventures received them, he added.

"Those should have been made public right away," Snyder said.

"The important point for me is that the amount of comments received up to Aug. 30 have shown quite a bit of concern and people have some issues that need to be addressed," he added, noting that is why he called for a joint panel review process outside of the regular government review, which is currently being conducted.

He said every comment from that period is published at www.coalwatch.ca.

John Tapics, CEO for proposed developer Comox Joint Ventures said in the release, "It's good to see open dialogue about the project." He added the project will bring hundreds of jobs to the community.

Comments included in the release said minimal environmental effects would be felt and jobs will be created.

Topics wasn't available to respond to the CoalWatch criticism, but he said previously that all the information required through the environmental review process will be made public.

"All of the areas... will be contained in the comprehensive study review, or the environmental assessment that will be reviewed by the working group of technical and environmental experts of both the provincial and federal levels of government," he said.

On Monday, CoalWatch is scheduled to host a public meeting about the potential affects of the project on drinking water.

The meeting is slated to be held at the Fanny Bay Community Hall.

Dr. Gilles Wendling, an engineer based out of Nanaimo, will speak about the potential downfall of having a mine close to a creek.

Cowie Creek, located between Buckley Bay and Fanny Bay, would be affected by the project, the release states.

The coal project is in the first of two federal public debates with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

To add your comment to the public session, e-mail Raven@ceaa-acee.gc.ca, or mail Andrew Rollo, project manager at Raven Underground Coal Mine Project, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency 805-1550 Alberni St., Vancouver B.C., V6G 1A5.

This comment period closes on Sept. 20.

© Alberni Valley Times 2010

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