News Release, CoalWatch Comox Valley, February 15, 2010

The risk to salmon habitat, water quality and hundreds of shellfish jobs were among the chief concerns expressed in Courtenay Thursday night at a packed public meeting about the controversial plan for a new coal mine in Comox Valley.

“Public concern is growing rapidly as more and more people realize there really could be a large underground coal mine in the heart of the Baynes Sound watershed,” said Campbell Connor of CoalWatch Comox Valley, a citizen’s group that organized the meeting.

More than 200 people attended the meeting at the Florence Filberg Centre, where energy researcher Arthur Caldicott provided details about the proposal and the environmental and health risks associated with coal mining.

He stressed that it is essential to have complete and comprehensive aquifer mapping in order to assess the long-term impact of a coal mine on the watershed.

Another guest speaker, Jack Minard of the Tsolum River Restoration Society, said the experience of the Mount Washington copper mine provides an important lesson about what can go wrong with mining.

That mine, which started in 1964 and operated for just four years, contaminated the river and devastated salmon stocks. Taxpayers have paid far more for the ongoing clean-up than the value of any copper that was extracted.

Minard said the experience highlights the need for the public to speak out and remain vigilant whenever a mine is proposed. “If had not been for the dogged determination of ordinary citizens it is doubtful anything would have been done,” he said.

People in the audience expressed many additional concerns, including coal dust, the impact on air quality, and the contribution coal mining and processing makes to climate change.

The proposed mine would be situated on Cowie Creek in Fanny Bay. The proposal is a partnership between Compliance Energy and two trading companies from Japan and Korea.

If approved, the mine would remove 2.2 million tonnes of coal per year for 20 years. Two thirds of the coal would be transported to either Campbell River, Port Alberni, or Duke Point for shipment to China; the rest would remain as mine wastes.

CoalWatch Comox Valley is a citizen’s group that was formed in November, when more than 200 people attended a meeting at the Fanny Bay hall to ask questions and raise concerns about the proposed mine.

For details, visit www.coalwatch.ca. Follow CoalWatch activities and notices on twitter.com/coalwatchcv.