Brad Bird, Oceanside Star, November 04, 2010

Brad Bird interviewed two members of CoalWatch, president John Snyder and vice-president Campbell Connor. Snyder, 63, is a former commercial truck driver who worked in Alaska and a 40-year Teamster member. Connor, in his 70s, spent many years as Dean of Student Services at Brandon University.

Q. Gentlemen, would you care to share some of your concerns about the pending coal mine with the residents of Oceanside? Mr. Snyder:

A. One of our concerns is certainly the water issue. Not only the quantity of the water they're going to be drawing out of this coal mine process but also what water quality is going to be like further on down the road if this thing gets approved. From the beginning we've been pushing for aquifer mapping and modeling for this whole entire region so we understand how the aquifers are interacting with each other. That's one of our key concerns for sure.

Q. We're sitting here at Deep Bay and the shellfish industry is important here. Do you think a coal mine could affect the shellfish industry?

A. That's certainly one of our concerns, and one we share with the shellfish growers that we've been talking with and also the BC Shellfish Growers Association, which to my understanding have come out with some considerable concerns.

Q. Mr Connor?

A. Yes, the water issue's huge. The potential is absolutely huge, not just for the Sound but also for private wells. We're talking about fresh water, we're talking about the tremendous need to really understand how water through those hills moves. That's aquifer mapping and modeling. You cannot know that without mapping and modeling and it's never been done. There are a lot of other issues, to do with transportation, health, and so forth. That's why we are really pushing for this expert panel review, the Cadillac of environmental assessments. This deserves that. We can settle for no less than that.

Q. I interviewed the president of the company that wants to build the coal mine, and he said that if the concerns of people such as yourselves were shown to be likely to come true, it will not be built at all. He said it would not be a serious polluter.

A. (Connor): Would he be prepared to pull the plug?

Q. John, what about the effects on highways of transporting coal?

A. Under the current proposal, it looks like they're planning to load the coal onto a truck and trailer combination. The coal will be loaded at the coal site, about six kilometres behind Buckley Bay, and then transported over 40 kilometres down to where the highway turns off to go to Port Alberni, and another 40 kilometres on Highway 4, around Cameron Lake, through Cathedral Grove up over the hump and down into Port Alberni. They propose to build a coal port facility there, and the coal would be loaded on cargo ships and taken to countries in the Pacific Rim.

Q. Any concerns?

A. There's a lot. The issue of three trucks an hour, seven days a week, 24 hours a day coming out of the mine... So at any one time you're probably going to encounter maybe 10 or 12 truck-trailer (combinations) on the road. Currently there's no vehicle enforcement station on that route anywhere, so basically the drivers are going to be on the honour system as far as whether they're hauling overloads, or whether their equipment is up to par. So there's the public safety issue, there's highway maintenance problems, etc.

Q. What about the issue that well-paid jobs are needed in this area. High school kids coming out of the system now, what have they got to look to? Mr. Connor you've been in higher education for many years, how do you respond to this argument that we need those jobs to support families?

A. First of all, yes, we need well-paid jobs. However, the shellfish industry alone employs 500-plus people full-time, year in, year out. The best estimate of the number of jobs... at the mine is 200. I don't know how you trade that off. The other part of the issue is that many nations in the world, even China, are developing alternate energy resources. In fact China has developed an entire city based on that. We are doing none of that. That's where the future jobs lie, in that kind of technology.

Q. Do you think coal mining has any role in today's economy on Vancouver Island? Mr. Snyder:

A. Currently there's the Quinsam Mine up in Campbell River. I couldn't tell you how many people they employ... but there currently is a mine there.

Q. Could you live with this proposed mine if it operates within your concerns and doesn't pollute?

A. Well, that's to be decided later on. Right now, they're saying they're going to minimize the effects on the environment, mitigate any problems. The definition of mitigate is to lessen the severity of. In some cases any severity at all, especially with the shellfish, is critical. So we don't want to see any polluting done at all.

© Oceanside Star 2010

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