Brian Wilford, Oceanside Star.  Thursday, March 11, 2010

Qualicum Beach council continues to express concern about the massive coal mine proposed just to the north near the communities of Union Bay, Buckley Bay, Fanny Bay and Deep Bay.

On Monday, council voted to send a letter to provincial Mines Minister Blair Lekstrom expressing concern about water used in mining and where it goes; greenhouse gas emissions; the mine's source of energy; effects on groundwater; form of transportation (trucks or rail to Port Alberni or Campbell River); and the governmental approval process.

It also asked for copies of the licence applications and will encourage other municipalities to do the same.

"This isn't just something that affects an area 20 miles from here," said Coun. Barry Avis, who has attended several community meetings on the mine. "I must say there's a tremendous amount of concern in this area.""We now understand it could be more than one mine, more than one licence," said Coun. Kent Becker, chair of the Town's Select Committee on Environment.

A meeting to discuss the proposed mine will be held Tuesday, March 16, 6:45 p.m., at the Qualicum Beach Civic Centre. It's sponsored by Parksville-Qualicum KAIROS and the Oceanside Coalition for Strong Communities.

The mine, a partnership between the Compliance Coal Corporation and Japanese and Korean trading companies, would extract about 2.2 million tonnes of coal per year for 20 years, with most of it shipped to China for processing.