Oceanside Star, November 17, 2011

The public is being discouraged from commenting on Compliance Coal Corporation's proposed Raven Coal Mine Project, CoalWatch Comox Valley said Monday.

"The BC Environmental Assessment Office should be encouraging inclusiveness and public participation in this environmental assessment process," said John Snyder, President of CoalWatch, "but here we have over 1,100 pages of documents that have been foisted onto the public that do not result in much useful-let alone new-information on this project. Due to the sheer volume and complexity-and the fact that government is only allowing the public two weeks to respond-this is actually a huge disincentive to participate."

The public comment period was opened Nov. 15 and closes Nov. 29.

CoalWatch Vice-President Cam Connor said, "one has to bounce around thousands of pages in this literary labyrinth in an attempt to clarify anything. The proponent has had over four months to respond to the nearly 3,000 public comments-a task they achieved using a full-time staff. Yet the public, with volunteers who have other lives and jobs, is given only two weeks for the mammoth task of responding."

For details on how to make a submission, visit www.coalwatch.ca.

© Oceanside Star 2011

Source