Re: ‘Coal Mine Application for operation near Buckley Bay still on hold’ (The NEWS, April 1).
Kudos to NEWS editor John Harding for holding the feet of Compliance COO Stephen Ellis to the fire on Ellis’ statement of re-submitting their application on the Raven Coal Mine Project by the end of March.
It comes as no surprise to many of us that once again Compliance has missed another self-imposed deadline.
While Compliance has scheduled meetings with the provincial government in April to see how that would lead to their re-submission of an application, they still have additional hurdles ahead on other fronts.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) on April 16, 2013 sent a request to Compliance for additional information, and until that requested information is provided to the CEAA, the CEAA review of the Raven Project is on hold as well.
At this stage, Compliance hasn’t provided the information to the regulators or the public that they can actually do what they say they can do, and that’s operate a coal mine a scant five kilometers from Baynes Sound and build a coal port in Port Alberni that will not have a significant negative impact on the environment or surrounding communities.
Until such time as they can produce credible information to the federal and provincial regulators along with the public, all of Compliance’s claims of the coal mine being a tremendous benefit to the economy of the area are hyperbole at best. Frankly, it’s time for Compliance to put up or shut up.
John Snyder
Fanny Bay