The Tyee - April 17, 2012

Click on link to see comments

http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Environment/2012/04/17/Lake_Life_Support/index.html

RAVEN (Respecting Aboriginal Values & Environmental Needs)

Friends of Nemaiah Valley - March 7, 2012

Hello All Friends of “Friends of the Nemaiah Valley”;

1. Public Event: On Wednesday March 7, 2012, 3:30pm – 4:30 in Room 158 of the Fraser Bldg. at UVic, Chief Marilyn Baptiste of the Xeni Gwet’in FNG will be giving a presentation on Fish Lake/Teztan Biny, sponsored by the UVic Environmental Law Clinic.

Chief Marilyn has recently returned from Geneva where she presented the Tsilhqot’in report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 80th Session. The Tsilhqot’in report focused on the fight to protect Teztan Biny and the surrounding environment and the underlying legal situation which ignores First Nations rights and title.

“The Tsilhqot’in are prepared to go to the international level to protect our Nation’s rights and title,” said Chief Joe Alphonse, Chair of the Tsilhqot’in National Government. “In the case of the rebid Prosperity Mine proposal, we feel that we’ve nearly exhausted every possible avenue to resolve this at the local level, though we will continue to take our fight to the new federal Panel review.”

The full report of the Tsilhqot’in Report to the UN can be read HERE.

Fish Lake lies between the open pit and the tailings pond - An overview of what the proposed mine site will look like during operation. (TML)

2. The Injunction. Following a number of meetings between representatives of the Tsilhqot’in National Government, Taseko Mines and the province of B.C., the TNG has allowed Taseko to do work that is directly required for the proposed “New Prosperity” Mine. (In December, 2011, the B.C. court had found in favour of the TNG and imposed a 90 day injunction against Taseko Mines.)

The terms of the agreement reached are confidential. Taseko will commence a reduced scope of work that will be undertaken for the sole purposes of obtaining information required for the Federal environmental assessment of the proposed New Prosperity Project. On this basis, the parties have agreed not to further pursue existing legal actions.

TNG and the Tsilhqot’in people remain 100% opposed to this mine.

3. Taseko has launched a defamation suite against the Wilderness Committee over statements the environmental group made about the New Prosperity Mine on their (Wilderness Committee’s) website and Facebook page.

FONV considers this claim to be a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) suit, indicative of an overly aggressive attitude to those who oppose the New Prosperity project, the “wrong mine in the wrong place”.

In response, Joe Foy of the Wilderness Committee stated, “We have a responsibility to be reasonable and work within the law, with respect to Taseko Mines, but we also have a responsibility as a B.C. environmental group to stand up for our values and speak truths and we believe this mine should not proceed…..The high environmental risk and long-term environmental risks, and impact on human rights in respect to the Tsilhqot’in Nation, we strongly and proudly oppose this mine and will do so with all our abilities.”

TNG issued a News Release suggesting that Taseko considering suing themselves for similar statements made by them in the first round of Panel hearings:

“Perhaps it intends to sue its own Vice President – Brian Battison – who on March 22, 2010, on the opening day of the review hearings, stated: “Developing Prosperity means draining Fish Lake. We wish it were otherwise. We searched hard for a different way. A way to retain the lake and have the mine. But there is no viable alternative. The lake and the deposit sit side by side. It is not possible to have one without the loss of the other.”

“Or might it sue its VP of Engineering, Scott Jones, who told those hearings: “What happens to the water quality in Fish Lake, if you try and preserve that body of water with the tailings facility right up against it, is that over time the water quality in Fish Lake will become equivalent to the water quality in the pore water of the tailings facility, particularly when it’s close. You might be able to delay that by moving the tailings facility farther away to Fish Creek South. You may even be able to minimize that, reduce it by mitigation measures that could be applied. But eventually that water quality will change.”

“These statements are on the public record, and while TML might not wish the public to be reminded of them, it seems unfair to sue an NGO for raising criticisms similar to those from the independent panel and the company itself.”

In the words of Ramsey Hart, MiningWatch Canada: “Though we regret the actions of Taseko against the Wilderness Committee, it’s honestly not that big a surprise that Taseko would act this way…..Over the course of the environmental assessment we have observed a number of actions that Taseko has taken that, in our view, are not consistent with good practices for building trust and positive relationships with stakeholders.”

4. Fish Lake/Teztan Biny goes international:  Along with Chief Marilyn Baptiste’s trip to the UN, Blaine Grinder of Tl’etinqox (one of the six communities of the Tsilhqot’in Nation) will be going to the Marseille France World Water Forum 6, March 12-17, 2012.  Blaine is “looking to support others in their fight for clean water, get the message out there internationally to keep the Canadian Government accountable for their actions, and we are also requesting to have speakers during our environmental panel hearings on our behalf, letters and emails to CEAA as well. Also the new Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent, the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, please email on our behalf to tell them to protect Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) and once again make the right decision to reject the new prosperity proposal.”.

To read more about Blaine, see his post HERE.

5.  The FONV website is now in the process of being updated with both background and new material.  Most of the information in this newsletter is now available online at www.fonv.ca. You may need to refresh your browser when you open the site to see the “new look”. Articles, research and links to media reports will be added on a weekly basis. New research has been added in the past week.

Also, we now have the ability to accept MONTHLY DONATIONS online. This is one of the most effective means of funding our work.  Click HERE to see how.

Thanks for your continuing interest and support.

http://sms.vsip.ca/mailings/68/79044786de15d23a57a8bcff20a34136/4f56c0fd4eb83/

Sierra Club of BC - February 16, 2012

Photo: Lee-Anne Stack, www.oceans-and-above.com

It’s déjà-vu for Fish Lake. The federal government is now accepting public comments for an environmental assessment of Taseko’s “New Prosperity” mine. Sound familiar? A previous federal environmental assessment found that the proposed gold and copper mine near Williams Lake would cause irreparable damage. So why is a questionable project back on the front burner? Take Action.

Taseko Mines Ltd.’s original proposal for an open pit mine near Williams Lake was rejected in November 2010 by former federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice, following a scathing environmental assessment that concluded the mine would cause irreparable damage to First Nations rights, as well as to fish stocks and at-risk grizzly populations.

One year later, in November 2011, Ottawa accepted a second open pit mine proposal from Taseko for environmental review. The company’s first proposal would have turned Fish Lake – home to 80,000 rainbow trout and once featured on a B.C. tourism brochure – into a toxic tailings pond. The proposal under current review would see Fish Lake rendered unusable for up to 33 years. Little Fish Lake, which is crucial to the ecosystem that supports the unique trout population, would be destroyed.

Click here to submit a comment to the federal environmental assessment until February 22.

Read our press release.

“There is something seriously wrong with our assessment process when a company like Taseko can simply re-submit a mining proposal after it has been soundly rejected,” said Sierra Club BC Executive Director George Heyman. “It would be a far better use of time and money to focus on mining proposals that are more environmentally appropriate and have the support of First Nations.”

The proposed mine is on the traditional lands of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation, a member of the Tsilhqot’in National Government, which won a court case recognizing its rights to the area and is staunchly opposed to the mine. Read Chief Marilyn Baptiste’s letter in the Vancouver Sun.

Changes to the federal Fisheries Act allow metal mining corporations to use Canadian lakes to dispose of the millions of tonnes of toxic waste rock and tailings they generate.  Little Fish Lake would be Canada’s fifth pristine natural water body authorized for destruction under this loophole, which was originally introduced solely to allow mines already approved and in existence to complete their economic life cycle.

Sierra Club BC and other groups are asking Ottawa to close the legislative loophole that allows destruction of Canada’s freshwater bodies for toxic mine tailings, and to ensure the intent of our Fisheries Act is no longer undermined.

Take Action.

By Carole Rooney - 100 Mile House Free Press
Published: February 15, 2012 8:00 AM
Updated: February 15, 2012 8:10 AM

Taseko Mines Ltd. vice-president Brian Battison is involved in extensive studies for the New Prosperity Mine federal environmental assessment. Last November, it was granted one year to resubmit its proposal.

An area First Nations leader doesn’t agree Taseko Mines Ltd. could successfully preserve Fish Lake in the proposed New Prosperity Mine project.

Tsilhqot’in National Government (TNG) tribal chair Chief Joe Alphonse says Fish Lake might remain there, but it wouldn’t have any fish in it.

The new proposal is “wiping out 80 per cent of the spawning grounds,” he explains. Regardless, what the plan is, Alphonse says the proposal for a mine and dam there would destroy the lake.

“There’s no dam in the world that has never leaked. Seepage is going to happen whether you like it or not.”

Even moving the mine a kilometre or two upstream, everything is still going to drain into Fish Lake, the TNG chair explains.

“We’re concerned that population of fish is going to be wiped out. That’s our biggest concern … has always been our concern…. What good is a lake that’s got no fish in it?”

Brian Battison, Taseko Mines Ltd corporate affairs vice-president, says the main reason the first proposal was rejected was the impact it would have on Fish Lake, but there is a way to retain the lake and control seepage.

“It was one of the ways that was examined as part of the alternatives assessment, which was part of the previous assessment as one of the options.

“There were other ways to do it, but none of them were economic … it was not viable at the time.”

Battison says the points Chief Alphonse raises will be examined in “considerable” detail in the environmental assessment process.

Taseko’s studies are still underway, he adds, and will continue for some time yet during the year’s timeline it was granted last November to resubmit.

“Those points will be addressed in detail, and need to be addressed to the satisfaction of regulators and to the Government of Canada.”

Battison explains Taseko expects examination of the interrelationship between the mine components and Fish Lake will be the “central focus” during the upcoming environmental assessment process.

“That is precisely what the studies we’re doing [are], and the kind of studies that need to be done to satisfy an environmental assessment.”

Meanwhile, Alphonse says it’s “just another kick at the can” for Taseko Mines and “more about bruised egos” than anything else.

However, Battison says Taseko would not be making the effort to submit a new plan if it didn’t believe these issues could be satisfactorily addressed for federal and provincial government regulators.

“We would not be pursuing an environmental assessment for this project if we weren’t fully confident we could address the concerns identified in the first environmental assessment.

“[The federal government was] very clear in their signals that they weren’t opposed to the mine being here, if we can address things.”

The process incorporates participation from the public, he notes, along with government regulators, that all have or may have direct input and questions answered.

Alphonse adds Taseko’s proposal is unlikely to succeed if an impartial review panel is selected.

“[Tsilhqot’in chiefs] are in a situation where we know they have to pick a panel, and as long as the panel is unbiased and that panel is comprised of a bunch of professionals, we think the findings are going to be again no different than they were the last go-around. We have confidence in that.”

Regarding the legal action Taseko announced Nov. 14 against undisclosed individuals who obstructed its employees and equipment convoy from entering the mine site, Battison remains tight-lipped.

“I’m not going to make any comment on that. I’m just not able to.”

He won’t confirm if this is due to legal proceedings.

http://www.100milefreepress.net/news/139359658.html

Vancouver Media Co-op - November 28, 2011

Fish Lake Fightback in Court

by flux photo - murray bush

VANCOUVER - The Tsilhqot’in Nation is again facing off in BC Supreme Court against Taseko Mines over its proposed open-pit gold and copper mine.  The community wants to stop Taseko’s injunction application and permits issued by the BC Government for exploration near Fish Lake (Teztan Biny). 

Hearings started this morning in Vancouver and are expected to take most of the week. Supporters were on hand outside the courthouse, including representatives of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.

Three weeks ago, Taseko Mines was asked to leave the territory near Williams Lake and  to “halt its plans for extensive road-building, drilling, excavation of test pits, and timber clearing in support of its unprecedented and controversial resubmitted bid for approval of its soundly rejected Prosperity Mine project.”

Taseko was turned down by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency a year ago. It then resubmitted a proposal for a $1.5-billion “New Prosperity” mine. The company is in court trying to ban the community from blocking the road into the proposed mine site.

Taseko cliams it won’t drain Teztan Biny under the new plan, but tailing ponds would still destroy bodies of water that feed the lake. “Fish Lake will still be on life support and die a slower death” said Chief Marilyn Baptiste of the Xeni Gwet’in, one of six Tsilhqot’in communities.

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/fish-lake-fight-back-court/9174