LandKeepers News Archive
Report shows Prosperity would be prosperous
June 09 2009 | News Articles | 100 Mile House Free Press
Report shows Prosperity would be prosperous
By Joan Silver – 100 Mile House Free Press
Taseko Mines proposed Prosperity Mine project southwest of Williams Lake is moving through the environmental assessment process and 100 Mile House-area residents had a chance to hear about that process at an information session June 8.
Only 11 people showed up, but that didn’t stop Colette Spagnuolo, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Prosperity Panel Secretariat panel manager, from explaining what is happening with the proposal.
She explained the federal panel process and how groups and individuals can participate in the public hearings.
“After these sessions, the next big milestones that are upcoming in the federal review, by the 15th of June, Taseko, the proponent, is supposed to respond to all the comments received during the comment period on the Environmental Impact Statement (by May 25); and, by the 24th of June, the panel will determine whether or not it has enough information to move forward to the next stage in the process which is the public hearings,” she said.
The earliest date possible for those public hearings to start would be Aug. 1.
After the public hearing, the panel has 60 days to prepare its report, which will contain the panel’s conclusions and recommendations with respect to the project.
That report then gets submitted to the federal government and the federal government makes the final decision with regards to the project.
“If the federal government says no then the federal departments, which have to issue permits or authorizations, wouldn’t be able to issue those permits so either Taseko would have to redesign their project so those permits weren’t required or they wouldn’t be able to proceed,” said Spagnuolo.
Taseko Mines recently released a report they commissioned from the Centre for Spatial Economics on the economic and fiscal impacts of the mine.
In that report, the author, Ernie Stokes, said the project will have a noticeable positive impact on the economy of the region and the province.
Impacts from the mine between 2010 and 2033 would include an increase in BC’s population of almost 5,000, consumer expenditures increasing by $303 million per year and a $32 million increase in residential investment.
The project is expected to bring an average of $75 million to the provincial coffers annually and $148 million to the federal.
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