...continued from Part 1

But he warned that by specifying the triggers for an automatic environmental assessment, the B.C. government has given companies a roadmap to avoid a review by splitting projects up.

“They know exactly what they’re doing and the government knows exactly what they’re doing, it’s just the sort of dance that they do,” he said in an interview.

“It would be very positive if we were able to take a step back from all these small expansions and take a look at the big picture and see what are these impacts going to be — cumulative impacts over the lifetime of the mine.”

“Currently, we’re getting these little permits here and here, there and there and you eventually nickel and dime your way up to an enormous mine.”

Last year, Elk Valley Resources applied for a permit amendment to proceed with the first of its next four phases for the Greenhills mine: Cougar Phase 5. The application is currently under review.

The expansion is 98 per cent contained in an already disturbed area of the mine and would involve mining deeper into a previously mined pit, according to the project application.

One of the key environmental concerns in the Elk Valley involves the waste rock leftover after coal has been extracted. When the piles of waste rock are exposed to rain and air, contaminants like selenium leach into the water, eventually finding their way into local streams and rivers. While selenium is necessary for life in tiny amounts, too much of it can be toxic to fish and other aquatic life.

“We’re in a situation where the more waste rock that is produced directly leads to more selenium in the water,” Wiebe said.

Teck invested $1.4 billion in water treatment and Glencore has committed to building new facilities to address the contamination, but selenium levels in the rivers downstream of the Elk Valley coal mines remain higher than the level the B.C. government recommends to protect aquatic life.

In a statement to The Narwhal, Chris Stannell, Elk Valley Resources’s communications manager, said the Cougar Phase 5 project incorporates additional measures to manage water quality, including moving waste rock out of the upper Fording River watershed.

Stannell said the next two mine expansion phases — Cougar Phases 8 and 9 — would undergo an environmental assessment process to amend the assessment certificate issued to the mine in the 1990s.

“[Elk Valley Resources] is committed to responsible resource development which includes adhering to robust regulatory requirements to protect health, safety and the environment,” he said.

https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-no-environmental-assessment-gibraltar-mine-expansion/?mc_cid=604d23bdf1&mc_eid=30488675cb