Quick Current Summary
- The proponent received an approval for Option 2, but they cannot proceed because they don’t have the land they would need, so they have abandoned pursuing this Option (and they previously abandoned their Option 1 as well).
- Without any public consultation, on May 31, 2012 the proponent presented a new proposal which they call Alternative 1A. This was released as a 147-page Addendum to their previous 619-page Environmental Screening Report from 2009. And without any advance warning or information, the public had 30 days to provide their concerns to the Ministry of the Environment. This new proposal has even more problems for them than their previous two proposals (some analysis is here). We find that the Ministry of the Environment ignores and won’t even respond to the public safety, economic, and other environmental issues – perhaps the three lobbyists paid for by the proponent are having undue influence on the government. We await the response from the Minister of the Environment to the many requests that he review his Director’s decision that this project does not need to be elevated to require additional study.
- Read our current brochure here.
In 2011 the proponent abandoned their second proposal (which they called Option 2), but their new proposal (which they call Alternative 1A, and for which they released an Addendum on May 31, 2012) has even more issues (some here), which the public brought to the attention of the Ministry of the Environment during the public comment period, which ended June 29, 2012.
On September 24, 2012 the Ministry of the Environment issued their decision which denied the many elevation requests to study these issues, with a deadline of October 15, 2012 for requests that the Minister of the Environment review this decision.
There are many issues of law, jurisdiction, and process which we and other members of the public brought to the attention of the Minister of the Environment as part of this appeal process. We await a response from the Minister (this will no doubt be delayed due to the current upheaval of everything provincially Liberal).