LandKeepers News Archive
Nak’azdli letter: Support for panel review needed for Mt Milligan EA
November 27 2008 | | Nak'azdli Band Council
NAK’AZDLI BAND COUNCIL
P.O. Box 1329, Fort St. James, B.C. V0J 1P0
Telephone (250) 996 – 7171
Fax (250) 996 – 8010
To Whom it May Concern:
Re: Help Nak’azdli Keyoh Holders Seek Independent Review of Proposed Shus Nadloh (Mt. Milligan) Gold-Copper Mine
Terrane Metals Corporation is proposing to develop a large scale open-pit gold and copper mine at Shus Nadloh (Mt. Milligan) within Nak’azdli First Nation territory near Ft. St. James, BC. This area is important to Nak’azdli people and is particularly sacred to the Nation River Keyoh holders who have stewarded the lands, waters and resources in this area since time immemorial. The 3 open pits will make one large flooded pit about 167 hectares (1.67 square kilometres) in size and 300m deep. The final tailings impoundment will have an embankment that is 7300 m long and 75 m high and will hold 330 million tonnes of tailings. The Rainbow Creek Watershed will be impacted due to a dam planned for Meadows Creek. Rainbow Creek is a major tributary to the Nation River which is part of the Peace River basin. Moose, beaver and caribou populations and numerous other plant and animal species that are very important to our culture will be negatively impacted. The mine puts our entire way of life in this area at risk.
The federal government’s laws allow it to decide what level of scrutiny to apply to an environmental assessment of this mine. It can undertake either a “comprehensive study” or “review panel” level of assessment. Currently, the government is proposing to undertake a “comprehensive study”. This is a “self assessment” by the federal government, involves a low level of public participation and does not require direct accountability of the company’s environmental consultants. Nak’azdli people would like the federal government to work with us to form a review panel to determine the impacts of the mine. This would involve review of the project by an independent panel of “experts” including hearings in our own communities where the company’s environmental consultants can be questioned and where our people (and the public) can speak directly to the panel about the impacts of the project on us. It was the recommendations of a review panel that halted the development of the Kemess North mine in Tse Key Nay territory last year.
A factor the federal government must consider when determining which type of environmental assessment to undertake is the public concern with respect to this project. The more people and organizations tell the federal government they are concerned about the impacts of the Shus Nadloh (Mt. Milligan) mine on the environment and support Nak’azdli’s request for a review panel, the more likely it will happen.
Please write to Suzanne Thorpe, DFO at or to 200 – 401 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 3S4. Advise Suzanne Thorpe that you support Nak’azdli’s request for a review panel of the Shus Nadloh (Mt. Milligan) Gold-Copper Mine. Please submit your email or letter by Wednesday, December 10, 2008 and reference registry file number 08 – 03 – 39778.
Sincerely,
(original signed)
Chief Fred Sam
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