Why panel review for one mine, not the other?

SATURDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — This week’s decision by federal environment minister Leona Aglukkaq to throw up another roadblock in front of the New Prosperity mine in the Chilcotin is either wonderful news or a terrible blow to the B.C. economy, depending on whose side you’re on.

Aglukkaq said the mine would likely cause irreversible environmental damage. However, proponent Taseko Mines isn’t throwing in the towel just yet, and it has considerable support in political circles.

B.C. Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett backs the mine and is convinced it will eventually succeed. Several civic, provincial and federal politicians agree.

The New Prosperity project would go in near Fish Lake, about 125 km. from Williams Lake. Like so many other mine proposals, it would create a lot of jobs.

It was the subject of what’s called a federal panel review, a stringent process that includes a lot of public consultation and a lot of scientific scrutiny.

It’s different than the joint federal-provincial review that has been applied to the Ajax project in Kamloops, which has shorter consultation periods.

Opponents of Ajax are pinning a lot of their hopes on a panel review similar to the one that has stymied New Prosperity because they think it has a better chance of defeating it.

Maybe they’re right, maybe not. What’s obvious, though, is that the Ajax mine property sits on the border of a major B.C. city, while New Prosperity is far from the closest major community, Williams Lake.

On the other hand, New Prosperity is hampered by strong opposition from First Nations, while Ajax has the support of First Nations leadership because it will bring jobs and royalties and doesn’t sit directly on sensitive First Nations territory.

That’s not to say First Nations support is universal — a significant segment of members of various bands are worried about it.

But regardless of political and cultural concerns, the reluctance of the federal government to approve a federal panel review of Ajax is baffling. Surely there can be no more compelling reason to ensure the most stringent of reviews than the fact that Ajax is so very close to the very doorsteps of Kamloops.