Slag heaps and tailings ponds, massive trucks full of coal thundering down our highways, heavy infrastructure, and serious risks to the environment, human health and safety. This is a turn-of-the-century industrial scenario, right?
Wrong. This could be the future on Vancouver Island.
The proposed Raven underground coal mine near Fanny Bay in the Comox Valley would be a colossal step backward.
The mine would pose serious risks to local water quality and quantity. Many doubt the eventual success of mitigating the drainage of acid and other toxins into the riparian environment surrounding the mine — streams that flow into the ocean a mere five kilometres away. Water-borne contamination could cause catastrophic ecological damage and destroy the Baynes Sound shellfish beds, which produce around three-quarters of British Columbia’s shellfish through an industry that employs 600 people year-round.
From the Comox Valley, the coal would be trucked southwest over public highways to a port site in downtown Port Alberni. With a giant B-train truck flying down Highways 19 and 4 every 20 minutes, public infrastructure costs — and health and safety risks — would be high.
The proposed port would be serviced by huge freighters, likely requiring dredging in parts of the Alberni Inlet. This inlet is on the migration route of the productive Somass River sockeye run and is critical to salmon and other marine species, many of which are important to local First Nations cultures and the regional ecology and economy.
After all this, the end product would potentially increase ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s carbon exports, making this mine irresponsible on a global level as well. An estimated 88 per cent of the coal at the Raven site is semi-soft coking coal, which is suitable only for steel-making when combined with higher-quality coal. On its own, it is ideal for thermal power generation — the most carbon-intensive energy source in the world. Forty per cent of the mine is owned by two global trading firms based in Asia, the largest thermal coal market on Earth.
For these reasons and more, this project is strongly opposed by environmental organizations such as the Wilderness Committee, local grassroots groups, the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Shellfish Growers Association, and the Council of Canadians. The K’omoks First Nation has expressed concern as well, and in late November, the Comox Valley Regional District passed a motion to oppose the project unless certain conditions are met, including the completion of comprehensive aquifer mapping and a study by a federal review panel.
Opponents of the Raven mine are motivated by a connection to Vancouver Island and the recognition that risky, unsustainable industries based on finite resources simply do not have a future here. There are communities all along this coast dealing with the socio-economic and environmental hardships left in the wake of collapsed resource industries.
And coal is not timber or salmon — there is zero possibility that this industry can be operated on a sustainable basis. The mine will close 16 years after starting operations and the Comox Valley will immediately lose all jobs and economic benefit. The region will be left with only the lingering environmental impacts, some of which could threaten other industries, ecological communities and human health. The sooner we phase out this kind of short-sighted activity, the sooner we’ll be able to grow sustainable sectors and work toward a healthy, vibrant future.
The pre-application phase is almost over, and critics of the project await the final submission by the proponent, Compliance Coal Corp., to both provincial and federal environmental assessment agencies. From here, the proposal enters the final 180-day review period, giving members of the public one final chance to voice concerns.
This Island is world-renowned for its natural beauty. There are species and ecosystems here found nowhere else on the planet; many of our jobs, recreational activities and ways of life depend on our relatively healthy environment. The incredibly rich First Nations cultures that have grown and evolved here hold the environment sacred — a point of hope as we strive to achieve sustainability.
Yes, there is an industrial history here as well, that can’t be denied. But this boom-bust history and its legacies of environmental and socio-economic damage should remain just that: history and legacies. We must learn from them, not emulate them. It’s almost 2013, not 1913, and a new coal mine on Vancouver Island is an idea as terrible as it is archaic.
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Torrance Coste is the Vancouver Island campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.
