Kamloops, BC (2013) Residents in Kamloops were pleased to learn the province considered risks from the proposed Ajax Mine to be unacceptable.
Back in August, the ELC filed an application for a Drinking Water Hazard Prevention Order with the Regional Drinking Water Officer, in an attempt to stop the Ajax Mine in Kamloops. The application included advice from a hydrogeologist that the Environmental Assessment (EA) failed to take into account a number of potential sources of toxins and potential pathways for those toxins to reach existing drinking water sources in Kamloops.
The Drinking Water Protection Officer sent the ELC’s application to the Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) – citing an expectation that the proponent would have to address the issues raised. While the EAO said it was too late for the information to change the final EA report, they would consider it as comment.
Ultimately, government concluded that the potential adverse effects, including significant adverse effects to Indigenous heritage and to the current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes, made the project unacceptable.
“Among the many reasons cited by government for its decision to reject Ajax was uncertainty about impacts on surface water quality in nearby creeks,” says ELC’s Legal Director Calvin Sandborn, “an issue directly addressed in the ELC submission and expert report.”
Read the report:
Drinking Water Health Hazard Protection Order (2017 Aug 14)
Media:
- Kamloops group seeks water-protection order over proposed Ajax mine (2017 Aug 14) Vancouver Sun
- B.C. environmental group urges stop to Ajax Mine project over water-safety concerns (2017 Aug 14) Globe and Mail