Editor:
Public comment on the controversial report on the proposed Burnco mine in Howe Sound by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency will be closed on Jan. 22.
The proposal to mine and process sand and gravel at McNab Creek, about 25 km north of Gibsons, is widely opposed. CEAA’s report is seen as flawed and biased in favour of Burnco, a privately held Alberta firm.
Burnco admits that it does not need the McNab aggregate. But it sees the shoreline mine as a highly profitable, low-cost opportunity close to Vancouver.
Pointlessly, it would reintroduce heavy mining into fragile Howe Sound.
Now three years after the Mount Polley mine disaster, there are still huge concerns about adequate regulation and oversight in the B.C. mining industry. The CEAA and the earlier BCEAO Burnco reports are not reassuring.
Common sense and political intervention are urgently needed. And Burnco needs to accept that this is 2018.
Burnco’s crude mining proposal is not appropriate in Howe Sound and totally unnecessary. It would endanger wildlife and present a hazard to shipping and ferry traffic. And it would be a nightmare for residents at McNab Creek, children’s camps and other users and residents of Howe Sound.
Donald Townson, Gibsons
