Williams Lake on Tenterhooks Waiting for Mt. Polley Decision
Williams Lake, B.C. – The City of Williams Lake is on edge waiting to find out if Mt. Polley will reopen for a restricted restart this summer.
The decision is expected to be handed down this month after public comments were submitted to both the Mine Development Review Committee and the Province back in April.
Williams Lake Mayor Walt Cobb
“I’m optimistic that the government, the decision-makers are going to come to the right decision,” says Mayor Walt Cobb. “It’s crucial for our community. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we will have a positive result.”
He says the city has taken a proactive approach in an effort to sway the government.
“We’ve written letters, council has passed resolutions. Actually the previous council as well as this council has passed resolutions,” says Cobb. “We’ve been part of public hearings and made statements indicating the need for this to move forward. With that, we’re not suggesting that they go against the environment or anything else.”
He notes a lot is riding on this decision.
“We’re looking at a couple hundred jobs, which amounts to at least 600-700 people that we could lose from our community if they have to go elsewhere to find a job. Then there’s all the spin-offs that go along with it.”
Cobb says the uncertainty of the situation is also taking its toll on the local economy.
“You’re not spending your money, you’re being a little cautious on how you spend and that affects everybody. Even people that are not directly affected by the mine layoff are cautious on how they are spending their money because they don’t know what’s going to happen.”
He acknowledges some First Nations remain opposed to the restart, but notes many got up and spoke in favour of the mine at a recent public hearing.
Either way, he says it’s opposition to the restart from afar that frustrates him most.
“What really annoys me is that we have people making comments on whether this should open or not from the other side of the world. I’m sorry, those kinds of comments should not be taken into consideration.”
Comments
People in William Lake are not likely to leave for jobs in other areas because guess what? There are no jobs in other areas.
We have Endako Mines in shut down mode. We have coal mines in the Tumbler Ridge area shut down. The huge upgrade to the Rio Tinto Alcan’s Alum Plant in Kitimat is basically completed, and people are leaving that area. The so called LNG boom, has basically busted both in Northern BC and Alberta, and Ft McMurray is in downsizing mode.
Alberta is projecting losing some 24000 jobs this year.
So where are the jobs?? At best the jobs that come available will be from retirements.
Maybe they should think about putting people to work to clean up the mess first or will the Government keep letting the tailings wash into the lake.
“Tenterhooks”, wow someones thesaurus has been getting a workout.
According to experts, the catastrophic tailings pond breach at Mount Polley Mine was among the worst mining disasters in the world, and because of that, this unprecedented environmental disaster made news around the world. So why should the mayor be surprised people are commenting about it from the other side of the world? Perhaps this Mayor should be more concerned about how much of a negative impact this environmental tragedy is having on tourism in the Williams Lake area, because “Super Natural BC” is not so Super Natural any more.
Hey Crispy Clark; how is the cleanup going? Hey Crispy; how is the investigation going, will anyone be found to be at fault? IMO, Imperial Metals will get its Mount Polley Mine re-opened, a backroom promise to donate even more money to the Liberal Party campaign coffers should grease the wheels to achieve that desired end. Of course there will be no evidence any kind that a corrupt practice has ever taken place, why? Because any evidence / information can now be deleted, or destroyed, legally by our provincial government, the opposition’s use of the Access to Information Act be damned. Now we are hearing from the Union of BC Indian Chiefs that the Provincial government has destroyed important “legal” emails concerning treaty negotiations, will such wonders ever cease? Back to the subject at hand:
This mining disaster has so many other important issues to it than just the government sanctioned, and approved, “jobs and economy” spin… yet that is what the mainstream media digests and presents to us readers and viewers. This happens when a government, and mainstream media, become corporate and business run. Oh well, at least it touched on some of the other important issues in my comment; environmental remediation, accident investigation, impact on tourism, potential backroom deals.
What does the BC government have to do with a tailings breach on a corporate mine site?
Granted, there was supposed to be inspection et el, but it was the company at fault, and the company that is liable, not the taxpayers.
“Experts have warned, time and again, that provincial budget cuts to environmental regulation could result in a catastrophe. Here are just two examples:
The Professional Employees Association, in a report last March, noted that the province has reduced its complement of scientific and technical experts – engineers, agrologists, foresters and geoscientists – by 15 per cent since 2009. Five months before the Mount Polley breach, the association warned those reductions could threaten both public safety and the environment because of inadequate monitoring and inspections.”
Two read about he other ewxample just copy and paste the following link to your address bar, delete the space between the www. and the t
www. theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/mount-polley-disaster-undermines-public-trust/article20714915/
Actually Sage it is not the huge enviromental as first forecast by the irrational green blob.
If an expert said you where dying would you not consult with another expert.
@ seamutt;
http: //globalnews.ca/news/1498222/mount-polley-mine-tailings-pond-breach-is-one-of-the-worst-in-the-world-experts/
sophic sage, so you don’t like Christy Clark! Well, boo hoo!
You don’t like the BC Liberals! Once again, boo hoo!
If the NDP was in power, do you really think that they would delay the re-opening of the Mount Polley mine? Really, do you??
Remember, Mount Polley employed a lot of very well paid Union members. The NDP would be just a quick to get them back to work as the Liberals are! That’s a Fact!!
Globull News, sensationalism and calamity by the hour news hour. UNBC is still looking for the disaster.
If the Government and MT polley mines would have done their homwork everyone would be still employed. When you put production first and safety last this is what happens. Many people could have lost their lives.- Sophic Sage- I think there is a lot of truth in your posting.
Thanks oldman1, I try to stick to posting facts and truths. If I cannot find evidence that supports my assertions, I will not post them as comment.
Rambling on in a speculative “what if” manner, and then calling that unsupported speculation “fact” is definitely not my style. But if it works for HG, more power to him.
Sophic Sage, you try to stick to facts and truths?
Facts and truths?
Haven’t we heard those words before, time and time again? First from People#1, aka Peeps and then from BeingHuman, who most of us suspected was just Peeps posting under a new handle!
So, Sophic Sage, come clean! Are you People#1, aka Peeps reincarnated as BeingHuman and now Sophic Sage?
Say it isn’t so!
At least you’re not Mattyc, haha!
Facts and truths! Funny how each of us can come up with facts and truths to support our position, eh?
By the way, you still haven’t answered my question in the Residential School post. Perhaps you couldn’t find any facts and truths to support your position?
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