One of the things most British Columbians can agree on is that the polluter should actually pay. We recently conducted a poll that shows 90% of us want mining companies to clean up the environmental messes they make. Right now, that doesn’t always happen.
The Narwhal | Survey also shows majority of British Columbians want government to create more protected areas with Indigenous Peoples — even if that means less mining and logging.
Four out of five British Columbians (80%) would support the BC government creating more protected areas with Indigenous peoples to meet the target of protecting 30% of the land and water by 2030, “even if that means reducing areas available for mining and forestry.”
In a victory for the Tŝilhqot’in Nation, but also for the integrity of environmental assessment processes, the Supreme Court of Canada today dismissed Taseko Mines Ltd.’s application for leave to appeal last year’s Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) ruling about the federal assessment of Taseko’s proposed New Prosperity copper-gold mine in Tŝilhqot’in territory in central British Columbia.
CBC | Contamination from Teck coal mines in waterways of Elk River watershed is a long-standing problem
As Taseko Mines once again attempts to force its way with an injunction to start drilling in Tŝilhqot’in ancestral territory at Fish Lake (Teztan Biny) without the consent of the Nation, a broad network of citizens, experts, and environmental organizations are calling for urgent reform of BC’s outdated mining laws.
At a news conference in Victoria, a new network of mining-affected communities, experts, and organizations released the first-ever images of a pipeline discharging contaminated mine wastewater. They also launched a roadmap to clean up mining in B.C. that focuses in three areas: water pollution, the polluter-pays principle, and the need to respect local community decisions.
The Narwhal | Environment Canada was told that selenium pollution emanating from a string of coal mines in B.C.’s southeast corner could lead to reproductive failure and ‘a total population collapse’ of sensitive species like the westslope cutthroat trout
