Is Bucko Lake Doomed? Let's Make Sure it Doesn't Happen!

Call for Position Statements - Bucko Lake and Metal Mining Effluent Regulations


Local and national consultations sessions are being planned for amendments to the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER) in the near future. These would require alterations of our Fisheries Act, too, allowing for harmful substances (toxic mining waste) to be dumped into dammed freshwater lakes, thus turning them into Tailings Impoundment Areas - a euphemism for ruined, former life bearing lakes.

Here in Manitoba, Crowflight Minerals Inc. (see photo, below) has applied for a permit to dump their nickel mine waste into Bucko Lake, close to Wabowden, south of Thompson, a portion of the headwaters for the Grass River system, and in woodland caribou territory. Yikes. The application is in the Public Registry and Conservation is accepting comments even though the time period has passed. We asked for that.

The faces of the people who would turn Bucko Lake into a toxic dump.

It is a subsidy for the mining companies. It is cheaper to dam a lake and dump waste into it than to create a pit and pour water on it to keep the ore from oxidizing in the sun. The CEN has been asked to send delegates to a session planned on the topic of the latest proposal, for Terrane Metals Corp. to use King Richard and Alpine Creek in northern B.C. as a waste pit for their copper-gold project. I'm sure you can appreciate the chemical content in the residuals from that operation. Cyanide, for instance.

MiningWatch did a good job of intervening with the Voisey Bay project in Labrador/Newfoundland but they could use our voices to lend support to their efforts to take a lead on this issue and oppose the changes by the feds and to conduct a comprehensive study administered by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. 


We would benefit from having position statements forwarded to us by your group. There's a chance I'll be going to the next session, held in Gatineau, to learn more about this and offer up some opinions to Environment Canada and mining companies. We don't have groups working specifically on mining issues in Manitoba, but we do have several groups interested in issues of water quality, pollution prevention, and caribou habitat. I would sincerely appreciate some solidarity in the challenging of this scheme to ruin more of our dwindling fresh water supplies and pristine habitats.


For further or background information, call EC project manager Kelly Ellis at 819 934-6056 or HYPERLINK "mailto:kelly.ellis@ec.gc.ca" kelly.ellis@ec.gc.ca. Or check out CEA's website.

Thanks, Lindy Clubb - 
assistant executive director, Mixedwood Forest Society
 204 475-9608

Turkeys on an Unidentified Ontario Farm Have Tested Positive for the Swine Flu

By: THE CANADIAN PRESS - 20/10/2009

Minister says food safe.....

MANITOBA RATED SECOND IN CANADA FOR COMPETITIVENESS IN MINING TAXES

Oc 16, 2009 - Manitoba's Mining Tax Regime Excels In Report: Rondeau.

Ruttan Lk. Mine.
MB Gov't. photo

Manitoba has been rated among the most competitive provinces for mining activity in Canada, ranking number two in the country for the competitiveness of its mining tax regime, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) 2009 Canadian mining tax report, Science, Technology Energy and Mines Minister Jim Rondeau said today.

"The ranking by PricewaterhouseCoopers is welcome news as it confirms our commitment to support and strengthen the minerals industry in Manitoba," said Rondeau. "The incentives government provides, combined with our rich resources, continue to be a solid economic driver for the province's mining industry." Rondeau noted the province is committed to investing in mineral exploration and mining, and working with industry to boost the economic opportunities the sector offers. He said companies are attracted to Manitoba because of its policies for mineral investment that make it one of the best places in the world to explore. "The mining industry is appreciative that Manitoba has worked with the industry to improve Manitoba's competitive taxation climate for new mines," said Ed Huebert, executive vice-president of the Mining Association of Manitoba. "The PricewaterhouseCoopers report, which analyzes the tax impact for a hypothetical new mine, shows that Manitoba has improved to second best in Canada from a taxation perspective. We look forward to a continued dialogue that will allow the industry to invest in Manitoba and increase their economic contribution to the province." The minister noted tax initiatives announced in Budget 2009 helped achieve the biggest increase of any province in the competitiveness of its mining tax system. He said, according to the PWC report, the overall Manitoba tax rate for a sample Manitoba mining operation dropped to 19 per cent from 28 per cent. Recent initiatives to support the mining industry in Manitoba include: - reducing the mining tax; - extending the mineral exploration tax credit by three years to 2012; - reducing the general corporate income tax rate to 12 per cent; - phasing out the general corporation capital tax; - extending the Mineral Exploration Assistance Program and the Prospectors' Assistance Program, which offer approximately $2.5 million in annual funding to support exploration; - entering into a $3 million partnership with the federal government to remap Manitoba's far north; and - initiating a new, $1-million Training and Workforce Retention Initiative. The mineral industry is Manitoba's second-largest primary resource industry. The 2008 value of mineral production for metals, industrial minerals and petroleum totalled $2.5 billion and the industry employed an average 5,200 workers directly with another 18,000 in spinoff jobs. Company spending for mineral exploration reached an all-time high of $141.5 million in 2008. The PriceWaterhouseCoopers report on mining taxation in Canada is a biannual assessment of the relative tax competitiveness of Canadian jurisdictions. The full report can be accessed here.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This is called "governing from the centre." Giving away our precious resources for next to nothing in these heady days of de-regulators and free marketeers is actually seen as a badge of honour. Making corportations pay their fair share so we can enjoy decent human services is now old-fashioned, perhaps even communistic. Human health! Environment! Beware! The centrists are on the loose! l.p.

Sask. Student's Vaccine Tightens Net Against E. Coli

Anne-Marie Hickey, University of Saskatchewan - 10/16/2009

Food and water around the world could soon become safer for human...

Canada's Rivers at Risk

Oc 14-'09 - World Wildlife Fund - Environmental Flows and Canada's Freshwater Future
Canada ranks among the world's top nations in terms of renewable water supply but...

The Waterhen, rated by

Environment CA in
'07 as Manitoba's only
"pristine" river! l.p. photo

Carbon Emissions Must Peak by 2015: UN Climate Scientist

PARIS (AFP) - – The UN's top climate scientist on Thursday urged a key conference on global warming to set tough mid-term goal...

Hunting: An Extinction Threat To Middle East's Most Threatened Bird

ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2009)
Conservationists trying to prevent the extinction of Northern Bald Ibis are distraught that one of the last remaining wild bird...

Canada Quietly Asks EPA to Weaken Anti-Pollution Measures

Canadian embassy in Washington asks agency to alter plan that would force lake freighters to stop burning dirty bunker fuel...

Martin Mittelstaedt - Globe and Mail - Oct. 17, 2009

Politicians Have Failed in Efforts to Stave Off Climate Change, Now It's Up to Us

By Bill McKibben, Mother Jones. Posted October 17, 2009.

The political method has not worked so well...

Dickstone South Road License Upheld: Struthers

Manitoba News Release..........................October 16, 2009

Artist: Mary Jane Eichler

An Environment Act licence to construct and operate a temporary road to allow Tolko Industries to access potential timber harvesting areas north of Grass River Provincial Park will be upheld, Conservation Minister Stan Struthers announced today.

In August, the Dickstone Road was granted a licence under the Environment Act but the decision was appealed on the grounds it threatened woodland caribou habitat. The licence was issued following an extensive technical and public review of potential environmental impacts including impacts to woodland caribou herds. Several licence terms and conditions were included to ensure environmental protection including requirements to monitor and protect against impacts to caribou, said Struthers.

"We take protection of caribou habitat very seriously," said the minister. "That's why we have placed strict environmental conditions on the license to control and limit access to this road and to ensure ongoing monitoring and research on caribou herds in the area."

The minister noted that no timber harvesting will take place in Grass River Provincial Park in accordance with the ban on logging in 80 of 81 provincial parks announced earlier this year. In addition, all areas proposed for logging by Tolko must be submitted for approval by the province on an annual basis, said Struthers.

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Manitoba Brings in New Rules Governing Livestock Waste

Winnipeg Free Press - By: Staff Writer - 16/10/2009

l.p. Photo

WINNIPEG - The province announced today that it is implementing new rules for livestock waste, in the wake of heated...