David Parkins for The Globe and Mail
If Bill Bennett had his way, the 90,000 little rainbow trout of Fish Lake would be doomed. By now, construction workers would be well into their work preparing the ground for Taseko's Prosperity Mine - which includes draining the lake to get at the ore.
But, for this year anyway, the fish are safe. The federal cabinet is expected to rule in the fall on the fate of the proposed gold and copper mine in B.C.'s interior. A federal environmental review last week found the project would have a "high-magnitude, long-term and irreversible effect" on the landscape - a review that gave voice to the Tsilhqot'in first nations, who oppose the project.
That might be enough to doom it, but the B.C. government has Taseko's back.
Mr. Bennett, B.C.'s mining minister, made it plain this week he doesn't see eye-to-eye with Ottawa on this, and suggested his government will not meekly accept rejection.
"The federal report would leave you with the impression that Fish Lake is this spectacular sport fishing lake that would be almost sacrilegious to change," Mr. Bennett said in an interview this week.
The reality is quite different, he said. "This is a tiny little pothole of a lake."
That's not the description that springs to mind when looking at photographs of the 12-square-kilometre lake. Mr. Bennett hasn't been there, but his staff tell him it is "a shallow, mucky lake with too many small rainbows in it."
The trout may not appreciate this, but their lake is in the way of what is believed to be one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits in Canada, with more than 13 million ounces of gold and five billion pounds of copper.
B.C. revealed its eagerness to get on with it early in the process. When Ottawa proposed a joint environmental review of the project with B.C., the province balked at the federal terms of reference. In an extraordinary move, the provincial government elected to conduct its own assessment. That led to its decision last January to approve the project.
Brian Battison, vice-president of corporate affairs for Taseko Mines Ltd., says if the process had been conducted at the province's pace, the company could be in clearing the mine site and building a replacement lake by now.
"We would be spending now hundreds of millions of dollars," he said. Instead the company has spent an estimated $4-million going through a second review, which, he said, didn't reveal anything new. "I don't think anything was gained by the second process."
Both the federal and provincial reviews concluded a mine would create environmental damage. The chief difference is that B.C. weighed that against the economic benefits, while the federal review panel put more stock in aboriginal concerns.
In its report, the federal panel tartly suggested that the province's rush to review limited its input. "In particular, the panel notes that the province was not able to consider the final comments from federal departments nor was it able to take advantage of information received during the public hearing from First Nations. ..."
The province and Taseko may not like it, but the claims of the first nations are entwined in this case. The Xeni Gwet'in told the federal panel the planned mine site is of important cultural and spiritual value to them.
Although the band refused to participate in the provincial review process - its officials said they could not afford to engage in two separate reviews - the B.C. government was well aware of the band's claims in the area. In November, 2007, the B.C. Supreme Court found the Xeni Gwet'in had proven aboriginal title to roughly 200,000 hectares of land in the Nemiah Valley. All three parties are back in court, and the band wants the mine blocked.
All of this uncertainty has been dragged out by the duelling reviews, and underscores what the province has been saying for some time: That the environmental review process for major projects need to be streamlined.
But whose process should reign? Mr. Bennett, naturally, likes the swifter and more economically focused B.C. assessment.
"I personally have come to the conclusion that the federal process is not as good a process," he said. "If they are going to be harmonized - what a terrible word these days - we have to agree on a process that includes all factors that influence sustainability."
Premier Gordon Campbell and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have maintained a mostly cordial relationship despite differences over the carbon tax, EI reform and first nations issues.
The blunt-talking Mr. Bennett doesn't think British Columbians will find it tenable if Ottawa big-foots the province on jurisdiction. Mr. Campbell has eschewed Ottawa-bashing in the past - despite its populist appeal - but if Mr. Harper says no to Taseko, the Premier just might be tempted.
Projects worth billions wait for federal government's blessing
In a Throne Speech early in 2009, the B.C. government signalled its intention to harmonize - not the sales tax, but the process the federal and provincial governments used to assess the environmental impact of proposed projects, from road works to wind energy schemes.
The two governments usually do their environmental assessments in tandem, but a review of the decision-making process for 24 recent B.C. projects shows Ottawa takes longer to reach a verdict every time.
Sometimes, the federal government is behind B.C. by a matter of days or weeks. In 14 cases, however, the delay added up to 100 days or more. For the Red Chris gold-mine project, a federal decision came 1,610 days after the province announced its decision.
On three projects worth $3.8-billion to the B.C. economy, the federal verdict is still on hold:NaiKun Offshore Wind Energy project: B.C. decision announced 211 days ago. Capital value: $2-billionThunder Mountain Wind project: B.C. decision announced 211 days ago. Capital value: $1-billionProsperity gold mine project: B.C. decision announced 176 days ago. Capital value: $800-million Justine Hunter