The Telkwa Coal project has transitioned from a review under the old Environmental Assessment Act (2002) to the new one (2018).
“Over the past three years, progress on the EA has been delayed for several reasons,” said Rob Mauer, community liaison for TCL.
Those reasons included TCL’s request in September 2019, that the EAO put the assessment of the project on hold until April 30, 2020, to allow the Wet’suwet’en to focus on strategic reconciliation discussions with the Province of B.C.
But that date became unworkable because of COVID-19 restrictions that came into effect in March 2020.
“The COVID-19 pandemic also affected the timelines by delaying engagement activities,” Mauer said.
On October 22, 2022, Telkwa Coal provided the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) with a letter requesting that the Environmental Assessment of the Tenas Project transition from a review under the 2002 Act to a review under the 2018 Environmental Assessment Act.
READ MORE: Group presents petition to reopen public engagement on Telkwa Coal
“Although it had been the intention of TCL to complete the assessment under the 2002 Act, the factors mentioned affected their timelines for submitting the EA Application. TCL could not complete the EA process by EAO’s deadline (Dec 16, 2022) for remaining under the 2002 Act,” Mauer explained.
Additionally, several information requests were identified during the EA application review process that included: additional review of mitigations for water quality; additional review of mitigations related to caribou; and further engagement with Indigenous groups to obtain socio-cultural information.
On December 16, 2022, the EAO issued a Transition Order specifying the assessment will continue under the 2018 Act, at the Effects Assessment and Recommendation phase, once additional information required in the Transition Order has been provided to the EAO’s satisfaction.
The decision by the EAO’s chief executive assessment officer to continue the assessment at this phase of the process considered the progress made to date, as well as engagement with Indigenous nations and the public, which has already taken place, and there are additional engagements still to occur.
deb.meissner@interior-news.com
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