In the last 48 hours - Esk'etemc Nation or the Alkali Lk Band has asked the Federal Review Panel reviewing Taseko Mines "New Prosperity" proposal for two items:
1) In-Camera meeting to present sensitive documents at the upcoming Panel meeting at Alkali Lake - read here
This request has received support from Ross MacCoubrey, and the Friends of Nemiah Valley, however the request has been opposed (so far) by the Cariboo-Chilcotin Resources Society (Bill Carruthers)
2) Request to a site visit - August 19th - read here. Esk'etemc does not say specifically but seem to be referring to a site visit at Fish Lake however one reader has pointed out that they may be referring to an upcoming visit to Little Dog Creek later on this month and want the same conditions to visit Little Dog Creek on the same terms/conditions that was available to Xeni Gwet'in when they/Panel visit Fish Lake last Friday
On Items #1/2 - I expect the Panel to rule in favour of both requests from Esk'etemc
Finally - lawyers on behalf of Taseko Mines have filed a letter of protest regarding the filing of late submissions and expert reports - read that here
In my opinion - I do not believe Taseko Mines has a case here - they could easily have an individual monitor the Registry several times a day. In the alternative - one reader has told me that Taseko should have been "cc'd" or copied on all documents before the Panel and Taseko could have its' response ready within 1-2 days. But I'm forced to agree with Taseko on one point -- the Community sessions were to hear from community members on their views on "New Prosperity" and not from experts except in those cases where community members relied on information provided by experts as part of their presentation(s) - then background details from those experts could have been filed "late" if they weren't available at the time community members presented to the Panel but an undertaking was given to provide those documents to the Panel as soon as reasonably possible
-- SBF
No comments:
Post a Comment