VICTORIA – The Government of British Columbia has refused to issue an environmental assessment certificate for the proposed Sukunka coal mine in northeast B.C.
The decision was made by George Heyman, minister of environment and climate change strategy, and Josie Osborne, minister of energy, mines and low carbon innovation, based on an assessment of the project by the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office, states a news release.
Negative effects on the threatened red-listed Quintette caribou were cited as a driver of the decision, with the release noting the mine would increase the risk of extinction for the animal.
The assessment also found negative effects on First Nations and grizzly bear populations.
“The key mitigation measures proposed would be unlikely to reduce the potential negative impacts of the project to an acceptable level,” reads the release.
The mine proposed by Glencore was to be an open-pit mining operation and coal processing plant roughly 55 kilometres south of Chetwynd, designed to produce three megatonnes of metallurgic coal per year for 22 years.
The provincial assessment also served as the federal assessment through a substitution agreement, states the release.
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