Tag Archives: Woodland Caribou

Animals, Energy

Caribou at the crux of culture and industry

By Lawrie Crawford, Yukon News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Reconciling industrial and environmental interests is a continual problem for the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB).

Projects have quickly become controversial when caribou are involved. BMC Minerals’ Kudz Ze Kayah project affecting the Finlayson herd is now before the courts for judicial review; Western Copper and Gold’s Casino project in Klaza caribou territory is now into its eighth year of assessment; and conditions have been recently imposed on Fireweed Zinc to mitigate effects of their drilling program on the Tay River caribou herd. Conditions for Fireweed’s project in the MacMillan Pass included that “if caribou are observable within one kilometre of active work areas, activities shall cease until the caribou have moved away on their own accord.”

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Energy

Proposed B.C. coal mine gets axed over ‘significant’ environmental effects

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The federal and British Columbia governments have rejected a proposed open-pit coal mine over its environmental impacts.

The Sukunka open-pit coal mine near Tumbler Ridge, B.C., would have produced three million tons of coal per year to sell to steel manufacturers overseas, according to Glencore, the company behind the project. The federal government announced the rejection — based on B.C.’s environmental assessment process — on Dec. 21. 

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