Editor:
The community endured two go-rounds of Federal Panel hearings about the Prosperity Mine proposal by Taseko Mines — at great expense to taxpayers and causing considerable stress and division within the community.
The results of both panel hearings were the same.
However, when people want to learn what really happened to cause the disastrous breach of the Mount Polley Mines tailings facility, there is no federal inquiry, and no answers to the many questions that concerned residents want answers to. So it would seem that there is not a level playing field, that industry has all the advantages, and that justice is only a concept, and does not exist in these cases.
I would like to see more people working to make the community more economically viable, but I would also like to see accountability by industry when there is such a huge disaster as the breach which polluted Quesnel Lake with toxic chemicals.
In point of fact, Imperial Metals has damaged a lake that should have been considered a national treasure.
And if employment is the issue, then why does the government not employ hundreds of workers to restore the health of our forests, doing reclamation, clearing out the dead and windfall pine, making fire guards, etc.
This would be a great benefit to the forests and an economic (and social) benefit to the community.
I hope my letter reflects these views, as I am not opposed to economic development at all. But I am very opposed to irresponsible industry causing serious harm to our environments.
Michael Atwood
Chimney Lake