Damien Gillis has a shocking new story posted at the Common Sense Canadian that is a must read. The impact on the watersheds and other industry in the Comox Valley could potentially be greatly impacted.
A must read, and a must share : http://thecanadian.org/item/2211-appalachia-north?-18-new-coal-mine-proposals-for-comox-valley
“The Comox Valley citizens’ group that recently sent a proposed coal mine application back to the drawing board has discovered a staggering 18 new coal mine applications throughout the same central Vancouver Island region.
The discovery comes on the heels of a broad-based public campaign, driven by Coalwatch Comox Valley, which successfully blocked the proposed Raven Coal Mine through its environmental assessment. The organization managed to drive thousands of people to public hearings opposing the project, which threatened the local shellfish economy, one of the region’s biggest employers.
This new batch of applications was filed with the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas by Feisa Resources Canada and Golden River Resources Inc. during a two-week period from May 10 to May 24, 2013. “
READ the rest of this post, and see the map of the locations proposed at http://thecanadian.org/item/2211-appalachia-north?-18-new-coal-mine-proposals-for-comox-valley
( can’t help wondering what MLA Don McRae has to say about all of this… ) The Comox Valley Echo has more as well http://www.canada.com/companies+join+coal+rush+Comox+Valley/8694486/story.html
One name that popped out for me is Feisa Resources Canada, out of Calgary, because it immediately brought to mind a company that came up in another story I was investigating recently http://www.feisa-sh.com/en/about.asp FEISA = Far East International Shipping Agency.
Queries to Shanghai FEISA were not returned by the time of this posting.
It’s also interesting how these applications also began coming forward in a rush on May 10th, mere days before the Liberals won yet another election in BC.
It makes me wonder… do resource companies conduct their own polling at election time… or would a political party share their polling with them?
Westcoast Views with Laila Yuile 
Not too sure Laila. My son stumbled onto an article quite some time ago. The F.N. on Vancouver Island, were worried about those coal mines and contamination. Harper’s Omnibus Bill gives China permission to sue anyone, that tries to block China’s intrusions into our country. So if the F.N. protest those mines, China can sue Canada. China took the 200 BC mining jobs. Perhaps the rumor, of 2,500 more Chinese miners coming into BC is true?
CSIS did warn of China’s huge inroads into Canada. BC was specifically mentioned because, Gordon Campbell had already given much of BC to China.
Another article is, Harper’s FIPA deal with China means, China will be in Canada for a minimum of 31 years. China will take the timber and mines on Vancouver Island.
I had signed the petition against, Harper’s FIPA deal with China.
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Great catch Laila. It’s the new business cycle, apparently. I see Taseko is back at it too.
These Companies need to realise the meaning of the word no. Unfortunately in Canada governments do it too. The Judiciary and Police seem to be onside too, with the recent arrests in NB and this mornings decision to allow banks to continue charging rediculous fees to consumers and small businesses and they declined to say why, to protect the banks secrets.
Our headwaters are being completely disregarded at the time they are about to become the new gold. What is wrong with these people?
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Maybe it’s time to pay cash only. Keep a minimum balance to cover bills.
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BINGO
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Where is the Green Party on this?
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Comox Valley voted Liberal and has for some time. They get what they deserve
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Comox BC Liberal MLA Don McRae came out against Raven’s proposal days before the election citing the risks the mine would present to the shellfish industry in Baynes Sound, the heart of BC’s shellfishery. The announcement didn’t stop an extra thousand people from voting Green which, as usual here, handed the riding to the incumbent.
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http://www.news1130.com/2013/07/24/coal-dust-spewing-onto-delta-farmland-an-anomaly-cp-rail/
Can you imagine as the train traffic increases throughout the lower mainland?
Relatives worked in the coal mines; disgusting, dirty, dangerous dust. Has the population not learned from the past? What it does to the health of not only those working “in” the mines, but where ever the dust settles. It not only hurts the workers/people, it destroys the environment. One only has to drive through the southeast section of the province to see the effects. It took years to get vegetation back, what you see from the highway, but what’s going on behind those hills? Follow the money, and it’s not going back into job creation, healthcare, education. It’s filling the pockets of the elite and corporations and others.
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An anomaly? ..lol… ask the people who have been protesting any increase in coal trains because their outside patio furniture picks up the residue every day.
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Has anyone informed Vancouver city hall that there’s train loads of coal on its way???????
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15 or so years ago, a man by the name of Webster, who lived just west of Hope, caused quite a stir about the coal dust being deposited on his house and all over his pool/patio furniture. His house was about 50 metres from the CN tracks. The railway actually paid to have his house and patio pressure washed and they kept in contact with Webster as they made adjustments to their sealant sprays. CP and CN both use the tracks, so I’m not sure which one got the wrath of Webster.
Near Ashcroft, there is (or was) a drive-through spray station that sprays a sealant on the top of the coal, to make a crust. It obviously wasn’t working in the video. Loads shift during transit and the crust cracks, allowing the wind to get at the loose dust.
Considering the cost of the spray and the loss of coal to wind — and the cost of potential complaints — there’s got to be a point where it pays to put lids on these cars. They could probably put more coal in each car, as it wouldn’t be blown off — and the train might cut the wind more efficiently, too.
Then again, the government could just demand lids.
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The coal story in the Comox valley is exceedingly complex. Cumberland, of course, was a big operation; the coking slag left behind at the docks in Union Bay, or the “Coal Hills”, as the mounds of waste are called around here, have been a major impediment to Kensington’s Union Bay development proposal (if I’m not mistaken, the development permit requires flattening the toxic heaps out and capping it with a parking lot—meanwhile Kensington has gone into hibernation since their permit was finally granted a couple years ago). The Raven coal mine proposal was rejected a few days after the election because water protection plans had not been submitted by deadline. The deposit was worked in the 1880s but abandoned due to low coal quality. Indeed, Raven’s prospectus initially overestimated the size and quality of the deposit, claiming a large amount of high quality “metallurgical” coal (as if this would assuage local watershed concerns). When it came time to fess up, they admitted the deposit is substantially smaller and of poorer, thermal, quality. Considering widely supported, highly organized and determined opposition to that proposal, including from the Regional District, all unincorporated settlements and Improvement Districts, all municipal governments, the Islands Trust and even BC Liberal MLA Don McRae (who expressed concern about the risks to the heart of BC’s shellfishery in Baynes Sound), one has to wonder why all the fuss over a small deposit of low quality coal. I mean, it’s not like the world is short of coal. Could it have something to do with the mines’ location inside the E&N Railway Grant, with its unique land, royalty and tax status? Are there legal precedences yet to be made with regard to escaping from forest land tax shelters without penalty? It’s puzzling.
The Raven property was purchased from a previous applicant whose Coal Bed Methane drilling proposal was rejected for not specifying watershed protection measures—they actually wanted to dump about half a million litres of coal-water per day (which makes up half of what comes out the CBM well head) into Coal Creek. It made sense to them—the name, that is. The applicant was also warned about threatening to sue opponents to their proposal in an attempt to intimidate and silence them at the public hearing, which had happened in print in the heavily reported lead up to the hearing. In the end the failed applicant snarled that we’d be sorry when the property was sold to an “open pit” mine. Nice people, eh? Now Raven, the new failed applicant, has shaken up their management, top down, in light of their own recent rejection. Meanwhile eighteen more applicants have appeared. There seems more to seams than it seems.
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