Say goodbye to Fish lake,forever!

Another sad day for British Columbia, Fish Lake in the Caribou Chilcotin region got approval from Gordon Campbell and Barry Penner to be used and destroyed for the sake of a mine.

Updated January 18/2010....First Nations Scream Foul--First Nation`s Chief State that Gordon Campbell Betrayed Them, Gordon Campbell Stabbed them in the Back read about here http://howbadtherecord.blogspot.com/2010/01/campbells-rubber-stamp-decision-on-fish.html

The prosperity copper and gold mine was given approval this week from Gordon Campbell, in case your wondering why I have a picture of (Fish Lake) heading this story is this.....With the approval fish lake is no more, that`s right folks fish lake is history,poisonous,toxic, Gordon Campbell is allowing this lake pictured above, which is part of the Fraser river watershed to be destroyed, and friends that is not speculation, it`s fact, even the mining(Taseko) company in their 3000 page environmental impact statement confirm that the lake will be all but dead, the lake will be used as a mining dump, mining tailing`s are going into this lake, 85,000 rainbow trout will be killed, in fact everything in the lake will be killed, tesako mining company is promising to "create a new lake" to replace this one! Have a good look at the picture my friends, does that look like something a mining company can replicate?(read the announcement here)http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/15174/1/prosperity++gold-copper+mine+gets+provincial+ea+approval

The Olympics are coming to BC, we have an opportunity to show this lake and share the story with the world`s press, Gordon Campbell`s claim to be green, Gordon Campbell who is calling the Vancouver 2010 games the greenest games in history, how on one hand can you say that while on the other you ink a deal to destroy a pristine watershed full of fish, a watershed that feeds the mighty Fraser river, to toxify an ancient lake that mother nature took millions of years to create, despite the mining companies claims or anyone`s for that matter no one can replicate this, we as human beings are still infantile in our understanding of hydrology and water leaching, no one lake is isolated, Fish lake is part of a bigger and more complicated watershed, to turn this jewel into a poisonous soup will hurt the Fraser river and all wildlife in the area, our British Columbia salmon runs are already in a state of total collapse, and now the leader of this province wants to raise the stakes and kill freshwater fish and wildlife, because it`s not just Fraser river Salmon and Rainbow trout, no it`s a lot more, it`s terns,migrating birds, bears, the insects that thrive in lakes,the insect eating birds, frogs snakes and just about every other living thing you can think of, this stretch of heaven called Fish Lake is on traditional First Nations lands(Tsilhqot`in) and they are opposed to this project, the chief doesn`t believe mankind has the ability to make a replacement lake, his words are.
"Only the creator can do that"........ the Chief goes onto say........"We can`t accept wholesale destruction of such a productive thriving lake that has ancient traditional meaning to our Nation".
In 2002 Federal fisheries on orders from the government of the day made changes to the fisheries act Section 36 of the act(Metal,mining,effluent regulations), the changes were almost a carte blanche permission to use lakes as dumps, a gift to the mining industry, I will provide links to more technical briefings but for now, I read a longish piece in the Georgia Strait about this project, their story was written before approval was granted, it was still under provincial environmental assessment, well like I say Gordon Campbell and Barry Penner have said......Let the toxic dumping begin, expert hydrologists hired by first nations have said the mining companies assertions are wrong, clearly they don`t understand hydrology and water leaching into ground aquifers, David Williams president of :Friends of Nemiah Valley: Stated.
"Once you see this gorgeous lake it`s impossible to see how on earth the project has gone this far".......David Williams goes on to say.
" The is a environmental travesty, a planned ecological disaster".
Like I have mentioned before, I am no brain surgeon, in fact the extent of my formal education wasn`t much ..But, even a non-brain surgeon like myself can see the insanity of this project, from the story in the Straight one thing stood out to me like a sore thumb and that was this.
The mining company has stated in their assessment that.
"If they can`t use Fish Lake as a toxic dump the project wouldn`t be viable" snip.
Well isn`t that interesting, because this same mining company(Taseko) has made the statement in their assessment that
"They will build a replacement lake to make up for the loss of Fish Lake" snip.
Well how can that be?
The two statements contradict each other, on one hand they`re saying the project isn`t viable if it can`t use mother natures splendor as a toxic dump and on the other their claiming to replace it, that doesn`t make sense.
The life of the mine is supposed to last 20 years, the government claim that over the course of the life of the project it will contribute all toll about $400 million dollars to the Province and $43 million dollars to local and regional government, a big number but once you break it down it works out to $20 million dollars per year to the Province and roughly $2.1 million dollars per year to local government per year. Hardly a windfall for destroying and toxicfying a huge area of pristine nature.(read the story here)http://www.straight.com/article-249305/fight-looms-over-fish-lake
Taseko acquired the rights in 1969 but governments weren`t interested in ruining the landscape back then, continual exploration in the area has been done and in the 90s feasibility studies were done and Taseko mining company got revved up on this project in the late 90s but commodity prices tanked so they shelved the project, and I think that is crucial, the part about shelving the project over commodity prices, in this latest recession mines around the world shut down,even Alcan(Rio-Tinto) stopped smelting and curtailed production in Kitimat and delayed their promised expansions, you see friends the same thing could happen here, despite all the rosy claims by Taseko, despite the chamber of commerce in Williams lake drooling over this project, despite all the claims this project is but 20 years, or less, the less being a commodity price drop and or a double dip recession, because believe me these mining giants care about money and only money and when the going gets tough the mining industry stops and moves onto more fertile land or countries, meanwhile the legacy left for first Nations,for fishers, for generations is a toxic stew killing everything that comes into contact with it. Friends, I will try and get the story out to every media outlet,every interested reporter, the world must hear what deliberate environmental destruction Gordon Campbell and Barry Penner want to inflict upon "Super Natural British Columbia"....I hope all of you faithful readers spend a moment and send a link to this story or the link to the Georgia strait`s story to a media outlet, time to tell the world what Gordon Campbell is doing.
Oh I almost forgot, I read a story yesterday that was very quietly reported, it should have been front page news, the Myra falls mine in Campbell river had a couple of accidents, somehow mining effluent flowed into Butte lake. Butte lake is the drinking water for Campbell river, the spokesperson for the mine claimed because of heavy rain and snow run-off two separate over-flows caused the tailings to get in the towns drinking water, the spokesperson went onto say, it`s a big lake, the spill happened at the opposite end of the lake, opposite of where the pick-up is for extracting the water, it should take a long time before the effluent migrates to the other end!(read the story here)http://www.timescolonist.com/Mine+tailings+pond+overflows+into+Campbell+River+watershed/2446030/story.html
(Let your federal Government know what you think here) ---Email-Environment minister- Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca
And...You can Email here) enviroinfo@ec.gc.ca
Looking at the lake and the pristine area and the thought of poisoning a giant fish-filled lake for short term gain and knowing the generational pain for a fist full of dollars is enough to bring tears to my eyes.
The Straight Goods
Cheers-Teary Eyes Wide Open