The President of the United Steelworkers Local 1-425 says an approach of calmness needs to be taken on Mt. Polley’s short water term discharge permit.
Paul French, says all we are waiting for is Ministry approval from a statutory decision-maker.
“The thing that’s kind of frustrating for us, is that every time noise is made on the process or the permitting or the application it winds up causing the paperwork shuffle to re-trigger.”
French goes on to say that he does, however, understand what the City of Williams Lake was trying to achieve through Monday’s press conference.
“I talk to the Mayor quite regularly and I don’t think they’re out of sync,” he said.
“They might of overreacted but they’re concerned and have been since a year and a half ago when all this came to play of the problem out there.”
Also expressing a similar view of French is Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett who encouraged everyone on Monday to take a deep breath.
Last week, the City of Williams Lake sent a letter to Premier Christy Clark pressing the urgency of Mt. Polley’s short term water discharge permit receiving approval with Mayor Walt Cobb stating he is deeply concerned that 266 employees will be out of work if the permit is not approved in a timely manner, as Springer Pit continues to fill nearing its threshold of 1030 meters.
A decision on Mt Polley’s short term water permit which would discharge treated mine contact water from Springer Pit into Quesnel Lake is not expected until the end of this month.