Baffinland proposes shorter shipping season
Financial bottom line and community concerns aligned, says company as it pushes for Mary River approval
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, December 19, 2016
MITTIMATALIK/POND INLET
Pond Inlet's mayor is again calling on the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) to move along with its assessment of Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.'s Mary River Phase 2 proposal.
Baffinland is proposing to replace the existing tote road, pictured here, with a 110-kilometre railway from the mine site to Milne Inlet in its Mary River Phase 2. - photo courtesy of Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. |
Mayor Charlie Inuarak's early-December letter to the board came following Baffinland's Nov. 30 revision of its proposed shipping season. The company also visited five communities to discuss the changes.
The newest revision suggests that Baffinland has heard community concerns about shipping ore 10 months of the year with icebreaking - a point of contention that saw the Nunavut Planning Commission reject Phase 2 and the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs grant Baffinland an exemption, passing the proposal on to NIRB.
"In response to community input, Baffinland will make every effort to ship ore during the open water season and will seek approval to ship ore from July 1 to Dec. 31 only," stated Baffinland in its revised proposal.
"The Hamlet of Pond Inlet fully supports the above plan (otherwise known as Phase 2) as the plan for NIRB to evaluate for environmental and other assessments," states Inuarak his letter to NIRB, the second in as many months.
"We strongly recommend you do not make Baffinland start over in the review process. Any delay or restart in the process would be detrimental to the project and the community."
Inuarak is referring to the possibility that NIRB might send the project back to the Nunavut Planning Commission due to its proposal to build a 110 km railway to Milne Inlet from the mine site instead of using the existing tote road to transport ore to Milne Port.
But the World Wildlife Fund Canada objected in a news release Dec. 12.
"Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation's new plan to extend its Arctic shipping period to Dec. 31 and its expectation to ship during winter months 'if required' should not be permitted without a full review and public hearings," the organization stated.
"Currently, Baffinland is only allowed to ship from June to October; the extension has the potential to harm wildlife and habitat during what is a critical ice-formation period."
Baffinland's vice-president of sustainable development Todd Burlingame says the proposal is just that, a proposal.
"The five communities were engaged and workshops were held. It was very clear that in particular June was a very sensitive period of time," said Burlingame. "And we believed, that after two years of operational experience combined with community concerns, we can optimize shipping to take place primarily through the open water season. However, we need a little bit of leeway in the event of unforeseen issues. For example, if a ship loader broke down."
Burlingame also says the bottom line is aligned with community concerns because shipping in open water is cheaper than icebreaking.
"(The process) helps me drive the project to look at alternatives which, amazingly, end up being better, not just for the environment or to address community concerns but also to the bottom (line)," he said. "The up-front costs will be greater but the operational costs go down. Which is what we have to achieve."
In response to the World Wildlife Fund, Burlingame says, "Let's remember, we're not asking for approval. We're asking to be able to go through the approval process. Let's not forget that. The WWF says we need to go through a process. We agree. Just let us go through the process."
That process has been a long time coming. Baffinland initiated an approval process in October 2014. The non-conformity issue with the planning commission lasted until July 2015, when the federal minister bypassed the commission. In February 2016, NIRB asked the federal minister if the newly proposed railway was also part of the exemption. It took until late September for the minister to tell NIRB to decide for itself if the changes need review by the commission.
The impact review board had earlier indicated it would release its decision and next steps in early December. But on Dec. 15, environmental administrator Natasha Lear indicated in an e-mail that decision remained in the future.
"The NIRB expects to provide further direction in the coming weeks regarding the next steps and associated timelines."
