Coal exploration postponed
Canada Coal announces it will delay exploration activities near Grise Fiord
Myles Dolphin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 23, 2013
AUSUITTUQ/GRISE FIORD
Canada Coal's decision to postpone exploration near Grise Fiord for one year is positive, but it's not long enough, according to a senior Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) official from the community.
"We'd like to be given a lot more time to study the area," said QIA vice-president Larry Audlaluk, one day after Canada Coal made the announcement in a news release.
"They were able to give us at least 12 months but we really hope they'll have spoken to other groups by that time," Audlaluk added, referring to scientists and other groups offering information on the wildlife and environment of the Fosheim Peninsula, an area east of Eureka.
During Canada Coal's 2012 exploration program, the company discovered multiple high thermal coal deposits on Ellesmere Island and currently holds 59 active coal exploration licence blocks covering 1,769,539 acres of land.
The decision to wait another year before drilling - it was initially scheduled for April, 2014 - was brought on by discussions between the company and the community, with the latest meeting of the minds taking place in November.
Representatives of the hamlet council, Hunters and Trappers Organization and community lands and resources committee told Canada Coal they had been in talks with other groups and were just beginning to learn about the potential environmental impact that would result from exploration.
Audlaluk said the community itself isn't against development, and never has been, but certain pressures and concerns have arisen that simply didn't exist before.
"Our concerns seem to outweigh what Canada Coal wanted to do," he said. "We'd been trying to tell them that we needed time to breathe, and we wanted them to take time and do their homework. We don't know enough about the area to rush into saying, 'Go ahead and come explore the area.'"
A wide variety of wildlife is known to survive off the land in the region, including musk oxen, Peary caribou, Arctic wolves, Arctic foxes, lemmings, ptarmigan and polar bears.
The Peary caribou population has declined significantly in the last 50 years and is listed as endangered under the Species at Risk Act, according to the NWT Species at Risk website.
Audlaluk said a biologist also told the community the development would affect the Red Knot bird population, which is close to being considered endangered.
A joint working group between the community, the company and other regulatory boards has been created in the hopes they can co-operate to find ways to make the project go forward.
The group will meet regularly over the next year, according to Canada Coal president and CEO Braam Jonker.
"This is a very positive development between the company and the community and we are looking forward to working with all stakeholders to move this project forward," Jonker stated in the release.
As a result, the company has withdrawn its project application submitted to the Nunavut Impact Review Board but was granted an expiry date extension of one year on their existing licences, so they can conduct further consultations.
