Water

Ramping up pressure on the federal government, native leaders on Thursday expressed fierce opposition to a proposed copper-gold mine in the British Columbia Interior and warned of violent consequences if the project is approved.

“Our people are willing and ready to defend our lands,” Tsilhqot'in Nation Chief Marilyn Baptiste said Thursday at a news conference in Ottawa. “As one of my elders had said when we were going through the panel hearings – she will be there on the road in her wheelchair. She will have her shotguns and she will not move.”

Ms. Baptiste said she and others will risk their lives to block the $800-million Prosperity project, which would destroy two lakes that hold about 90,000 rainbow trout, a food source for local bands, and replace them with an artificial lake that would have far fewer fish.

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EDMONTON — Alberta's environment minister disputed the conclusions of a controversial oilsands study Tuesday, saying it's likely that increased toxins in the Athabasca River are due to natural causes.

But Rob Renner admitted he hadn't read the paper and could point to no peer-reviewed data or studies to back up his assertion.

"My scientists are telling me that the amount of compounds that can be detected in the Athabasca River at this point in time are not a concern and are of insignificant levels," Renner said. "The fact remains that there are naturally occurring substances in the water. And if we had never set foot in the region those kinds of results would still be there."

Renner said the task ahead is to tease out what toxins in the river are from industrial development and what occur naturally from bitumen seeping into the river.... Read more »

Canada's rapidly expanding tar sands industry is causing the toxic pollution of its rivers, but the government of Alberta continues to deny there is a problem.... Read more »