After seven years, proponents behind a controversial proposal slated for Howe Sound can cross a major milestone off their list.
On Aug. 4, Burnco Rock Products announced it had submitted applications to federal and provincial regulators for environmental assessment certificates for a sand and gravel mine on Howe Sound, 22 kilometres southwest of Squamish.
The Burnco Aggregate Project would see approximately 16 million tonnes of sand and gravel extracted from 70 hectares of privately owned property in the Lower McNab Valley, over the 16-year life of the project.
The last seven years have been spent on independent scientific studies and getting input from government, First Nations, scientists and the public, according to Mike Powell CEO of Burnco.
“The conclusion of our exhaustive studies is that, with the application of design considerations and identified mitigation, no significant adverse effects will result,” Powell said in a company news release.
The results of the studies are within the applications to both the provincial Environmental Assessment Office and the federal Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, and also available for public viewing at Squamish Public Library.
The 45-day public comment period on the project runs from Aug. 15 to Sept. 28. An open house on the project will be held on Sept. 12 at the Squamish Adventure Centre at 4 p.m.
Gravel is a hot commodity, Powell said, and the proposed property is rich in it.
“You can’t build anything without gravel,” he said. “You also have to mine gravel, where the gravel is… this happens to be a pretty terrific deposit.”
Appetite for gravel
A major market for gravel is Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, Powell said. “Everywhere there’s a tower crane, there’s thousands and thousands of tons going into that market,” he said.
The company estimates 30 million tonnes of gravel per year are consumed in Metro Vancouver.
“It is a massive market,” Powell said.
Jobs
During construction the company estimates 80 person years of employment will be created.
“If it takes us a year and a half or two years to build it, then it is 40 full-time jobs over that time,” Powell said. During operations the project will employ 12 full-time employees. The hiring will be done locally, according to Powell.
Squamish Nation
The project is on privately owned land that is the traditional territory of the Squamish Nation.
The Nation has been in discussions with the provincial and federal governments as well as officials from Burnco since the early days of the proposal, according to Squamish Nation spokesperson Chris Lewis.
“The Squamish Nation takes very seriously any industrial development in its territory, particularly when a project is proposed in areas of significance,” Lewis told The Squamish Chief. “The project is located on a former Squamish village site called Kw’ech’tenm, meaning fish cutting place.”
The Squamish Nation is continuing to “rigorously assess” the Burnco proposal in order to understand how the project may impact aboriginal rights and title and other interests, Lewis added.
Opposition
Ruth Simons, executive director of The Future of Howe Sound Society, said the society has objected to this project since it was first proposed.
“This privately owned land is not zoned industrial and we do not support further industrialization in Howe Sound,” Simons said by email.
“Howe Sound gains nothing, only loses from this project short term and long term.The residents immediately to the east of the project have much to lose from the noise, dust and loss of quality of life and property values.”
Simons also said the project has no “social licence” to go ahead.
An online petition shows 2,310 signatures against the project.
Over the last few years, hundreds of people have participated in three Save Howe Sound flotilla events, Simons said, adding another public rally will soon be scheduled.
Squamish citizen scientist John Buchanan told The Squamish Chief that his data is more up to date than that being depended on by Burnco, in particular with regards to adult salmon in McNab Creek.
“They fail to identify that the ground water channel in the middle of their property is a major adult spawning area,” he said.
“The most alarming fact” for Buchanan is that the gravel mine could stop flows from the creek from going underground because of the elevation difference created by the mine’s long term effect, he said.
Addressing concerns
Powell said he fully understands the proposal is a big deal for those concerned about the health of Howe Sound.
“We understand it is not an entirely positive history,” he said. “The feedback from people who love the sound has been really helpful in helping us design the project and doing it in a way that makes it that much better. We just view ourselves as interim users... What we are doing is taking the landscape and making a lake out of it. We plan to be there through the project and then we are gone and we leave just a different landscape behind. ”
The portion of the property that contains the gravel is not that far above sea level so workers will hit fresh water fairly quickly once they dig below the surface, according to Powell.
To access the gravel, a floating clamshell dredge will reach down into the water, pull up the gravel, dump it onto a conveyor and run it through processing, he explained.
In terms of environmental concerns, Powell said the project will hook up to BC Hydro power lines already on the property so that equipment will be run by electricity rather than diesel generators.
“It is also quieter,” Powell said. “It is kind of a good neighbour thing.”
Also, because gravel destined for the Lower Mainland is currently accessed farther away, the overall environmental impact will be lessened by this new operation, Powell said.
“The barges are on the water, the tugboats are on the water for far longer today than they will be if we are drawing material from this McNab Valley operation,” he said.
As far as fish are concerned, Powell said there is no impact on the foreshore and the ocean itself, and asserted, “there’s no impact on McNab Creek.”
Currently there is a fish channel on the property that is not working properly, which the company will address by building “a better channel” in another spot on the property.
The new 770-metre channel will wind through the foreshore area.
“We care about these things,” Powell said. “We are a 104-year old business. We spent all that time building a reputation. It is still a family business and this isn’t going to be our last project either so we need to make sure we take care of these things on these sites.”
Burnco shipping vessels will cross potential Woodfibre LNG vessels, according to Burnco’s environmental applications, but Woodfibre officials are not worried.
“No concerns at this time. Looks very manageable. We look forward to further discussions,” said Jennifer Siddon, Woodfibre LNG’s communication manager.
Powell said if all goes according to plan with required approvals, detailed planning for the project would begin in March of 2017, with production starting 18 months later.
To comment on the project write to BurncoAggregateMine@ceaa-acee.gc.ca or send a letter by mail to Burnco Aggregate Mine Project, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, 410-701 West Georgia Street, Vancouver B.C., V7Y 1C6.
