Action Alert
Environmental Review Office Recommends Approval of Wind River Winter Road
Letters needed before Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008
Yukon Government Decision Puts Future of the Wind River Wilderness at Risk
Click here for background information on this continuing alert.
Cash Minerals plans to bulldoze winter roads down the Wind River valley and up two of its tributary creeks to access 4 blocks of uranium mining claims.
Photo by Fritz Mueller
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A recent decision by the Mayo office of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board (YESAB) may clear the way for Cash Minerals of Vancouver to proceed with advanced uranium mining exploration in the Three Rivers watersheds of northern Yukon. In October, 2007 the company applied for a land use permit to bulldoze 178km of winter roads along the Wind River to access its blocks of uranium claims. A final decision on the YESAB recommendation to approve the winter road will be made by the "Decision Body" within the Yukon Department of Energy, Mines and Resources on January 22.
During the public review, an unprecedented number of submissions received from the public, non-government and tourism industry organizations, opposed the project outright. The Wind River is in the heart of the Three Rivers region of the Yukon, known internationally for its spectacular mountains, wildlife and wild rivers. CPAWS-Yukon proposes a network of protected areas and conservation lands in these watersheds. YESAB recommends road development in advance of a land use or conservation plan for the region.
The YESAB office determined that the Wind River road project will have significant adverse environmental and socio-economic effects, but asserts that these effects can be mitigated with 46 terms and conditions that would be part of the land use permit. Most of the close to 200 public submissions to the Board opposed the project on the basis of its considerable impacts on wilderness values, wildlife and other land users, such as wilderness tourism operators and guide-outfitters. YESAB ignored those comments, stating that 80% of the submissions were beyond the scope of assessment.
The YESAB failure to consider widespread public concern on the broad impacts of the proposed winter road reveals a serious flaw in this environmental review process. Since the Mayo office of YESAB chose to interpret the scope of work in an extremely narrow way, they side-stepped most of the key areas of public opposition, undermining the integrity and credibility of the review.
The YESAB report also suggests that many of the public concerns are government policy issues, as indeed they are! CPAWS argued strongly that industrial development permits should not be issued in the Peel watershed until a land use plan is completed. Since the environmental review failed to adequately consider public comments, the Yukon government needs to hear those concerns directly.
What You Can Do
We urge you to write to the Premier and Minister of Environment, Dennis Fentie and Minister of Energy Mines and Resources, Archie Lang. Say you are opposed to the Wind River Winter Road project, and that a land use and protected areas plan should be completed before any industrial roads are contemplated.
dennis.fentie@gov.yk.ca
archie.lang@gov.yk.ca
The Decision Body, located in the department of Energy Mines and Resources, is required to produce a decision document by January 22nd - next Tuesday.
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