Potential impact of sand mine not fully considered, report says

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This article was published 23/06/2023 (846 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The environment and safe drinking water are “paramount,” Environment and Climate Minister Kevin Klein says of recent report on the proposed Sio Silica sand extraction project in the Rural Municipality of Springfield.

More study is needed before deciding to give it the green light, he added.

“As government, we take the (Clean Environment Commission) report and recommendations very seriously,” he said at a news conference Friday. The minister said he had received the document a day earlier.

The province ordered the CEC in November 2021 to review the Environment Act proposal for Alberta-based Sio Silica’s project. It is envisioned to last for 24 years or more, and generate nearly 10,000 sand extraction wells in the RM east of Winnipeg.

The commission report says it can’t state with confidence the potential environmental impacts of the controversial mining proposal at Vivian have been fully considered or there’s an adequate plan for preventing or mitigating problems.

“In view of the potential effects on a water resource that serves tens of thousands of Manitoba homes, farms and businesses, getting it right at the beginning is essential before anything of this magnitude should proceed at full scale,” the report said.

The Tory government will review it and “ensure due diligence in the many next steps,” Klein said, which include a technical advisory committee going over the report’s hydrogeological, geotechnical and geochemical details, as well as further consultations with Indigenous communities.

“We are accountable to Manitobans. As the regulatory body, this is something each member of the environment and climate team takes seriously,” he said.

“We know Manitobans want reassurance from their government. We know Manitobans want to know their safety is our top priority. It is.

“We will adhere to a thorough due diligence process — as we do with every environmental licence application.”

He wouldn’t say if a decision would be made ahead of the Oct. 3 provincial election.

“The process will take as long as the process needs to take. Timing is not the issue,” Klein said.

Opponents of the project applauded the CEC report, saying it supports what they’ve been pushing all along: the provincial government should have required much more detailed information from Sio Silica from the get go.

“What we would have loved to have seen coming out of this commission’s report is them strongly recommending this project doesn’t go any further,” said area resident, and president of grassroots Our Line in the Sand, Tangi Bell. “You have to remember this is threatening us.

“As far as we’re concerned, this should never have been considered — this project to mine directly in a freshwater aquifer.”

The non-profit Manitoba Eco-Network issued a statement Friday calling for a halt to the proposal.

“It is time to put a stop to this shoddy, piece-meal approach to evaluating such a large and risky project that will impact thousands of people for decades to come,” it said. “This flawed process has created needless anxiety and even fear in Manitobans who cherish their rural communities and have been good stewards of the lands and waters.”

That anxiety and fear was evident at a Springfield council meeting June 19, as a municipal councillor reported she had been threatened in relation to how she’d vote on zoning amendment and development plan motions.

Residents and media were locked out of the building over safety concerns. Police were also in attendance.

Sio Silica, meanwhile, said it is “pleased to move forward with our project as it progresses to the next steps with the Environmental Approvals branch.”

In a prepared statement Friday, the company said it is committed to “continual research, data analysis, operational improvements, environmental monitoring and partnerships with Manitoba companies that can help us achieve our vision of being the world’s most environmentally-friendly producer of high-purity silica while protecting the environment for generations to come.”

If protecting the environment is a priority, Sio Silica’s sand extraction project should be dropped, Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said Friday.

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“It would certainly save people a lot of hassle if it were just nipped in the bud right now,” Lamont told reporters at the legislature, alleging the governing Tories released the CEC report as soon as it was received because they want the project approved while they remain in office.

The NDP also called on the PCs to commit to not making any final decision on the project before Manitobans go to the polls to choose the next government.

“The CEC’s ruling makes it clear there are legitimate concerns about the impacts of this project on the drinking water of many people in the Eastman region,” environment and climate critic Mark Wasyliw said in a prepared statement.

“When it comes to something so important to the health of kids and families, we have to take the time to get it right.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

CEC Report on the Vivian Sand Extraction Project

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.