Time to revoke CPS’s frac-sand licence

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/02/2020 (2063 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IN October of 2018, I was asked by a few folks from Hollow Water First Nation to provide them with any information I could find on frac-sand mining, as an Alberta-based company was in the final stages of development planning for a proposed frac-sand mine and processing facility to be operated adjacent to their reserve.

The information I was able to provide raised some serious issues that needed to be addressed immediately, and by December 2018, a few folks, including myself and a member of Hollow Water First Nation, started up What The Frack Manitoba to bring awareness about the serious issues and impacts associated with frac-sand mining.

This was immediately followed up in February 2019 with the establishment of Camp Morning Star by a number of community members from Hollow Water First Nation. The camp was erected on the only community-use trapline and the location of proposed frac-sand mine.

As the one-year anniversary of Camp Morning Star passes, the company, Canadian Premium Sand (CPS), after bulldozing the only community-use trapline to make way for its proposed frac-sand mine, announced on Feb. 4 that it will does not intend to proceed to the development phase of the mine until at least 2022.

CPS stated it was due to a downturn in the economic conditions in the frac-sand industry in North America.

CPS, after much public concern about the proposed frac-sand mine and with the elected leadership in Hollow Water First Nation waiving the community’s Section 35 rights for use of the community trapline, received an Environment Act licence from the government of Manitoba in May 2019. The licence included 98 conditions that CPS had to meet prior to proceeding to the production phase of the proposed mine and processing facility.

The licence is only valid for a period of three years from the date it was issued, and if for some reason CPS is unable to proceed to the production phase in the three-year time frame, the licence could be revoked.

In addition, if CPS is unable to meet the required 98 conditions in its licence, or if the company makes significant alterations to its original plans, the licence could be revoked by the government. This would then require CPS to submit a new Environment Act proposal to the province of Manitoba for approval of a new licence.

What The Frack Manitoba is calling upon the province to now take the necessary steps to revoke the licence for CPS, as the three revocation conditions contained in its licence have now been met.

If, as stated in its Feb. 4 press release, CPS will no longer proceed to the production phase until sometime in 2022, if at all, this is the first condition for revocation in the licence.

As early as October 2019, CPS stated in a released management discussion document that significant changes to the original plan for the frac-sand mine and processing facility were forthcoming. These significant changes were again mentioned by CPS in its February press release. These significant alterations to the original plan meet the second revocation term.

Finally, Camp Morning Star and What The Frack Manitoba are unaware that CPS has fulfilled any of the 98 conditions in its licence. Given that the company does not even contemplate getting to the production phase of the proposed mine until after the licence expires, CPS is unlikely to be motivated to meet those conditions within the three-year time frame mandated in the licence. This meets the third condition for revocation.

CPS has, for far too long, made many big promises to not only the government of Manitoba, but to local communities, to its shareholders and potential investors, and frankly, it seems unlikely that CPS will ever be able to deliver on them.

So it is now high time that the government of Manitoba do the right thing and use its authority to revoke CPS’s licence and ask the company to submit a new Environment Act proposal for approval for a new licence, if and when CPS is ready to proceed with its proposed frac-sand mine.

Don Sullivan is a landscape photographer, former director of the Boreal Forest Network and served as special adviser to the government of Manitoba on the Pimachiowin Aki UNESCO World Heritage site portfolio. He is a research affiliate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba and a Queen Golden Jubilee medal recipient.