Quote:
Originally Posted by bomberjet
February 16, 2024
MANITOBA GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES VIVIAN SAND PROPOSAL WILL NOT MOVE FORWARD
– – –
Serious Environmental Concerns Outweigh Uncertain Economic Benefit: Kinew
The Manitoba government has decided to not issue an environmental licence for the Vivian sand extraction project in the Rural Municipality of Springfield, Premier Wab Kinew and Environment and Climate Change Minister Tracy Schmidt announced today.
“Our government will always put the health and safety of Manitobans first, and this includes ensuring communities have safe, clean drinking water,” said Kinew. “After taking the time and doing our due diligence, our government has come to the decision that the risks of this proposal outweigh any potential benefits.”
The decision made by Schmidt was based on the information and data provided by experts including the report done by the Clean Environment Commission (CEC) as well as consultation with impacted communities and First Nations, noted Kinew. The CEC report identified a number of serious environmental concerns about this project, which would have extracted sand through aquifers that provide drinking water to 100,000 Manitobans, said the premier.
“We have a responsibility to ensure we are not endangering Manitobans’ drinking water,” said Schmidt. “This proposal failed to adequately consider long-term impacts including potential aquifer collapse. That’s why we made the decision to not issue a license for the Vivian sand extraction project.”
The CEC also heard from hundreds of Manitobans voicing their opposition to this project including the community of Springfield, local leaders, scientists and environmental advocacy groups, noted the minister.
https://news.gov.mb.ca/news/?archive=&item=62000 |
Quote:
Originally Posted by pspeid
I've been thinking about the history of this proposed project. I remember it was first announced with big, big, BIG potential for the province, and I was quite enthused with the idea. Money's going to flow in to our coffers, no more "Mr. Have-Not", etc. etc. etc. It almost seemed too good to be true; finally Manitoba had a resource that would make it rich, end there's lots of it. Then it was reported that there were concerns about water quality for, maybe, a few hundred people. Complainers who couldn't see the "big picture" I thought. Then the company started to throw around some threats about the consequences if the project wasn't green lighted. Weird. Why play hardball if the proposal was so good? THEN the election, and the attempt by the outgoing government to sneak in the approval while in caretaker mode. The more I heard about the project, the fishier it smelled. Now that it hasn't been approved, I feel we dodged a bullet. FactaNV made a good point. the profits most likely would have ended up in the pockets of the Alberta company running the operation, and any mess left behind would have been ours.
|
Thank you for your kind words. I am of proud Ukrainian farmer stock from Springfield. We still have the farm and it's been run by our family for 7 generations. I love the land and the woods, streams and fields that surrounded our farm. When I learned about this project I was in the same boat, I thought it'd be great, lots of new money and jobs for our RM. But I soon learned they planned on using an unproven technique that would drill through two aquifers, potentially contaminating both aquifers and that doing so could and probably would introduce shale particulate (and the arsenic and lead that go with it) into the second, cleaner aquifer. Nevermind their plan to install tailings ponds uphill of the Brokenhead River and the sinkholes that were expected to ravage the Vivian area by drilling a thousand plus wells.
It became an easy choice for me at that point. The water and nature of SE MB was not worth making Albertans rich, especially with corporate AB's record of leaving the public holding the remediation bag when shit goes wrong. They also tried green washing their company by changing their name and saying the silica was for solar glass. Originally, it was supposed to be for fracking...lovely people at Sio Silica, who have lied to and condescended the locals since the start. I'm glad our province values people over profit unlike our neighbours to the West, especially with the possible destruction of 100,000+ people's water supply on the line.
Sorry for the wall of text all, I love my land and the people I grew up around. When I can afford it, I intend to move back to the farm and raise my children how I was raised and the fact these jokers seemed to have zero problem jeopardizing our water and environment really rubbed me the wrong way.