— Photo courtesy Conuma Coal
According to reports in both Energetic City (Fort St. John) newspaper and Business in Vancouver paper, “The Environmental Office has told Conuma Coal Resources Limited that they are to cease transporting coal by truck since they have broken Condition 1 of the coal certificate they were issued.”
On December 13, 2016, the existing certificate was amended to name Conuma Coal Resources Limited as the Certificate Holder.
BC’s Environmental Assessment office issued the Enforcement Order on July 5, 2017 which says…..
“Following a complaint from a member of the public, the undersigned conducted an inspection of the Project against the requirements of Certificate Condition 1 and has determined that Conuma Coal (Certificate Holder) was not compliant with Condition 1 of the Certificate due to a failure to operate the Project as described in Schedule A of the Certificate. Schedule A indicates that coal from the Wolverine Mine be transported by rail from the loadout facility adjacent to the Wolverine Mine site. The trucks have been traveling north on Highway 29 to the Town of Chetwynd and then west on Highway 97 to the Willow Creek Forest Service Road for a distance of approximately 150 kilometres.”
The Environmental Assessment Office has issued the following requirements to Conuma Coal Resources:
Immediately upon receipt of this Order, cease hauling of coal by truck from the project
Not resume hauling coal from the Project unless it is by rail through the coal load out facility at the Project site, as authorized by the Certificate, or the Certificate is otherwise amended to authorize another method of transport
According to the Enforcement Order, the Certificate Holder (Conuma Coal Resources) has indicated that between 50 and 100 coal truckloads have been hauling daily from the Wolverine Mine site to the Willow Creek loadout for some four months now.
The CN Rail spur-line was closed and de-commissioned back in 2014, further reports suggest that the rail line could re-activated by the end of August. Conuma Coal has told the press that they will stockpile the coal until it can be shipped by rail again.
Source: Energetic City (Fort St. John) newspaper and Business in Vancouver
