Environment Minister Peter Kent announced Wednesday the establishment of a federal panel to determine whether Vancouver-based Taseko Mines Ltd.'s proposed gold-copper mine in the B.C. interior will cause unjustified environmental harm.
A previous federal panel in 2010 rejected Taseko's proposal to build a gold-copper mine 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake.
The company's plan, which included the conversion of Fish Lake into a tailings dump, was rejected in a panel report described by then-environment minister Jim Prentice as scathing.
The company's new proposal, as vehemently opposed by First Nations in the region as the previous one, will move the tailings facility two kilometres upstream from Fish Lake.
The panel's requirement is to assess whether the project will cause "significant adverse environmental effects and, if so, assess any information it has received with respect to the justifiability of those significant adverse environmental effects," according to the terms of reference.
The panel will be established under the Harper government's accelerated environmental review process, and interveners will have a 30-day window to make presentations during the hearing process.
Taseko drew criticism recently following disclosure of the company's private appeal to Kent to exclude from consideration matters relating to native spirituality.
The terms of reference doesn't refer to, or exclude, native spirituality, though it does suggest the panel be open-minded when considering First Nations presentations.
"Community and aboriginal traditional knowledge will be considered in conducting the environmental assessment," states a news release, noting that such consideration is required under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
The three-person panel will be chaired by Bill Ross, a University of Calgary professor emeritus in the environmental design faculty and a veteran of numerous environmental reviews in Alberta and B.C.