Clean Environment Commission gets earful in Anola

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This article was published 20/03/2023 (825 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There was no shortage of presentations to the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission (CEC) in Anola on March 11, where more than 30 people signed up to comment on a controversial proposed silica sand mining operation at a public hearing attended by more than 100 people.

A sitting MLA and municipal officials from the RMs of Ste Anne, Tache, and Reynolds were among those who filed into the Anola Community Club on Saturday for the second of three dedicated sessions reserved for presentations by the general public.

The third and final week of CEC technical hearings into Sio Silica’s proposed borehole slurry extraction method concluded last Thursday, March 16, in Beausejour.

The CEC will continue to accept written submissions until Friday, March 24. Panel members then have 90 days to make recommendations to Kevin Klein, Manitoba’s climate and environment minister, about whether to license the mining activity.

Unlike a similar forum in Steinbach last week, where three-quarters of the allotted time went unused, Anola’s hearing was well-attended. Vehicles filled the community club’s parking lot and lined the shoulder of Highway 15.

So many people signed up to speak that the CEC panel limited presentations to 10 minutes, rather than the usual 15, and trimmed its one-hour lunch break to 30 minutes.

Fifteen people—ranging in age from 12 to 95—made it to the microphone before lunch. Eleven voiced opposition to the project while four spoke in favour of it.

Varying levels of applause following each presentation suggested most attendees opposed Sio’s plans to extract a lucrative silica deposit located deep underground near the aquifer that supplies the Southeast with drinking water.

Two main viewpoints emerged at the hearing: those who said the project wasn’t worth the environmental risk, and those who say it will supercharge Manitoba’s green energy economy.

Sio executives—chief executive officer Feisal Somji, chief operating officer Brent Bullen, and vice-president of operations Laura Weedon—listened quietly to the presentations. CEC chair Jay Doering said company officials weren’t required to respond to any comments made at the hearing.

RM of Springfield resident Gloria Romaniuk said Sio’s mining method has the potential to cause a drinking water catastrophe on par with the 2000 E. coli outbreak in Walkerton, Ont. that killed seven people and sickened many more.

“This is not far removed from what we’re talking about here today,” Romaniuk said.

She said no company has the right to endanger the aquifer that supplies homes, farms, businesses, and hospitals with drinking water.

“People have the right to safe water and air. No one owns the water and air because we all own the water and air.”

Romaniuk said the public will bear the risks while the company will reap the profits.

“Sio Silica has the burden to guarantee our safety,” she said. “Money cannot pay to replace clean air and clean water.”

Five members of the Mustard family, whose property backs onto Sio’s proposed processing plant site, took turns voicing their opposition to the project.

“It is no neighbour anybody wants,” said Georgina Mustard, a mother of eight whose voice cracked with emotion as she delivered her prepared remarks. She said she worried about noise, dust, and vibrations, and bright lights emanating from the processing plant.

Rachel Mustard-Leonard also bemoaned the loss of privacy and quietude in Vivian if an industrial mining operation sets up there. She said the region’s high-quality drinking water would be the envy of many countries and shouldn’t be jeopardized.

“It will only take one misstep and it will be gone,” she said.

Former NDP MLA Al Mackling, a minister of natural resources under former premier Howard Pawley, called Sio’s proposal “a terrible threat to a storehouse of our most important resource—water.”

Mackling said it would be easy for the company to declare bankruptcy and disappear if its operations fail.

“They’ll be gambling on a possible environmental disaster,” Mackling added. “We should refuse to play along in their game.”

Liberal MLA Jon Gerrard noted water is one of the four foundational ‘pillars’ of the Manitoba government’s Climate and Green Plan.

“We’re not talking about any aquifer,” Gerrard said. “We’re talking about an aquifer with some of the best water quality in the world.”

Gerrard was one of several presenters who questioned the viability of Sio’s “room and pillar” mining method, in which columns of untouched material are left behind to hold up the ground above extracted areas. Gerrard said it is a method intended for hard materials like potash, not soft materials like sand.

Gerrard urged the CEC to calculate the short-term cleanup cost and long-term replacement cost if the aquifer is contaminated. He also criticized the government for failing to heed an earlier CEC recommendation to define a “sustainable withdrawal limit” for the Southeast’s aquifer.

Springfield resident Darryl Speer, a critic of Sio, said he was growing weary of “duelling experts” who haven’t been able to establish that Sio’s proposal is safe. Speer also took aim at Sio’s public relations tagline, “facts matter,” calling it “media propaganda.”

“These facts aren’t necessarily facts you can depend on or take to the bank,” he said. “They are in need of review and to be challenged.”

Vivian-area resident Richard Symbol said he’s worried property values in the hamlet will plummet if Sio begins operations.

Springfield resident Carolyn White urged the CEC to halt the project. She also conceded the complex and technical nature of the project has made it hard for laypeople to assess.

“Of course we want more jobs. Of course we want more industry. But our water resources are finite,” White said.

A presenter who identified herself as Medicine Eagle Woman told Sio executives they must consult at least five Indigenous communities that could be affected by the company’s activities.

Speaking in favour of the project was Brent Belluk, a Springfield resident who works for Sio, who made an environmental case for the company’s proposal.

“High-purity silica is a key ingredient in the movement toward green energy sources,” Belluk said. “Solar-powered energy can help reduce our dependence on oil.”

Belluk said the CEC should ensure the extraction is done responsibly, rather than halt it entirely.

Other supporters of Sio included Marcel Benjamin of Benjamin Mechanical Inc., a Ste Anne-based manufacturer of solar panel racking.

“We’re very happy and excited to see the green energy sector coming into Manitoba,” said Benjamin.

Making solar panels locally rather than importing them from China would be “huge,” he added.

Pauly Kleinsasser, a member of a Hutterite Colony located five miles from Vivian, expressed cautious optimism rooted in his faith tradition.

“Do we have concerns? Absolutely we have concerns. But we have a lot of trust and faith in our Creator, which is God,” he said. “We are in favour if it’s all carefully and responsibly done.”