ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — In the wee hours of Friday morning, Mike Cooze tied himself to a gate.
The gate led to an access road for a proposed mining exploration site near the Avalon Wilderness Reserve.
It was a desperate attempt to convince government to demand an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the road’s construction.
Cooze is concerned the Big Triangle Pond Mineral Exploration Access Road is damaging the nearby wilderness area, and said it’s a clear case of project splitting. Cooze said mining companies are experts at applying for just a small part of a mining project — in this case, an access road — in order to make it easier to eventually get the full project approved.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police were called to remove Cooze from the gate. Cooze said he went peacefully with police and wasn’t charged, but admits he’ll likely do it again.
“I thought this project would have never, ever gone ahead,” he told The Telegram.
“I thought good sense, good judgement, government, elected officials — I said, ‘No, they’re not going to put a gold mine that uses cyanide and tailings ponds in among this area.’”
Cooze said it’s a pristine wilderness area that’s also near the Hawke Hills Ecological Reserve — established to protect arctic alpine plants and rare lichens — and the Salmonier Nature Park.
“But about 2 1/2 months ago, I was driving down the Trans-Canada Highway and there were excavators there and there was a road started. So, I went in and they told me they were putting in an 11-kilometre access road for the Eagleridge International mining project.
“That was 2 1/2 months ago, and I’ve been consumed by it ever since. I made a stand there that day that I will shut this project down.”
Access road history
The EIS that Cooze is seeking has a lengthy history.
Eagleridge International Inc. filed for the environmental assessment of the proposed Big Triangle Pond Mineral Exploration Access Road on Sept. 16, 2013.
The project was to construct a road to provide access to mineral exploration activity in the area of Salmonier Line.
The access road was released with conditions from environmental assessment in October 2014.
In 2015, the then-Minister overturned the decision to release the project and determined that an EIS was required.
Eagleridge initiated a judicial review when it disagreed with the decision. On Aug. 30, 2018, the verdict quashed the decision for an EIS and reinstated the October 2014 decision to release the project from further assessment.
In an emailed statement to The Telegram on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment wrote that numerous conditions were applied to the release of the project “to ensure the environment is protected.”
Mine would require separate assessment
On Monday last week, Cooze met with provincial Environment Minister Graham Letto to discuss his concerns.
“We demanded at that meeting that he stop the project immediately, go back on the court decision for a full judicial review, and enforce an environmental impact statement. I had a lawyer there on my dime … that’s how passionately I take this,” said Cooze.
Cooze said he asked multiple questions during the meeting, to which he said the responses were frequently, “I don’t know” or “You can check that out.”
The Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment addressed that meeting in its email to The Telegram.
“We have assured Mr. Cooze that the department takes the conditions of release seriously, and we will be diligent in ensuring they are upheld,” the department’s statement reads.
“We have also reiterated that the environmental assessment regulations would require that any subsequent development of the area, such as a mine, undergo a separate environmental assessment.”
Protest planned
Cooze runs a Facebook group called ‘STOP the Eagleridge Gold Mine near the Avalon Wilderness.’
He says he’s been in touch with other groups who are also concerned about protecting the area, such as the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, NatureNL, and the Salmonoid Association of Eastern Newfoundland.
The NDP has also expressed concern. In a news release issued on Friday, leader Gerry Rogers called it “extremely troubling” that the road is being built without a full EIS.
NDP environment critic Lorraine Michael was also quoted in the release, saying the government has a responsibility to protect the area.
“We are calling on government to do the right thing environmentally — not just meet the letter of the law,” Michael was quoted saying.
“The NDP Caucus says this may not be just about a road for exploration, but also about developing a gold mine. If so, it could be a case of project-splitting, wherein someone applies for only part of a much bigger project just to get their foot in the door,” reads the release.
Cooze is now organizing a protest for noon on Thursday, Jan. 31, at the steps of the Confederation Building.
Twitter: @juanitamercer_
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