B.C. government forced to defend uranium mining settlement
By Boundary Sentinel
Recently released court documents suggest the B.C. Liberal government may have overpaid millions of taxpayers’ money to settle a claim from Boss Power Corp. for their Beaverdell uranium mining project.
The documents, released to the New Democrats (NDP) and energy and mines critic John Horgan, show three independent evaluations on the valuation of the claim ranged from $5.6 million to Boss Power’s suggested $96 million. The Stephenson report, referred to in a house debate this week by Horgan, suggested a fair settlement of $8.7 million. This adds up to about $21 million of wasted money, claimed the New Democratic opposition.
A province-wide uranium mining ban was implemented on April 24, 2008, three days after mining company Boss Power applied for a notice of work permit. Their permit was not processed, despite a legal obligation to do so, after the chief inspector of mines was instructed not to move forward by the government.
Boss Power launched a claim against the province in 2009, and in October 2011 the Liberals settled with the company out of court for $30 million.
The NDP critic questioned the extraordinary cost of the settlement, and filed a freedom of information request for the government’s independent evaluations.
“This is incompetence and mismanagement at the highest levels,” said Horgan. “The Liberals could have settled this claim for as little as $4 million, but once Boss found out about the Liberals’ interference in the process, negotiations took a turn for the worse for taxpayers.
“British Columbians deserve to hear the Liberal government explain why they handed over an extra $21 million on the courthouse steps to avoid testifying in court.”
Minister for energy and mines, Hon. Rich Coleman, defended the settlement decision in legislature on Tuesday, Apr. 24.
“The fact of the matter is that after evaluations, after negotiations, our legal counsel gave us a recommendation that they would settle the claim on this basis, and that’s what we did,” said Coleman.
“The reality is that a mining company had made investment in the land base. They made the investment in the land base on the basis that they wanted to have a mine. Government changed direction… Our lawyers did the work and came up with the conclusion of what the settlement should be.”
The Blizzard uranium project, located near Beaverdell, B.C. about 50 kilometres south of Kelowna, was staked in the mid-1970’s and changed hands several times over the years.
NDP critic for the attorney general, Leonard Krog, didn’t accept Coleman’s defense of the settlement.
“But in fairness to Boss, their job was to try to get the best dollar they could. But the minister should know it was his job to pay a fair price that reflected real value. That’s defending the public interest,” said Krog. “Was the price so high because the Liberals didn’t want to have their embarrassment and be exposed in court for the bungling in the way they handled this file?”
The jabbing debate on the topic at legislature lasted over 20 minutes with loud interjections from both sides that were quelled by the speaker.
Local area residents had fought the mining of uranium in the Boundary area for many years with concerns for safety of wildlife, water supplies and overall environmental impact of uranium mining.
The 2003 and the 2007 B.C. Energy Plans do not permit the production of nuclear power in the province.
