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Jumbo EA certificate ruled expired
Environment Minister Mary Polak has determined that the Jumbo Glacier Resort project has not been substantially started.
As a result, the environmental assessment certificate has expired and Glacier Resorts Ltd. cannot proceed with developing this project unless a new certificate is obtained, Polak stated this afternoon (June 18).
The minister was required to make a determination because the Environmental Assessment Act requires that all approved projects must be substantially started within the time limit set out in the certificate or the certificate expires.
Documentation related to the minister’s decision can be found at HERE.
Substantially started decisions are considered on a case-by-case basis.
In making her decision, the minister focused on the physical activities that had taken place at the project site. In this case, the minister determined that the physical activities undertaken on the various components did not meet the threshold of a substantially started project.
In making her determination, the minister considered:
* Submissions from Glacier Resorts Ltd., the Ktunaxa Nation Council and the Shuswap Indian Band;
* Guidance from the court decision in Taku River Tlingit First Nation v. British Columbia;
* The Environmental Assessment Office’s substantially started determination report; and
* Her own observations from a visit to the Jumbo Glacier Resort project site on Oct. 11, 2014.
The minister considered information submitted by the Ktunaxa Nation Council and the Shuswap Indian Band because the project is located in their asserted traditional territories.
The proposed project is a year-round ski resort development in the Jumbo Creek Valley, 55 kilometres west of Invermere. At full build out the proposed resort would accommodate 6,250 people and offer three-seasons of skiing on nearby glaciers.
The province issued an environmental assessment certificate for the project on Oct. 12, 2004.
As a result of an extension issued in 2009, the expiry date of the certificate was Oct. 12, 2014.
The Jumbo Resort process has been ongoing since 1990/91.
“We are overjoyed with the province’s decision,” said Robyn Duncan of Wildsight. “This is the only reasonable outcome for this beleaguered project.”
More will be reported on this later.
Lead image: The flooring of a day lodge poured last fall (partly in an avalanche zone) at the Glacier Resort Ltd. village site, was not substantial enough infrastructure for the company to retain its Environmental Assessment Certificate.
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