According to the Canadian Press, federal changes to the environmental assessment process are creating confusion within a review panel examining a proposed gold-and-copper mine near Williams Lake, B.C.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act was rewritten last year by the Conservative government, amending the terms of reference for the panel considering the billion-dollar New Prosperity mine.
The panel now wants to know what, under the new rules, it should consider as "environmental effects"' of Taseko Mines' open-pit project, which is opposed by several First Nations in the area.
The New Prosperity mine has already been rejected once by an Environmental Assessment Agency panel but Taseko revised its plan and resubmitted it for another hearing.