Business
Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. Announces BC Supreme Court Sets Aside Negative Government Decision
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 11, 2013) - Pacific Booker Minerals In...
About this update from Pacific Booker Minerals Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. Announces BC Supreme Court Sets Aside Negative Government DecisionVancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 11, 2013) - Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. (TSXV: BKM) (NYSE MKT: PBM) is pleased to \nprovide more information about its successful effort to set aside the decision \nmade last year not to issue an Environmental Assessment Certificate (\"EAC\") for \nits proposed Morrison Copper/Gold Mine. \nThe court hearing took place in the Supreme Court of British \nColumbia from August 7 to 9, 2013 in Vancouver, and a 55 page written decision \nwas released on December 9, 2013. \nIn his decision, Justice Affleck found the administrative \nprocess which was followed, including the decision of the previous Minister of \nEnvironment and the previous Minister of Energy & Mines, \"failed to comport \nwith the requirements of procedural fairness\". In reaching this conclusion, \nJustice Affleck rejected arguments by the government's lawyer that common law \nrules of procedural fairness do not apply to the environmental assessment \nprocess. \nThe Court ordered that the Ministers' decision be quashed and \nset aside, and ordered that the Company's application for an environmental \ncertificate be remitted to the current Ministers for reconsideration. This time, \nthe Company and interveners will be entitled to be provided with a copy of the \nrecommendations, if any, sent to the Ministers and will be entitled to provide \nwritten response to the recommendations in advance of a further decision. \nThe Company spent almost 10 years, and approximately $10 \nmillion, working its way through the environmental assessment process. \nEnvironmental Assessment Office (EAO) completed a 206-page comprehensive \nassessment report in August, 2012 and concluded that based upon successful \nimplementation of mitigation measures and legally-binding conditions, the EAO is \nsatisfied that no direct or indirect significant adverse effects are predicted \nor expected from the proposed Project. The report also concluded that the First \nNations consultation process was \"carried out in good faith,\" was \"appropriate \nand reasonable in the circumstances,\" and was sufficient to \"maintain the honour \nof the Crown.\" \nIn addition, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency \n(CEAA) produced a draft Comprehensive ...