End Of The Road For McClean Lake Opponents

End Of The Road For McClean Lake Opponents

Thursday, March 24, 2005 at 15:57

A group of environmentalists that just about forced the shutdown of a northern uranium mine a couple of years ago has suffered a major setback.

The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed the Inter-Church Uranium Committee’s appeal of an unfavourable court ruling last year.

In 2002, a Federal Court judge agreed with the ICUC that the McClean Lake uranium mine was operating without an up-to-date environmental assessment.

The judge ordered the mine to cease operations, but a stay of the ruling was granted later that year that kept the mine operational.

Last June, the Federal Court of Appeal struck down the original ruling.

AREVA officials say the mine was properly licenced, and maintain the original court decision was based only on a technicality created by a transition in environmental legislation.