Opposition persists to proposed sand mining project in southeastern Manitoba

Widespread opposition persists in southeastern Manitoba to an Alberta-based company's proposed plan to mine for pure silica sand in the rural municipality of Springfield, two local councillors say.

Springfield councillors Mark Miller and Andy Kuczynski are leading calls to stop Sio Silica from drilling beneath an aquifer that supplies drinking water to several communities.

The two commissioned a telephone survey that they say suggests overwhelming opposition to the proposal. They released the results of that survey at a Tuesday news conference.

"This is a very positive day because I challenge anyone to tell me when a referendum, a poll or any kind of plebiscite had a resounding … 96.4 per cent of people [who] said no," Miller told the crowd in front of the RM council building in Oakbank, Man.

However, legal counsel for Sio Silica suggests the survey results aren't reliable and the survey was done outside the proper municipal channels.

The survey is the latest development in an ongoing debate over Sio Silica, which wants to drill up to 7,700 wells to remove high-quality sand from an aquifer about 50 metres underground. Pure silica sand can be used in the fabrication of solar panels, semiconductors and new batteries, among other things. 

There are concerns of widespread impacts to local drinking water in the event of contamination. The company has said the project won't harm the environment.

Miller's previous motion for a council-sanctioned referendum this summer was never voted on. He said he and Kuczynski decided against introducing it as a formal resolution after a straw poll of their peers on council left them with the impression it could be defeated. 

Instead, they decided to do a survey on their own.

They raised money through an online fundraiser to contract a company that set up an automated yes/no style telephone survey, which invited people to phone in to indicate whether or not they supported the project. 

Two groups opposed to the mining plans — Save Our Water and Springfield Taxpayer Rights Corp — were involved in the survey.

Between Aug. 13 and Sept. 18 they encouraged locals, through highway billboards and other campaigns, to call in.

The survey did not exclude callers from outside the municipality, though it did eliminate duplicate callers, Miller said.

Four scrutineers then compiled and reviewed the data. 

Miller and Kuczynski say it drew roughly 5,000 responses, about 95 per cent of which were against the company's plan.

Jill Overall was one of the scrutineers. The RM resident of 35 years responded "no" to the mining plans in the phone survey, saying she believes it's too risky.

Overall also said she doesn't feel heard by Springfield council, and hopes politicians in the provincial government are listening.

"This referendum gave [me] a small voice, and there's 5,000 other voices," she said.

"If you wreck my water, that's one thing, but if you wreck the rural water of all the farmers, all the producers — wow, you've wrecked a lot. You've destroyed people's lives, and how are they going to compensate people?"

Sio Silica's lawyer, James A. Mercury, said the survey "was apparently organized and administered without the approval or oversight of the municipality."

"The results are skewed and totally unreliable," he said in a statement to CBC News.

Proposal 'scares me to death': resident

The future of the project rests in the hands of whichever MLA inherits the environment and climate file after the Oct. 3 provincial election.

That position was most recently held by Kevin Klein, who is running for re-election in Kirkfield Park. He said in June that he wasn't in a rush to make a decision.

The Clean Environment Commission — the provincial environmental regulator — released a report this summer suggesting though there could be merit to Sio Silica's plan, it wasn't confident "the level of risk posed to an essential source of drinking water for the region has been adequately defined."

That followed a council meeting in June over a resolution for the RM to enter into a development agreement with Sio Silica to build a silica sand processing plant in Vivian, Man.

That motion was defeated, with Miller and Kuczynski voting against and two other council members — including Mayor Patrick Therrien — in favour. One councillor abstained.

CBC News requested a response from Mayor Therrien but did not immediately hear back.

Georgina Mustard, whose property is next to the proposed processing plant site, says there "has been no proof to date that our water will be safe" if it goes ahead.

"It scares me to death to think that this project could go on, because what we have envisioned for our family and our kids and their future could be all for nothing," she said.

Miller said next steps include sharing the survey results with Springfield council, as well as leaders and candidates from the different provincial parties.

"Every provincial candidate in southeastern Manitoba better have their ears open," he said.

"If they don't reflect and respect the opinion of people in our community, then are they serving a different purpose? Do they have a different agenda? That's the question we have to ask."