New Flathead Watershed Area Conservation Act
This new Bill, currently in 3rd reading, restricts mining and oil and gas activity in the Flathead watershed area, prohibits disposition of Crown land in that area, designates coal land in that area as a coal land reserve and establishes a mineral reserve on that area. The Bill is expected to come into force shortly, on Royal Assent.

Mineral Explorers Support Fair Settlement to Address Consequences of the Uranium Exploration Ban in British Columbia
In October, the Association for Mineral Exploration BC (AME BC) expressed its strong support of the BC government's recent $30 million out-of-court settlement with Boss Power Corp and its move to resolve the consequences of the politically driven ban on uranium and thorium exploration in British Columbia.

"While late in the proceedings, we appreciate the provincial government's clear signal and commitment to follow well established permitting laws and to take into account fair market value when mineral explorers become prohibited from working on their mineral tenure and reasonable compensation is therefore required," said Gavin C. Dirom, President & CEO of AME BC. "Fundamentally, we believe the ban on uranium and thorium exploration is an unsound public policy based on very little science and enacted without due process or public consultation. We hope to bring balance to the issue by working with government and the public to increase the understanding of the permitting process and geoscience through wider education and outreach. Ultimately, this should increase certainty about where responsible mineral exploration and development are permitted, restore the public's and industry's confidence and attract investment to the benefit of all British Columbians." View the full news release by AMEBC.

Changes to Forest Act, Foresters Act and More
Bill 6, Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Statutes Amendment Act, 2011, proposes a number of substantive changes. The Bill achieved 3rd reading at the time of this release. The intent of this new legislation is to make it easier for compliance and enforcement officers to hold offenders accountable for violating natural resource legislation.

Proposed amendments under the Forest Act will:

• Extend the tenure terms of a Master Licence to Cut to 10 years and a Free Use Permit to 5 years. These tenures, used by the energy and mines sectors to cut timber, will now have similar terms to tenures issued by the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Oil and Gas Commission.
• Allow woodlot owners to remove private land from their woodlots, at the discretion of the minister, to provide woodlot owners flexibility in managing their assets in changing economic times and to plan for retirement.
• Enable direct award of Fibre Supply Licences to Cut to access wood residue and debris to support the growing wood bioenergy sector.
• Ensure timely and accurate submission of information from timber cruises to calculate stumpage fees.

Proposed amendments to the Foresters Act will enable timber cruisers to be officially certified, to provide confidence that accurate information used to calculate stumpage is being collected. Timber cruising involves gathering data on the amount, type, grade and value of trees to be cut into timber in a particular cutblock.

Proposed amendments to the Resort Timber Administration Act will:

• Allow for a more coordinated approach to administering Crown timber within controlled recreation areas, such as ski hills, by ensuring Crown timber on private land can be dealt with under the Act.
• Reflect that the Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations is now the Minister responsible for the Act.

BC'S New Natural Resource Road Act Project
British Columbians are invited to comment on a policy project for better regulation of natural resource roads, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson and Minister of Energy and Mines Rich Coleman announced this month.

The Natural Resource Road Act Project aims to establish a single legislative framework for the use, construction, maintenance and management of resource roads. This simplified process will create certainty about rules and regulations, and provide consistency for all sectors and resource road users.

A discussion paper has been prepared to inform stakeholders and to encourage feedback on proposed principles and key policies for consideration. This discussion paper is available online here. Click here to read the full the government news release.

Contaminated Sites: EAB Directs Ministry of Environment to Issue Certificate of Compliance
In a recent decision, the BC Environmental Appeal Board ("EAB") directed the Ministry of Environment to issue a Certificate of Compliance ("COC") for a property that had been remediated and where the Ministry of Environment had refused to issue a COC because of the potential that the contamination had migrated to nearby properties. That is, the property owner did not have to investigate and remediate the nearby properties that may have been contaminated in order to obtain a COC. Click here to view the full article by Tony Crossman, published by Miller Thompson.