The Premier of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, and Environment and Climate Change Minister Tracy Schmidt spoke before a crowd of Manitoba residents concerned about the future of their drinking water.
The decision made by Schmidt was based on the information and data provided by experts including the report done by the Clean Environment Commission (CEC) as well as consultation with impacted communities and First Nations, noted Kinew.
The CEC report identified a number of serious environmental concerns about this project, which would have extracted sand through aquifers that provide drinking water to 100,000 Manitobans, said the premier.
“We have a responsibility to ensure we are not endangering Manitobans’ drinking water,” said Schmidt. “This proposal failed to adequately consider long-term impacts including potential aquifer collapse. That’s why we made the decision to not issue a license for the Vivian sand extraction project.”
The CEC also heard from hundreds of Manitobans voicing their opposition to this project including the community of Springfield, local leaders, scientists and environmental advocacy groups, noted the minister.
Among the voices in opposition, WT discovered in CanWhite Sands – Silica Sand Extraction Project Environment Act Proposal – File No. 6119.00 Public Comments,
Received from Mark Wowchuk former employee of CanWhite Sands, Operations Manager in Manitoba:
I was the only full-time Manitoban employed in the project. From the literature that I have seen, I do not see any scientific validation to their unproven methodology, especially given the tonnage that CanWhite is expecting to extract. If a method is unsuccessful and proven so, why would the government allow a company to proceed with the chance of contaminating the aquifer and other local water supplies?
If overland flooding is to occur, I do not see what plan CanWhite has to mitigate this situation.
In 2022, the company, CanWhite Sands rebranded “to better align our product brand to domestic and global markets,” Brent Bullen, chief operating officer, said in a release.
CanWhite Sands originally was in the sand frack business in 2019.
According to Sio Silica’s website “silica sand is a key input product for renewable energy products.”
WT reached out to Sio Silica for comment but was unable to elicit a response as to their change of investment focus regarding the Manitoba project proposal.
Dennis LeNeveu, former research scientist for the now dissolved (due to the passing of Founder, Don Sullivan) What The Frack Manitoba, provided his opinion on the company’s new ‘green’ profile.
“They moved away from frack sand because the price collapsed,” LeNeveu said.
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