Feds to probe Taku mine foes SEVERAL environmental organizations trying to block development of the Tulsequah Chief mine on the Taku River face a feder- al probe of their charitable tax status, says Skeena MP Mike Scott. The Reformer said Friday the national revenue minis- ter has promised to look into ‘his. allegations that a campaign against the pro- posed Redfem Resources mine is largely financed by American family and corpo- ‘rate trusts. Scott says Canadian en- vironmental organizations receiving money from such American groups should not continue to get charitable forces “‘decent taxpaying cilizens to subsidize an at- tack on their own economic future.”’ “The government seems to take this seriously and may indeed take action,’’ Scott added. ‘They con- firmed yesterday they are going to review the tax Status and are going to in- vestigate just what kind of activities these groups are involved in,”’ The basis for Scoti’s _ Claims is a strategy paper entitled To Save the Taku River, which maps out the campaign and names a dozen coordinating groups, including the Sierra Club, David Suzuki Foundation, Wilderness Assodciation, Southeast Alaska Conserva- tion Coalition and others, The document, whose Stated gozl is to stop the mine and do so in a way that also freezes any other devel- opment in the 16,000 square kilometre Taku watershed, says Redfern is financially unstable and that a main av- enue of atlack is ‘‘exploiting this vulnerability and expos- ing the mine as financially non-Viable,”’ Other strategies include pushing for U.S. political in- tervention to counter the mine’s potential to damage Alaskan fisheries, “It is highly probable that the U.S. congress can be defensive actions against such a threat,” the paper says, Tt outlines a one-year startup budget for the campaign of $170,000. The longer term fundrais- ing strategy, however, sects targets of more than $600,000 to bankrolll the ef- fort. Potential donors listed in- clude numerous foundations and family trusts, such as the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, the Hewlett Packard Foundation, the Endswell Foundation and a long list of others. Some’ entrics indicate money has already been committed as of December. The money would pay to - coordinate the -cffort, re- search the economics of the mine, push trans-boundary. issues, and finance. a. com- munications group = to “cultivate major media stories on the Taku includ- ing CBC and CTV national news, and the NY Times and Washington Post,”’ “They clearly are going to be heavily dependent on funding from | wealthy American family trusts,’’ Scott said. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 3 1999 - A7 Diane Francis, Owner/Manager of UNIGLOBE COURTESY TRAVEL welcomes Jutta Smelizer to their taam of professional travel consultants, Jutta has 13 years experience with Canadian Airlines International and welcomes all her friends & aquaintances to drop by for all their travelling requirements TiN Ee 4718A Lazelle Ave. GlOB Terrace Courtesy Travel 638-8522 Pendragon Computers Inc. tax status. To do so, he said, American Rivers, Taku leveraged to take further Club wants MP’s apology MEMBERS of the newly formed lacal branch of the Sierra Club want Skeena MP ’ Mike Scott to apologize for calling their or- ganization ‘ ‘economic terrorists’’, Local member Bruce Hill said the coast mountain group is so far more active in planning canoe and kayaking trips than plotting to stop development of Redfem Resources mine on the Taku River. “He owes the people of Terrace and Kitimat who belong to the Sierra Club an apology,” Hill said. ‘He is using bis immunity as an MP to slander people unfairly,’ he added. ‘‘If he _ “has any evidence at all that the Sierra Club is involved in illegal activities or terrorist activities then he should make that state- ment in public,’? Scott based his claim in the House. of Commons that the Sierra Club is an “economic terrorist”? group on a document he says shows it and other environmental groups hope to destabilize Redfern, delay the mine and tum the area into a park. Hill said some local members are con- - cemed about Redfern’s planned Tulsequah _ Chief mine. They’re also concerned about development plans on Khtada Lake and any end to the moratorium on offshore cil and gas exploration, But he ridiculed Scott’s attack and said the locals have so far mainly embarked on such ‘‘terrorist activities’ as holding a pot- luck dinner ‘and picking up trash along Howe Creek and at Frezell Hotsprings. “The keystone of our terrorist agenda would probably be the plan we came up with to do a map of all the heritage and spe- cial trees in Terrace and distribute this map free to the residents of Terrace,’’ Hill said. The guide would tell people where to find unusual species like European beech and white magnolia around town, he said. “If he can show us how picking up trash and showing people where certain trees are is a terrorist activity, PI be the first to quit the Sierra Club,’’ Hill said. Hill said the Sierra Club’s charter says it docs not engage in illegal activities or even non-violent civil disobedience. ‘‘It’s an or- ganization known for reasonable advocacy that attracts reasonable people,” he said. 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