Page 60 Page 60 MLEN SPRING 2020 Contd from pg 58 partnership with Fortis and other private investors The Project will build approximately 1800 kilome tres of transmission lines in North western Ontario to connect 17 re mote First Nations communities to the Ontario power grid Pikangikum First Nation was the frst commu nity to be connected in December 2018 This transmission line brings electricity right to the door step of the Ring of Fire Coalition seeks government support for EastW est Route The Coalition is seeking govern ment support for a route which would extend from Highways 599 72 extending north from the T rans Canada Highway approx 250 km west of Thunder Bay to the Ring of Fire In a March 2 2020 news release from the coalition Darrel Morgan president of Sioux Lookoutbased fuel hauler Morgan Fuels said an allseason eastwest road would likely follow the existing winter road network the route chosen to de liver most of the fuel food building materials and other goods overland into many remote communities Important transportation assets such as rail road connections to the T ransCanada highway and air service can be accessed via an eastwest alignment The Sioux Lookout Regional Airport already serves as a key air access hub for 31 First Nations in the region he said The EastW est road route would optimize existing road alignments piggyback on pending hydro grid construction and use existing lo gistics and supply networks The route would lessen the environ mental impacts including wetland and peatlands and avoid expen sive problematic largescale water crossings said Doug Lawrence Sioux Lookout Mayor speaking at the 2019 Prospectors and Develop ers Association Originally proposed by mining com pany Noront Resources Ltd The EastW est allseason passes close to Cat Lake Mishkeegogomang Lac Seul W ebequie Nibinamik Eabamatoong Saugeen and Slate Falls First Nations Other adja cent communities include Sioux Lookout Pickle Lake Ignace and Dryden T wo roads may be required because of Ring of Fire massive size Blanchard says there is a need for two roads to the Ring of Fire Both our EastW est route and the North South Route are viable considering the magnitude of the project said Blanchard W e are not opposed to NorthSouth road in combination with an EastW est Route Having two ingress points makes sense What happens for example if there is a mishap on the proposed NorthSouth Route It makes a lot of sense to have another route to minimize delays in mining produc tion The eastwest road was one of two corridors initially proposed by the previous W ynne government in 2017 as an overland route into the Ring of Fire But resistance to road develop ment by a handful of First Nation communities along the path of the route swayed the province to fund the environmental assessment and preliminary engineering for a north south rightofway including the recently announced second leg of a proposed road between the com munities of Marten Falls and W ebe quie Federal and Ontario Environ mental Assessments Marten Falls First Nation and W e bequie First Nation are moving forward as proponents for Environ ment Assessments for their individ ual road projects The representa tives of Marten Falls and W ebequie First Nation signed an agreement with the Ontario government at PDAC 2020 in T oronto to proceed as proponents for the North South Road Earlier in February 2020 Jona than Wilkinson the federal Min ister of the Environment and Cli mate change ordered a regional environmental assessment for the vast area to determine the impacts above and beyond the route specif ic Ontario Environmental Assess ment process Minister J Wilkin son The Minister of Environment and Climate Change received three requests for a regional assessment related to the Ring of Fire area in Fall 2019 The Minister determined that a re gional assessment of the Ring of Fire region will be conducted pur suant to the Impact Assessment Act The reasons for the Minister s determination are provided in the Minister s response The Regional Assessment will be conducted in the area centered on the Ring of Fire mineral deposits in northern Ontario approximately 540 kilometres northeast of Thun der Bay and 1000 kilometres north of T oronto The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada will work with the Province of Ontario Indigenous groups federal authorities non government organizations and the public to determine the appropriate activities outcomes and boundar ies of the regional assessment Need for two roads to the Ring considering size of project