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Thompson’s community-based Public Liaison Committee (PLC) was formed early in 2002 to provide a mechanism for public outreach on environmental issues associated with Inco’s nickel operations in the community.
PLC members include such organizations as the Thompson Recycle Centre, Manitoba Conservation, the local seniors’ community, the local education system, the Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre, the City of Thompson, the United Steelworkers, the local wildlife association, the medical community, community members at large, and several Inco representatives.
“This is a true partnership,” says Bruce Holmes, a Regional Forester for Manitoba Conservation and a member of the PLC. “It’s particularly important that the company is open and responsible and that it shows good environmental stewardship. They are doing this.”
PLC members have toured our Thompson Operation, including the Birchtree Mine and the Birchtree Effluent Treatment Plant. The committee also visited surface processing plants and the company’s tailings basin. A visit will be made in the coming year to a wonderfully successful mine rehabilitation project about 70 kilometres south of Thompson. The Committee also intends to review the Thompson Soil Study.
At the suggestion of the PLC, we opened a hotline to make it easier for Thompson residents to be heard on environmental issues. Introduced in late 2002, the 24-hour hotline provides a way for residents to voice their concerns about environmental issues at the plant site. Callers get a real, ‘live voice’, not a recorded message.
“We’re trying to be a good neighbour and help residents channel their concerns directly to Inco,” says Dave McDonald, Environmental Coordinator at Inco’s Thompson Operations.
For more information on Inco’s environmental performance, see our Environmental, Health and Safety Report.
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