Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. (PBM), through its counsel Hunter Litigation Chambers, is getting no satisfaction from two freedom of information requests made under the Freedom of Information and Protection Privacy Act.

The company is suing the province of British Columbia for what it alleges to be the unfair handling of its application for an environmental assessment certificate from the Ministry of Environment (MOE) for its proposed Morrison copper and gold mine project north of Granisle B.C.

The project was denied the certificate last September in a move that seemed to contradict the final report of B.C.鈥檚 Environmental Assessment Office (EAO). In March, 2013, the company filed two separate requests.

The first was for a copy of the report and recommendations made by the executive director of the EAO for review by the ministry of environment. The request was complied with by the EAO.

For the purposes of FIPPA, the EAO and the MOE are not considered separate bodies, so a request for information to one counts as a request to both.

The second request - made to the MOE, EAO, and the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas - was for all documents related to the denial of PBM鈥檚 application dated between Aug. 1, 2012 and Oct. 1, 2012.

According to PBM, the MOE has responded to the second request, saying no records were located in response to the request.

In a press release made by John Plourde, PBM executive director, Plourde expressed concern that the MOE is either stonewalling the process or that it fails to keep adequate record keeping.

鈥淭he MOE鈥檚 position that it has no documents in its possession responsive to either of PBM鈥檚 freedom of information requests raises serious questions about the adequacy of the MOE鈥檚 record-keeping, or alternatively, about whether the  MOE is properly discharging its statutory duties to search  for  and  provide  records to  the  public   under   the  Freedom of  Information and  Protection of Privacy Act.鈥�

While the MOE does not deny the factual claim that the requested documents do not exist, they will not comment on matters related to the proposed mine project as they are before the courts.