CoalWatch Comox Valley is taking their anti-coalmine message on the road.

The group, which is trying to raise awareness as well as new questions about the potential impact of the proposed Raven coalmine, is holding a public meeting in Victoria today (Tuesday). On June 2, they go to the Heritage Hall in Vancouver.

"It's a big opportunity for CoalWatch to get the word out," said group chairman John Snyder. "People who come to the meetings are absolutely flabbergasted ... that there's a proposed coalmine project going on in the year 2010 on Vancouver Island."

The Western Canada Wilderness Committee is sponsoring the meetings. Meetings have already been held in Nanaimo and Duncan.

Snyder said concerns about the effects of the mine on the environment extend beyond the local area. CoalWatch's slogan is "we all live downstream."

"British Columbia is a huge exporter of coal," said Snyder. "People are connecting the dots between CO2 emissions and coal. With the global warming and whatnot, it's a big concern to a lot of people."

Concerns have been heightened, said Snyder, by recent industrial accidents like the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia that killed 29 coal miners and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that has released thousands of barrels of oil into the ocean.

Several local organizations have expressed opposition to the mine, including the Comox Valley Conservation Strategy Steering Committee, the B.C. Shellfish Growers Association, the Denman Island Marine Stewardship Committee, the Hornby Island Residents and Ratepayers' Association and the Islands Trust.

The City of Courtenay and the Comox Valley Regional District have both called on the provincial government to map the aquifers beneath the mine before environmental approvals are considered.