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EUGENIE BOTTLED UP IN FIRST ROUND OF ROGER’S CUP PAGE B4
Red Deer Advocate WEDNESDAY, AUG. 6, 2014
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Calgary MLA wants back into caucus QUIT TORIES OVER ‘CULTURE OF ENTITLEMENT’ BY BILL GRAVELAND THE CANADIAN PRESS
Over the last couple of years, ATCO Gas has added automated meter reading devices to its meters. “We’ve had no indications in any of our devices that we’re aware of in North America, or in our system, that have caused a similar issue as it has in Saskatchewan,” said Keith Carter, ATCO senior vicepresident for the Edmonton region and technical services. He said the device is not wired into a house like the electricity smart meter. “We have the same gas meter as we always had. We just added a battery-operated device as a transmitter.” “We’ve had no safety issues,” Carter said. Lori Curran of Red Deer does not agree and encourages people to do the research and become informed. She said the electromagnetic radiation from the transmission devices can be harmful.
CALGARY — A Calgary member of the legislature who left the Tory caucus as a revolt roiled over former premier Alison Redford’s leadership has asked to rejoin the government. Calgary-Varsity member Donna Kennedy-Glans cited the inability to create change from within the party and a culture of entitlement as reasons for leaving caucus and her associate minister post on March 17, two days before Redford’s resignation announcement. She has been sitting as an Independent, but says she is asking to rejoin the Conservative caucus after talking with her constituents about the party’s changing leadership. “I continue to have their trust and to receive a strong endorsement to rejoin the PC caucus as their MLA,” she said Tuesday in a statement. Kennedy-Glans said she and her constituents are encouraged by the commitments to change that have been made by each of the three leadership candidates. “What Albertans want from their politicians is not complex,” Kennedy-Glans said. “What they have told me they want is, quite simply, a government that leads while also listening, that opens the doors to our ingenuity and our capacity for innovation, and that uses all of our resources wisely, now and into the future.” Kennedy-Glans’s resignation came as Redford faced increasing unrest within her caucus, fuelled by concerns over her leadership style and a $45,000 trip to South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s funeral. Calgary backbencher Len Webber also quit the Tory caucus, calling Redford a bully and “not a nice lady.” Webber has since announced he will seek a federal Conservative nomination in Calgary. The fallout from Redford’s travel habits has continued even thought she has resigned.
Please see METERS on Page A2
Please see TORIES on Page A2
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Lori Curran asked ATCO to reinstall an analog gas meter on her Red Deer home. She is not satisfied the new meters being used in Red Deer that transmit data electronically are safe.
City taking wait-and-see approach to smart meters BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Red Deer is watching closely as Saskatchewan removes 105,000 electricity smart meters due to eight unexplained fires in the last two months. The City of Red Deer has been looking at installing the automated meters that read power consumption in intervals via radio frequency and eliminate the need to have meter readers visit each meter. Garfield Lee, senior electrical distribution engineer with the city’s Electric Light and Power Department, said the cause of the fires must be investigated and addressed before Red Deer makes a decision. “We’re one of the very few utilities in Canada that does not have (smart meters),” Lee said on Tuesday. “We’re looking at it, but we don’t know when and we don’t know for sure.” The expense of installing the meters is a big concern for city council, Lee said.
Aggressive clean up can do more harm than good: study BY BRENDA KOSSOWAN ADVOCATE STAFF A pipeline rupture under the Red Deer River just over two years ago carries important implications across the oil and gas industry, including for the proposed Keystone and Northern Gateway pipeline projects, says a river researcher from the University of Lethbridge. Professor Stewart Rood and his research team were given a unique opportunity to analyze results from the cleanup after flood debris ruptured a pipeline carrying light sour crude under the Red Deer River, just downstream from Sundre. The spill was discovered on June 7, 2012, at the river’s confluence with Jackson Creek. There was a pool of crude at the mouth of the creek, so there was an assumption that the spilled had occurred there, Rood said. The pipeline actually broke further upstream, near the Sundre sewer treatment plant, he said. The result was the release of about 450,000 litres of crude into the river, upstream of the Gleniffer reservoir. More oil would have been spilled had the pipeline been flowing at the time, said Rood. Rood said he is “astounded” that there has not been more research into spill cleanups, given that pipelines have been shipping oil for more than 50 years. Better research would help governments and oil companies respond more appropriately to pipeline spills, he said. There is less chance of a rupture if the pipeline is placed well below the riverbed, out of danger from flooding action, said Rood.
Please see STUDY on Page A2
WEATHER Mainly sunny. High 25. Low 12.
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Illustration contributed by STEWART ROOD
A comparison of the changes at Site 3.
Tailings pond growing before collapse A tailings pond that breached Monday had been growing at an unsustainable rate, an environmental consultant says. Story on PAGE A6
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