THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 Vol. 73, No. 64
Serving Fort St. John, B.C. and Surrounding Communities
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Premier Christy Clark speaks with reporters following a speech at a pro-LNG rally in Fort St. John. The Alaska Highway News caught up with the Premier for an exclusive interview on the struggle to get LNG off the ground and the Site C dam.
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Canada’s last megadam? Premier Christy Clark talks about the struggles to launch LNG and why she thinks Site C will be the last of its kind in Canada matt preprost & JONNY WAKEFIELD editor@ahnfsj.ca, reporter@dcdn.ca
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Premier Christy Clark predicts the $8.8-billion Site C dam planned for the Peace River will not only be the last major dam of its kind for B.C.—but all of Canada. In an interview with the Alaska Highway News last week, Clark said governments are facing increased pressure when it comes to massive industrial projects such as Site C, which is one of the most expensive public projects in modern history. The main civil works on the dam—estimated at $1.75 billion—is expected to ramp up in the coming months, while engineers began site testing along Highway 29 this week to prepare for realignment of the road, sections of which
will be inundated by the dam’s reservoir. “I think it will be the country’s last major dam,” Clark said. “It’s getting harder and harder to build dams in the country. The folks who would say ‘no’ to everything are getting more and more active all the time. It’s just getting harder and harder for governments to say yes to very difficult projects like this. And there were a lot of people who told me that we should not approve Site C, for all the typical reasons. We went ahead with it despite the fact it was hard. But I think it’s getting harder and harder for politicians to get the courage to confront the forces of no.” Clark was in Fort St. John on Wednesday, April 20, to deliver a speech to pro-LNG supporters at Centennial Park. Two days later, BC Hydro
President and CEO Jessica McDonald was in the city to tour the dam site, sign the Site C community measures agreement, and help cut the ribbon on the city’s new micro-hydro station in the Old Fort neighbourhood. McDonald stopped short of saying Site C would be the last megadam in Canada, but did concede it’s the last major dam planned for the BC Hydro system. “It’s an important choice and its been a difficult choice with a lot of study, a lot of careful thought into whether this is the right project for us right now,” McDonald said. “But it will be the last dam for our system. It’s an important thing to recognize. I can’t speak for other jurisdictions and the plans that they will have. Manitoba and Quebec have hydroelectric backbones
The wildfire situation in the Peace Region has cooled down considerably from last week. Currently, the only wildfire of note in the North Peace remains the fire at the Beatton Airport Road, 50 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John. Twenty contract firefighters arrived in the city Monday, joining 38 BC Wildfire Service firefighters and nine incident management team members on the ground. They’re supported by a helicopter in the sky. Over the last few days, crews have been able to contain the south flank of the fire nearest the Shepherd’s Inn and the Alaska Highway. The fire, estimated at 7,035 hectares—or 17,300 acres— is roughly the size of 13,000 football fields. Bans on category 2 and 3 fires remain in effect throughout the region. Continuing wildfire coverage can be found at alaskahighwaynews.ca. —AHN in their system like us. What they will choose in the future I can’t speak to.” Quebec is currently building a 1,550-megawatt dam on the Romaine River, estimated at around $8 billion. Manitoba meanwhile continues to move ahead on the $6.5-billion Keeyask dam, a 695-megawatt project, however, it has suspended plans for the $10.7-billion Conawapa dam, a 1,485-megawatt project. BC Hydro’s Site C dam is billed at 1,100 megawatts. A full transcript of AHN’s interviews with Clark and McDonald can be found at alaskahighwaynews.ca. What follows is an abridged version of our interview with Clark on Site C and the future of LNG. See CLARK on A6
PRRD raises stink over curbside recycling bill jonny wakefield reporter@dcdn.ca
Fort St. John’s curbside recycling program—the first in the Peace Region—is working. Since bringing in curbside pickup in November, Fort St. John has cut the amount trash it sends to the dump by 30 per cent, from an average 347 tons a month to 242. But curbside recycling has costs—and not just for taxpayers in the cities that have programs.
Rural representatives at the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) say residents and businesses in unincorporated areas are increasingly bearing the costs of municipal curbside recycling programs. This year, regional taxpayers paid $810,000 to process and transport Fort St. John’s curbside to recycling centres. In recent months, the debate over how to pay for managing solid waste has brought out fundamental tensions between urban and rural dir-
ectors. The $810,000 allocation was controversial enough for all four rural representatives to vote against the PRRD’s 2016 budget, which passed with support from the municipalities last month. Area C Director Bradley Sperling, who represents the rural area outside Fort St. John, said that while he supports expanding recycling programs, costs are being passed on to rural residents who don’t directly benefit from curbside recycling.
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“As a representative of a rural area, I look at it as my constituents picking up someone else’s recycling tab,” he said. “We’re paying for it. That’s the concern.” Curbside contention PRRD residents are among the most wasteful in B.C., according to 2013 statistics.
See RECYCLING on A3
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