EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
Students give it up on the dance floor Page 5
Impressive offerings from local artists Page 8
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Vol. 53 No. 19 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (HST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Waste away: Jennifer Apps unloads a pickup truck full of garden refuse during Free Disposal Days at the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s Sicamous landfill. Residential and garden waste, household metals and appliances can be dropped off at the landfill free of charge until May 13. See www.csrd.bc.ca for more information. Photo by Lachlan Labere
FortisBC assessing Sicamous for extension of gas line Competitive edge: Natural gas could benefit local economy by helping attract new industry. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
Unless you’re a propane dealer, the prospect of making natural gas accessible to Sicamous residents and businesses holds little downside. FortisBC has begun looking at what it can do to bring its infrastructure into the District of Sicamous. FortisBC spokesperson Neal Pobran says the company is in the early stages of determining whether the delivery of natural gas to the district is feasible. “What we’re looking at right now is some analysis, and that includes determining the cost of the project, what a possible route may look like and the engineering requirements for delivering natural
gas,” says Pobran. industrial park. We did look Many in Sicamous, at putting a powder coating businesses and residents, line in about five years ago, currently rely on propane but just the cost of dealing There certainly are a lot of for heating. Natural gas with the propane made it industries that do require gas. is considered one of the cost-prohibitive. I think it would definitely be a cleanest burning fos“There certainly are a lot benefit to the community. sil fuels, and is typically of industries that do require less expensive for heating gas. I think it would be defiGreg Kyllo purposes than propane. nitely a benefit to the comCouncillor Mayor Darrell Troumunity.” ton and district interim However, Trouton, Ruting new business. Coun. Greg administrator Doug Ruttan and Kyllo also agree tan met with the FortisBC reps Kyllo agrees. The Twin Anchors that extending natural gas to the when they were last in town. Rut- co-owner says the addition of gas Malakwa industrial corridor along tan says one of the first, obvious would be beneficial to the com- the Trans-Canada Highway would benefits of bringing natural gas pany’s new industrial park. have the greatest economic impact “We heat our main plant with for the region. to Sicamous would be the savings to residents. But Ruttan and wood-fired boilers, so I don’t “They’ve got good infrastructhe mayor also see the availability know that I would actually do a ture there with service roads on of natural gas as giving the com- conversion,” says Kyllo. “It cer- both sides of the highway, and I munity a needed edge in attract- tainly would be valuable for the think the reason why there’s been
limited development of industrial companies and that sort of thing in that area is likely because of the lack of gas,” says Kyllo. “I think having gas would certainly be a huge benefit for that corridor, which obviously would help to bring industry to this region.” Trouton notes the district has looked at bringing gas to the community in the past but found it wasn’t feasible. He looks forward to seeing FortisBC’s conclusion this time around, noting it would make Sicamous more attractive to investment. “If you have natural gas, it’s usually a better way to heat buildings, a better way to fuel your business. It’s difficult to compete with other areas that have cheaper sources of fuel,” says Trouton.