WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2012
PROFILE: Ootsa Pioneers
COMMUNITY: Bat Biology
PAGE 10
PAGE 12
Proudly serving Houston and District - Home of Canada’s Largest Fly Rod
16 days... ‘til Relay for Life June 22nd, 2012 “Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back”
www.houston-today.com
NO. 23 $1.35 Inc. HST
Hydro demand escalates By Rebecca Billard Black Press
News Staff/Houston Today
Sandra and Bert Davis with a raisin pie bought at the Pleasant Valley Community Market. The market began last Friday and will run every Friday until September at the Steelhead Park.
Committee to look at fibre supply issues By Allan Wishart Black Press
A special legislative committee has been appointed to look at timber supply in the province. Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad is the convenor for the seven-member committee, and says they have a short timeline to work with. “We held our first meeting Thursday to
look at what kind of a schedule we could set up to meet our report date of Aug. 15. We’ll be holding our next meetings at the end of the month.” The committee, which also includes Liberal MLAs Donna Barnett (CaribooChilcotin), Eric Foster (Vernon-Monashee) and Ben Stewart (Westside-Kelowna) and NDP MLAs Harry Bains (Surrey-
Newton), Norm Macdonald (Columbia River-Revelstoke) and Bill Routley (Cowichan Valley), is looking at starting public meetings the week of June 18 and wrapping those up by July 20. “We plan to hold meetings everywhere from Smithers down to the KamloopsMerritt area, as well as out in Mackenzie and McBride. The areas impacted the most by the
pine beetle are where we will be focused.” The committee’s terms of reference are to consider recommendations which would increase timber supply, including direction on the potential scope of changes to land-use objectives, rate of harvest and conversion of volume-based tenures to area-based tenures. Rustad says the committee composition was determined by
the house leaders, who checked with their party MLAs to see if they would be willing to sit on the committee. “I would have liked to have Bob Simpson (Independent, Cariboo North) on the committee,” Rustad said, “but the NDP didn’t want him on the committee.” Simpson was an NDP MLA before becoming an Independent in December 2010.
BC Hydro spokesman Robert Smith said to Regional District of Bulkley Nechako (RDBN) board members that the company is contemplating building new transmission lines and potentially adding more renewable energy projects to meet a growing demand for power in the Northwest. He said Kitimat based LNG projects that are expected to come on line in the next few years will bump up the region’s electricity requirements and BC Hydro want to be ready for the increased demand. While Smith said BC Hydro has enough supply to power the Kitimat LNG and BC LNG plants from existing resources, that won’t be the case for the Canada LNG plant. Shell Canada has confirmed that, with three Asian partners, it is developing Canada LNG, a large liquified natural gas export facility, also to be based at Kitimat. The project could see up to 12 million tonnes of LNG exported from Kitimat each year and will require a new transmission line as well as new power sources. Smith said, “We are looking at possible upgrades to the existing line from Terrace to
“ “We are looking at possible upgrades to the existing line from Terrace to Kitimat...”
- Robert Smith
Kitimat in response to these LNG projects.” Shell Canada has not yet determined if it will be electrifying the project through power supplied from BC Hydro and they are currently investigating other options such as self supply through gas turbines. “There will be no decision on this until later this year, but we need to work ahead. If they decide to electrify we would be ready. It takes a long time to work through the planning and regulatory stages,” Smith said. If Canada LNG opts to self supply, Smith said the BC Hydro upgrades would be put on hold. The Skeena substation South of Terrace and the Minette substation near Kitimat will play key roles in the upgrades. Skeena substation is a regional distribution See HYDRO on Page 2