Inside
WEDNESDAY, July 4, 2012
NEWS BRIEFS RCMP quarterly report Staff Sergeant Paul Thalhofer presented his quarterly report to mayor and council on June 27. Thalhofer reported a total of 854 calls to service for the area from April 1, 2012 to June 21, 2012. While some types of offences were up and others were down, he said there were no significant changes in the community crime statistics. One major concern are the large number of dropped 911 calls. There were 59 calls to the service abandoned in the time period, and only one valid call to the 911 service. Each 911 call requires valuable police resources to follow up and ensure the caller is indeed safe and not in need of assistance. Currently, the Fort St. James RCMP Detachment is operating with five fewer members than full capacity (18), for a number of reasons. This means there are fewer officers available for any proactive services and officers are struggling to keep up with reacting to calls to service instead of prevention and community outreach type of work. “I think we’re doing what we can with the resources that we have,” said Thalhofer. To view the quarterly statistics in full, go to www.caledoniacourier. com
◆ Enbridge visit P. 3/4 ◆ Tales from the Grub ‘n’ Rub P. 12
◆ Opinion P. 6 ◆ MoM gets grant $ P. 4
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VOL. 35 NO. 18 $1.34 inc. GST
Baby welcoming
Everybody loves a baby. This year’s Nak’azdli Annual General Assembly was held once again in Kwah Hall to inform the Nak’azdli community what the Nak’azdli Band Council and administration has been working on. The event also saw the annual Baby Welcoming Ceremony. The event offers parents a chance to introduce their newcomers to the Nak’azdli community and for the rest of Nak’azdli to be aware of bloodlines and to be able to watch out for the children as they grow up. Grandparents and other community members take seats along the front and as babies are introduced, he or she is passed down the line to be greeted by each one. Nurse Lisa Sam introduced the babies and ended the ceremony with a playful wish for everyone to go out and make more babies and come back again next year. For more pictures from the event, go to: www.caledoniacourier.com Ruth Lloyd Photo
Delayed but still going forward? Ruth Lloyd Caledonia Courier People may have noticed a lack of activity on the site planned for the The Fort Green Energy project on Tachie Road. The bioenergy plant, which would burn wood waste to produce electricity, planned to start construction this spring has been pushed back at least a year, but according to Western BioEnergy Director Harvie Campbell, they still hope to go ahead. European markets and booming oil and gas in Fort McMurray are both factors in the delay, but not the only ones, according to Campbell. “I think it’s just normal development delays,” he said. “I would expect that it would be spring of next
year (to be on site constructing).” Part of the delay he said is due to some decision-making which needs to take place involving choosing the specific boiler and turbine to be used. The equipment will be used in both the Fort St. James plant and a Merritt plant, where the company was approved to build a plant essentially a “carbon copy” of the one planned for Fort St. James. The Merritt plant is similarly delayed. Another aspect of the delay has to do with capital construction costs and securing a contractor. Construction of the large bioenergy plants requires similar construction expertise and equipment to that used in the Fort McMurray-based oil
industry. Therefore, with the booming oil and gas industry, demand is making these companies harder to secure. The European economic troubles creating uncertainty in the markets has also made financing more difficult for these types of projects, according to Campbell. He expects the project to be financed for approximately 70 to 80 per cent of the capital costs, which he said is normal for these types of projects. Campbell said the goal is to secure the financing by December of this year, with on-site construction then aimed for spring of next year, once the snow is off the site. Hiring of employees would take place after construction began.
Operation of the plant would begin 24-27 months after construction begins. Western BioEnergy Inc. is 20 per cent owned by Dalkia, which will also be the operator of the plant, and 80 per cent owned by Fengate Capital out of Toronto. Both the Merritt and Fort St. James projects will produce about 40 megawatts of electricity, and use wood waste which would otherwise be left in the bush, or burned in piles. The Fort St. James biomass power plant would be located 6.3 km north of town, across from the Apollo mill on a small 3.5 hectare site.The Fort plant would be an estimated investment of $140 million, with approximately 80 employed during construc-
tion and 16 employed directly while the plant is in operation, as well as local contractors required for some aspects of the plant maintenance. The project has a lifespan of 30 years, but could be operated as long as it is maintained and viable. The proposed biomass generators would use the same technology and basic design in the Fort and Merritt, and would each use about 200,000 dry tonnes of forest residue per year. The local site would power the entire Fort community, using about 50 per cent of the plant’s electricity, with the rest going down into the grid towards Vanderhoof. The plant would be connected to the grid using a short 300 m 69 kV transmission line.