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WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2012
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Apache pipeline first in corridor: Ferris By Andrew Hudson Houston Today
Submitted photo
CANADA CAKE
From left, Nechako-Lakes MLA John Rustad, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Russell Tiljoe, and Mayor Bill Holmberg start cutting their way through a three-and-a-half by four-foot Canada Day cake at Houston’s Jaimie Baxter Park. “It was great cake—every single piece went,” says Houston Leisure Services Director Curtis McPhee, adding that he was pleasantly surprised to see 250 people turn out for the party. Free games and rides free were a big draw, he said, and something the District would like to do again next year.
One Buck Flats resident met for three hours Thursday with a team of engineers, biologists and other professionals working on Apache Corporation’s $1-billion natural gas pipeline to Kitimat. Glenda Ferris, a long-time environmental activist who lives 2.5 km north of the pipeline route, says she is mainly concerned because Apache’s is the first of four pipelines that will all take more or less the same corridor south of Houston. “We’re going to be in pipeline construction phase for 10 to 12 years now,” she said. “There are tourists, guide-outfitters, a whole bunch of people who should be aware of what’s going to happen here.” But residents will have to wait a while longer before they can see exactly where Apache plans to route
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“If you think you’re going fishing at Parrot Lakes, you better go this year”
and build work camps along the Houston stretch of its 463-km pipeline. Apache spokesperson Paul Wyke said those final changes have been postponed now that business concerns have pushed back the pipeline’s expected start date by about a year. “We now have a little bit more time to study the nuts and bolts of the route with Kitimat not coming online until 2017,” Wyke said. In its original proposal, approved by B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office in 2008, Apache looked at building work camps along the Barteaux, Clore River and Crystal Creek for-
- Glenda Ferris
est service roads. And in February, Apache said it was considering a temporary stockpile site along the Chisholm FSR. But Wyke said it will be a while yet before the company is firm on where those sites will be. Ferris said she has asked Apache to build its work camps and stockpiles away from high-value wildlife and fisheries areas, especially those along the Morice River and the Parrot Lakes. “I told them if they think they’re going to put a camp over by the Morice River, I don’t think even this government is going to allow them to do that,” she said. See APACHE on Page 2
Province must pave the way for heavy trucks: Chamber By Andrew Hudson Houston Today
Growing truck traffic to northern mining projects and the Port of Prince Rupert has Houston’s Chamber of Commerce calling for improvements to Highway 16. Chamber manager Maureen Czirfusz says
Highway 16 should be built to match the traffic Victoria expects will grow here. “They’re promoting the decade of the north, but we only have one highway,” Czirfusz said. In May, the BC Chamber of Commerce, which represents chambers in
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“People pass us on double-solid lines and think nothing of it.”
120 towns and cities across the province, voted in favour of a Houston motion call-
- Lloyd Bassani ing for safety and technical improvements on Highway 16 from Prince Rupert to the
Alberta border. Czirfusz said some of the worst stretches of Highway 16 are now obvious to anyone driving west of town. “When you’re driving down Six Mile Hill and you have to straddle the centre lane to come down it without bouncing, that’s a problem,” she said.
B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation is planning to resurface several of those problem sections, including a 40-km stretch between the Tintagel Rest Area and Endako. Drivers in Houston and Burns Lake can also expect to see new speed-reader signs in the coming months.
Lloyd Bassani of Houston’s Bassani Fuels, says that while road conditions have worsened on Highway 16, speeding drivers are still problem number one for truckers. “People pass us on double-solid lines and think nothing of it,” he said. See TRUCKS on Page 2