TERRACE
1.34
$
S TANDARD
$1.20 PLUS 14¢ HST
VOL. 25 NO. 19
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
$13 billion oil refinery proposed By Lauren Benn, Samantha Garvey, Anna Killen and Margaret Speirs DAVID BLACK, owner of Black Press Ltd., announced his intentions to build a state-ofthe-art $13 billion dollar oil refinery near Kitimat to process crude from the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. Black owns 60 newspapers in B.C., including the Terrace Standard and Kitimat’s Northern Sentinel. His new company, Kitimat Clean Ltd., is submitting an environmental assessment application to build it.
He plans to foot the bill for the assessment which is expected to cost several million dollars. After that, he said investors would be needed to complete it, assuming both the refinery and the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline receive approval. Black announced his plans at a Vancouver press conference Friday, Aug. 18. He said the refinery’s construction would reduce environmental risks associated with the pipeline because tankers would be shipping refined fuels like gasoline off the north-
west coast instead of heavy Alberta crude. He hopes to begin construction in 2014, with construction concluding in 2016. He said the project would create roughly 6,000 construction jobs and 3,000 permanent jobs. The plant would be located at the industrial-zoned Dubose location, 25 kilometres north of Kitimat and 25 kilometres south of Terrace. The site is Crown land. The refined fuels would be piped 40 kilometres south to a property on the Douglas Channel, the same property Enbridge has proposed to use as its crude oil shipping terminal.
Black has yet to have serious discussions with local First Nations communities. The site is on Kitselas traditional territory and the marine terminal is in the traditional territory of the Haisla First Nation. “We remain hopeful that they, and all other communities along the coast, will agree to the proposal after a full and complete review,” he said. Black has been in discussion about the refinery with the province and Enbridge, among others, including the City of Terrace.
Cont’d Page A8
LAUREN BENN PHOTO
■ Heat wave RAINE AND Sierra Pazniko go for a paddle on Lakelse Lake August 16 when temperatures peaked at 29 C. Only two out of 16 days didn’t reach highs above 20 C in August this year, and temperatures peaked at 29.4 C, as of August 16. On August 16, 2011, 14 C was the high. For the month of August 2011, only seven out of 16 days topped 20 C.
Local gov’ts finance tax-share study By LAUREN BENN A $17,500 report is being commissioned by two local governments, which hope its recommendations will help bring provincial tax dollars collected from resource-based industrial projects back to the northwest. With foreseeable stresses to local infrastructure and services due
to an increase in project-related workers here, the report will serve as a tool local governments can use to lobby the province. The Regional Revenue Sharing Program is being commissioned by the City of Terrace and Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine and it ideally will travel with locally elected officials to a fall Union of British Columbia Municipalities
(UBCM) convention where lobby efforts will take place. The report is being commissioned from consulting firm Harris Palmer. The intent behind seeking a share of provincial tax revenue leveraged from regional industry is to help ease the financial burden an increasing population will pose on municipal
purses, especially with resourcebased industries being located outside city boundaries. Similar to what is being sought, northeastern B.C. currently has a fair-share program where municipalities and regional districts collected $35.3 million from oil and gas sector tax revenues this year. The report commissioned will argue a business case for why a
fair-share program should be in place here, said Terrace Mayor Dave Pernarowski. “We’re only talking about looking at new development,” he said, noting the province already plans how to spend the tax revenues it is already earning. “This is not a tax grab,” Pernarowski continued.
Cont’d Page A12
Fall Fair
Camper fire
Rugby wrap-up
The Skeena Valley Fall Fair is coming soon \COMMUNITY A17
Last week a blaze broke out in a driveway-parked camper in Terrace \NEWS A10
The Terrace Northmen celebrate this year’s “breakthrough” season \SPORTS A26