FRIDAY August 31, 2012 Vol. 27 No. 70 ••• $1.25 inc. H.S.T.
COMOX VALLEY
ARTS
SPORTS
Strathcona Symphony Orchestra is preparing for a new season., page B1
Comox Valley cyclists are on track at the B.C. championships. page B13
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Coal hills identified as priority contaminated site Scott Stanfield
targeted for cleanup due to confirmed risk to human health and the environThe president of Coal- ment, the report states. A Remedial Options FeaWatch Comox Valley suggests most members of the sibility Report prepared public do not realize that for West Fraser Mills by coal hills in Union Bay are Keystone Environmental considers variamong 13 priorous technoloity contaminatgies to deal with ed sites in B.C. the Union Bay that have been coal hills. It identified by the suggests a soil Province. cover option is According to the cheapest at the most recent $17 million. The provincial biencostliest would nial report on be complete contaminated excavation and sites, high sulBRIAN McMAHON off-site disposal, phur content in waste coal piles has result- estimated to run between $71 million and $95 miled in acid rock drainage. ‘’I don’t think most of the lion. According to the Envipeople in the Valley have even a clue,” John Snyder ronment Ministry, cleanup of the Union Bay coal hills said. Other contaminated involves the Province, West locations including Iron Fraser and Kensington Crown Mine on Vancouver Island Properties. Most of the site is on Island and the Britannia Mine on the mainland are Crown land under lease to
Record Staff
West Fraser until 2018. A smaller portion of the site is private land owned by KIP. The allocation of projected remediation costs has yet to be determined. It has been more than a decade since KIP purchased 1,000-plus acres in Union Bay. The company plans to build houses, a golf course, a marina walkway, and a series of parks and trails. It has so far invested more than $12 million into the project, says Kensington vice-president Brian McMahon. The company is well aware of the coal hills. “It’s going to cost a lot of money and we’ve budgeted for it,” McMahon said. The coal hills developed over a period of decades as residue from coal mined in Cumberland was washed off at Union Bay before it was shipped to customers. Coal dust can ignite, causing an explosion. reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com
Surgeries returning to normal Renée Andor Record Staff
After the normal summer slowdown of surgeries at St. Joseph’s General Hospital, operating rooms will be running at full capacity again after Labour Day weekend. According to St. Joe’s president and CEO Jane Murphy, the hospital shuts down two of its four operating rooms during the sum-
mer months so staff can take their holidays at the same time and the operating rooms can be run as efficiently as possible. “It is probably the most cost efficient way to allow staff — because it’s such a team in surgery — to be able to take time off, you know, versus trying to do it throughout the year,” explained Murphy. “So that is a cost-effective way to do that and then when all of
BRIAN
our ORs (operating rooms) are up or going that’s a very efficient model to run them, you know, very fully through the rest of the year. “Our OR time — which is valuable time — our job is to make sure that’s used very efficiently, to use it to its maximum potential within the resources we have to support the needs of our community, so I think ... see SUMMER ■ A2
A CLOSE SHAVE Mary Anne Stagg of diagnostic imaging at St. Joseph’s General Hospital hugs her hairdresser as she joins other staff members in an annual head shave. Donations raised from the event Wednesday afternoon support cancer care patients at the hospital. PHOTO BY ERIN HALUSCHAK
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