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Thursday, October 4, 2012 VOL. 30 Number 39
FortisBC replaces gas pipeline See Page 9
Drain lake this fall, says ministry
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BARRY POPPENHEIM
PAT KELLY Boundary Creek Times Reporter
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Time is running out for those wanting to stop the draining of Marshall Lake and decommissioning of Providence Dam as the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (MFLNRO) confirmed last Friday that their “preferred option” is to drain the lake this fall and then deconstruct the dam next year. In an email response, MFLNRO Public Affairs Officer Brennan Clarke said the ministry completed a feasibility study outlining options for decommissioning the dam at Marshall Lake in August. “Current plans are to gradually pump the water out of Marshall Lake starting on or about Oct. 15,” stated the response. “Water will be pumped down the spillway and provincial staff will be on site around the clock to ensure operational and public safety concerns are addressed. This process is expected to take two to three weeks.” The ministry states that draining Marshall Lake will take the pressure off the dam, thereby reducing public safety risk. “It would also allow time for the foreshore around Marshall Lake to dry, facilitating road construction to Lot 1705 (the only cabin owner on the lake) next year.” Clarke’s email noted, however, that a number of details remain to be worked out before the lake can be drained, including further consultation with landowners and licensees, and the replacement of a culvert
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Theft doesn’t get grads down Students of BCSS Class of 2013 and parents were out in force last Saturday for a bottle drive that gathered recycling from the entire West Boundary. Their fundraising efforts suffered a short-lived setback two-weeks earlier when recycling that was bagged and waiting for pickup at the fall fair was stolen.
at Elkhorn Street in the City of Greenwood. Local elected officials had a meeting during the UBCM convention in Victoria last week with MFLNRO Minister Steve Thompson and Boundary Similkameen MLA John Slater about the dam. Present were Greenwood Mayor Nipper Kettle, Area D Rural Director Irene Perepolkin and Greenwood Councillor Barry Noll. “We got the update and as I had heard the cost to upgrade the dam is around $500,000,” Kettle wrote on his Facebook page after the meeting. “The de-
commissioning is around $56,000 and could be a lot lower if the Army Corps stationed in Trail does the work.” He said they were told any savings will be put back into the restoration of the landscape of the lake in Phase II and that the rock that they remove when breaching the dam will be used to build access for the cabin owners. Greenwood resident Christopher Stevenson, who has been a key figure in the fight to save the lake, asked
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