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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2012
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Pipeline/ Revenues By Walter Strong Black Press
DITCH Digging
Bruce Wells, Director of Project Planning and Execution, made a presentation to the board of the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako on Thursday, October 25 where he answered questions put to him by regional directors and mayors of the region. Ralph Roy, Director of electoral area D (Fraser Lake Rural) asked how TransCanada would deal with land owners who holdout against pipeline land use easements. Wells said that there is an arbitration process in place for such conflicts, but TransCanada has not recently had to go to arbitration on any of its pipelines. “We’re diligent to resolve things before they go to arbitration,” Wells said. “We have a good track record of doing that and all three of our recent pipelines were completed with-
Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today
Lucas Holtzman digs out a ditch for the pipes that will be part of the drainage system under the new sidewalk on Highway 16, which will run from Benson Avenue to Mountain View Drive. LB paving was contracted by the Ministry of Transportation to do the project, and this week they finished putting in a new curb and drainage system - with concrete catch basins and pipes that will take water drainage to the Bulkley River, said Scott Atchison, civil superintendent of Canyon Contractors, part of LB paving. Because they started late, it’s too cold to pour concrete and the project will not be finished until next spring, said Atchison.
out a need for arbitration. We were able to reach agreements with all affected landowners.” “When possible, our preference is to meet with people in person if they have concerns with the project. We’ve had face to face conversations with over 400 affected landowners, and our [project] mailing list includes over 600 landowners,” said Wells. Houston Mayor Bill Homberg asked how revenues would be shared among regions and municipalities that the pipeline might travel through. “We expect to pay over $17 million every year in property tax payments across Northern B.C.,” Wells said. This is the primary revenue stream directly to the region. Rob Newell, Director of Area G (Houston rural) asked about the July 20, 2011 rupture of a TransCanada pipeline See PIPELINE on Page 13
NDP slams the plan to bring in Chinese miners Black Press
Bringing 200 temporary foreign workers from China to fill underground mining positions at HD Mining’s operation in Tumbler Ridge isn’t likely what the B.C. people thought the
province’s job plan meant, according to NDP MLA and mining critic Doug Donaldson. D o n a l d s o n stopped in Prince George on Tuesday to discuss what they see as the Liberals’ failure to partner their jobs
“
“Some communities in B.C. face a 60 to 90 per cent unemployment rate.”
plan with what he described as a fulsome
- NDP MLA Doug Donaldson
training program. “Some communi-
ties in B.C face a 60 to 90 per cent un-
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employment rate,” Donaldson said. He added these men and women would enjoy the opportunity to develop the skills to get jobs like the ones being filled by the temporary workers. He said the prov-
ince knew about the mining project in 2007 and that HD Mining intended to bring foreign workers in to fill the positions. “That’s enough time to get training in place for locals,” Donaldson said. See MINERS on Page 2
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