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Volume 58 No. 23
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Sentinel
Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
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1.30 INCLUDES TAX
Issues aired for PTI proposal
The Kitimat sea cadet corp held their ceremonial annual review on May 25, and were inspected by the reviewing officer Ernie Archer, center. More on the cadets’ review on page 3.
Eyes on 2014 submission Cameron Orr The director of project planning and execution for TransCanada’s Coastal GasLink Pipeline proposal presented an update to their project to mayor and council and then later to the business community during a Chamber of Commerce dinner. Bruce Wells said that the company is doing preliminary field work ahead of submission of their project description to the environmental assessment office, expected very early in 2014. “We’ve been busy over the winter doing our field programs,” he said ahead of his dinner presentation. He said the information they’re compiling now will largely be used for environmental assessments of the proposed pipeline. The Coastal GasLink pipeline would transport natural gas from the Dawson Creek area to Kitimat, where it would supply the proposed LNG Canada facility, led by Shell Canada. It would be approximately a 650 km pipeline, with a 48 inch pipe diamater, moving 1.7 billion cubic feet per day.
Wells said the project description is expected to be filed in January or February of 2014, kicking off the review process. He said the company expects that process to take between 12 and 14 months. “Everything that you can imagine from an environmental perspective for both CEAA [Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency] and the EAO [Environmental Assessment Office], we’re collecting that data now to put into that application.” That information includes tree counts, fishery studies, and wildlife studies, as well as engineering works, are river crossings. The company held a series of open houses across the region last October and Wells said the company expects to hold similar ones again this coming October. However he said the company has been welcomed with ‘open arms’ everywhere, and the feedback has been valuable. In fact he said the proposed route for the pipeline has been altered based on the feedback people and landowners have given them.
Cameron Orr The public had another opportunity to air their opinions on a proposal for temporary workforce accommodations in the Strawberry Meadows subdivision, and again the issue boiled down to not so much a problem with the company but rather their proposed location. The public hearing had many people airing concerns, some with particular issues, some firmly opposed, and some in favour. PTI’s director of business development, Bob Greaves, started public comments off, saying he believes the company is a solution to wild fluctuations in the real estate market, saying Kitimat has been through boom-bust cycles before, and that their proposal could help solve that issue. He was followed by the reading of a written public comment from a letter from Doug and Cheryl Groves, saying they’re opposed to the facility so close to the City Centre. As landowners on Dewberry Street they feel any changes
to the zoning in the area would be a breach of trust. Land developer Jack Oviatt, who sold the land to PTI Group for this project, remained in favour of the development. Referring to the presentation from the District of Kitimat about other developments in the area, Oviatt questioned whether any other project, like the Rio Tinto Alcan camp, has legacy funding the same way PTI is being asked to provide. (It’s being proposed that PTI pay $500 per bed to be used to fund a possible future affordable housing development.) He also pointed out that PTI has agreed to complete Loganberry Street and the intersection at Quatsino. Traffic concerns were a top issue for many people at the meeting. Luella Froess spoke about the even now “overused” Haisla Bridge, and the potential strain of this development on it. She also wondered about what effect the development would have on the hospital, which now doesn’t have enough room, she said.
The issue of traffic was echoed by Dan Stenson, a longtime bus driver in the community. He said traffic today is double than it was even two years ago, and as a member of the District’s traffic committee, he has seen no plan to deal with the traffic, and that the small intersection at Quatsino and Lahakas is not large enough to sustain new traffic loads. Bill Kearley spoke opposed to the project, dismissing Greaves earlier comments that Kitimat has seen a boombust cycle, saying Kitimat has even sustained Terrace in tough times. He repeated his desire, (as reported in a previous Sentinel) to see the town purchase land from Strawberry Meadows for its own future development. There were many more speakers at the public hearing, all providing a perspective as council decides what to do with a rezoning and OCP amendment bylaw, which at the time of the meeting had passed second reading. For more information on that issue see page 9.
More investors now buy into the proposed LNG project at Kitimat Haisla chief councillor Ellis Ross says he welcomes the arrival of new investors in a small liquefied natural gas (LNG) project partially owned by the Haisla called BCLNG. “Golar LNG of Bermuda and an Asian company which will be named later both bring strong LNG experience and expertise into the project,” says Chief Councillor Ellis Ross of the plan to put in place a floating LNG plant. “They will work with us and LNG Partners of Houston to carry the project through gaining permits and a final investment decision later this year,” he said. “Liquefied natural gas has set us on a path to a debt-free BC by redefining the economic potential of our most promising resource while creating thousands of jobs,” says BC’s Minister of Energy, Mines, and Natural Gas, Rich Coleman. “The partnership formed between the Haisla and global energy investors will ensure BCLNG is BC’s first export terminal for natural gas, and the start of a new, prosperous future for our province.” As currently configured BCLNG comprises
a 600,000 to 700,000 metric tonne per annum capacity liquefaction barge and other facilities. A site has been secured on the west side of the Douglas Channel. The four partners have agreed to explore doubling the size of the project, which would be the maximum allowed under a National Energy Board export permit. But that’s subject to expansion of the Pacific Northern Gas pipeline. “We are pleased that Golar, with 13 LNG vessels in operation worldwide and another 13 under construction, and our new Asian partner recognize the LNG export opportunity in BC and want to work with our people to bring BCLNG into operation,” Ross adds. “BCLNG means jobs, business opportunities, and a consistent, dependable revenue stream for our people,” says Ross. “It and other LNG projects being proposed for our territory offer an end to poverty for the Haisla and the opportunity to stand on our own feet and full participants in the BC economy and Canadian society.”
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