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Arrow Lakes News 1
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the Westminster Dog Show
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Big Donation to Halcyon House
Vol. 91 Issue 9 • Wednesday, February 26, 2014 • www.arrowlakesnews.com • 250-265-3823 • $1.25 •
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Action demanded at boat ramp open house
Racing at the summit
Alex Cooper Arrow Lakes News
Rylie Clark goes into her tuck during the GS run of the Summit Lake club races on Sunday, Feb. 23. A big crowd of racers and spectators came out for the fun day on the hill. For more, see page 7. Alex Cooper/Arrow Lakes News
BC Hydro knows they have a problem on their hands with Nakusp's boat ramp. If they didn't, they heard it loud and clear at an open house they held last Wednesday, Feb. 19, to show what they were doing about the much maligned concrete slab into the Arrow Lakes. More than 50 local residents came out to express their frustration, displeasure and impatience with BC Hydro's lack of action to extend the boat ramp so it can be used when the Arrow Lakes are at low water. For years they've waited for Hydro to extend the ramp and fix the floating walkway that helps them get in their boats. On Wednesday, they found out only a temporary fix would be put in place this winter, and a long-term extension would have to wait until whenever the water goes back down again. "It's just a band aid, a total band aid," one frustrated Rod and Gun Club mem-
ber told me about the temporary filter stone extension that contractor Landmark Forest Management has been installing recently. A few weeks ago, the Arrow Lakes News reported the boat ramp would be extended by 30 metres starting in midFebruary. At the open house, we learned those plans have been scaled back and all that is happening right now is a temporary fix that will extend the ramp by 18 metres; any permanent solution will have to wait until the next low-water period. At this point, there's little, if any faith that the work will get done. "We've been hearing this for years," said Hank Scown, the president of the Nakusp Rod and Gun Club. "I'm tired of hearing why we can't do it. Let's figure out a way to do it. It's not going to the moon." For their part, BC Hydro and Columbia Power Corporation brought out the whole team for the open house. There
See BC Hydro page 2
Status quo for rural recycling in regional district Greg Nesteroff Black Press
The Regional District of Central Kootenay will continue to provide rural recycling for at least a year after an industry stewardship group told them it won’t be able to take over until 2015 at the earliest. Multi Material BC is expected to assume responsibility for recycling packaging and paper starting in May. It has reached agreements with 165 municipalities, regional districts, First Nations, non-profits, and private sector companies, covering over 1.25 million BC households — including Nelson, Kaslo, Nakusp, Castlegar, and rural areas
around Castlegar, where curbside recycling will be provided. However, the RDCK initially balked at financial incentives to collect materials on Multi Material BC’s behalf, saying the offer lacked key information and wouldn’t cover their costs. In November they changed their mind, fearing the region’s 27 rural recycling depots could be reduced to as few as two. By agreeing to keep a hand in recycling, the regional district hoped to maintain 10 to 15 depots that meet Multi-Material BC’s security requirements or could easily be converted. But while the board believed it met the deadline to sign up, Multi-
Material BC now says it won’t be able to cover the RDCK this year, and appears only to have agreements with applicants who signed up by an earlier deadline. “While we made every effort to be able to include the RDCK when the program launches in May, we do not have any further capacity in the program this year and have placed them on a waiting list for future opportunities,” Multi-Material BC communications manager Sarah Stephen explained in an email. A frustrated RDCK chair John Kettle said his understanding is that a number of producers aren’t participating, resulting in insuffi-
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cient funds to support the program this year. (Small businesses were recently exempted, but it’s not clear if this is the issue.) “They didn’t give a good explanation other than it looks like there’s not enough folks in the program from the producers’ side to make it work financially,” Kettle said. “To me that’s not satisfactory.” Kettle said the regional district will keep providing rural recycling, staving off any depot closures for now. “It’s not a tax increase, but it could have been a million dollar tax decrease if we had been able to sign up for the program. They would have taken over responsibility for
recycling and we wouldn’t have had to tax for it.” Kettle said he doesn’t blame Multi Material BC so much as the producers themselves and called on environment minister Mary Polak to “use every weapon in her arsenal” to push them to support the program financially. “We’re not the only ones left hanging here,” he said. “I think this is really poorly administered.” Multi Material BC said it will be “evaluating opportunities to expand our collection network annually” and remains committed to talking with interested local governments about including them.
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