107th Year - Week 12
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
NEW ARENA DONATIONS
Pipeline enters EA phase
Anonymous:
By Ryan Jensen
PM 40007014
Money raised to date:
$278,645
GOAL
$400,000 $10,000 and $5,000
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COY CATASTROPHE Steelheads dominated in Coy Cup.
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HAZELTON’S VOICE Muldoe advances on The Voice.
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Another major northern B.C. project has applied to obtain an Environmental Assessment Certificate. Starting Friday, the 45-day public comment period begins for the Coastal Gaslink LNG pipeline. The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office is hosting open houses on the project, starting March 27 in Chetwynd. TransCanada’s proposed Coastal Gaslink pipeline stretches about 650-km from northeastern B.C. to the LNG Canada gas liquification facility being put forward by Shell Canada in Kitimat. The proposed route lies more than 50 kilometres south of Smithers. The pipeline would have an initial capacity of two to three billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, with the potential for an expansion of up to five bcf/d. The other open houses are: April 1 in Fraser Lake, April 2 in Burns Lake and April 3 in Kitimat. According to the Ministry of Environment, the communities chosen to host open houses are along the project route. “The location and format of public open houses is determined by the environmental assessment office,” the ministry said in an email response. “Staff take into account factors such as potential project impacts, geographic scale and location of the project and the ability to reach as wide a community as possible, bearing in mind that it is not always possible to hold open houses in every interested community.” The public comment period ends May 5. The Environmental Assessment Office has 180 days to complete the application review, which started March 11. For more information on the Coastal Gaslink application and on how to submit a comment on the proposal, go to www.eao.gov.bc.ca.
TRIX IN THE STIX Freestyle boarders and skiers hit Rayz Terrain Park on Sunday afternoon for the annual Trix in the Stix competition. For the story, see Page A8. Nolan Kelly photo
Arena short of funds By Nolan Kelly Smithers/Interior News
Fundraising for Smithers’ new arena is down to its final weeks and the Second Sheet of Ice committee is still $140,000 short of their $400,000 goal. Not hitting the target would likely see the arena install one less set of $80,000 bleachers during construction. Fortunately, the designers had the foresight to make the project easily changeable so they can add to the arena later, once it’s been completed. “The whole arena is being designed that way,” Town of Smithers councillor Frank Wray said. “For example, we can add seating on the mezzanine, should we choose to at a later date.”
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At the next advisory board meeting, the committee will find out the exact costs associated with not installing the bleachers and whether or not it would be more expensive to install down the road. Currently the plan allots 394 seats in the arena, but, without the bleacher that number would be about 320, Second Sheet of Ice Committee member Al McCreary said. “At the end of the day, it’s more important for people to have a place to skate than it is for spectators to have a place to sit,” he added. Another option might be to have town council loan the money to the rink until the fundraising goal is met, though that doesn’t sound likely at this point. Of course, this could all be moot if the committee meets its fundraising target.
“We are in our final drive,” McCreary said. “We have some commitments and some people are getting back to us, but it’s going to be awful close.” McCreary says there is still a good chance they will meet the goal. The Second Sheet of Ice Committee don’t have any specific fundraisers planned, but they are making a lot of phone calls. “We are at the point where we have all the contacts and it’s just a matter of talking to people. Everyone is aware of where we are and we know that at the end of the day the building is going to be great,” committee member Erin Rowsell said. The committee has re-sent their updated sponsorship donors and are asking people and businesses in the community to get the word out. See ARENA on A2
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