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Sentinel
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Northern
Years est. 1954
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 60 No. 19
Concern at Jed Stumps Cameron Orr Even with no official indication their living arrangement might change, residents of the Jed Stumps trailer court have taken their concern to town councillors in anticipation of a rezoning application. Vivian Douglas spoke on behalf of the “It won’t be very 68 residents of the trailer court, who are wor- much time until progress kicks ried that new owners of the property will seek us in the butt. a rezoning application And I’m only which would effectively remove residents in hoping you’re favour of new developon our side.” ments. “I know in a year and a half there will be [a zoning application]. I am just one of 68 people who live and have our families in the trailer court,” she said. The uncertainty has already impacted lives in the sense that it’s challenging to sell trailer units right now. Douglas said she had wanted to sell her unit but buyers aren’t there if they don’t know if they’ll be able to stay a year from now. “The other thing is if we wanted to sell right now there is no buyers and we can’t blame them because everything is up in the air,” she said. She added, “I bring these points to you because I think that while you’re sleeping in your bed, we are worried whether we will have a roof over our head.” Residents in the trailer court had been concerned last year as well. (Sentinel, October 13, 2013.) A special meeting of residents was held with the Kitimat Housing Resource Worker at the Northwest Community College campus to work out what was happening and what wasn’t. Residents were relieved to know there would be no immediate changes to the property but clearly the overall worry remains. At the April 28 committee of the whole meeting, Mayor Joanne Monaghan relayed that she had spoken with the current owner of the trailer court and asked about any imminent plans to do with the property and she had been assured there was none at this time. Douglas said that through her role of collecting rents at the property she had heard progress towards change may have been going faster than what may be realized. “It won’t be very much time until progress kicks us in the butt. And I’m only hoping you’re on our side.”
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
$
The travelling carnival of West Coast Amusements arrived in Kitimat on April 28, bringing with it the usual array of bright lights and loud music. Cameron Orr
Shell increases stake in LNG Canada Cameron Orr While there is still a good deal of time between now and a potential final investment decision, the LNG Canada project proposal did reach a notable milestone with the formalized agreement of the project as its own company. The new entity, LNG Canada Development Inc., is headed by CEO Andy Calitz, and includes a new ownership arrangement. The same four partners are involved in the project but Shell Canada now controls 50 per cent of the project, PetroChina now holds 20 per cent ownership, and KOGAS and Mitsubishi each hold 15 per cent.
Calitz was joined by representatives of those partners and with Premier Christy Clark and Deputy Premier Rich Coleman during the announcement for this on April 30 in Vancouver. The “uncertainties” the company still has to deal with before there would be any construction at LNG Canada’s site at the former Methanex facility includes the environmental reviews through the Environmental Assessment Office and the Oil and Gas Commission, further consultation with First Nations, a front end engineering and design study (FEED), gas development strategies and labour ar-
rangements, as well as a final cost estimate. “That work will take 18 to 24 months,” said Calitz. Ensuring labour requirements and physically building a pipeline through the mountains are among the other issues Calitz is looking ahead to. LNG Canada has contracted TransCanada to build a proposed natural gas
pipeline called Coastal GasLink to deliver the gas to the Kitimat liquefaction facility. Premier Clark said that the announcement on April 30 is a “vote of confidence” that the province is prepared to work with investors and that its a signal of progress for “all LNG projects and for investors around the world.” “We cannot get to
that final investment decision eventually if we don’t take this important step that we’re taking today,” she said. She suggested there may be final investment decisions from some LNG companies by the end of this year but added she doesn’t expect to see an LNG Canada final investment decision until at least next year.
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PTI Group breaks ground .... page 11