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Sentinel
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Northern
Years est. 1954
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 58 No. 46
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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Eli guilty 2011 Kitimat murder Margaret Speirs Two days of heavy drinking and repeated viewings of a violent movie preceded a shocking murder in Kitimat in October 2011, Terrace court heard. Tyler Scott Eli told psychiatrists he felt like he was in a movie and could kill someone without getting caught, a packed courtroom heard as Justice Robert Punnett read his reasons for his judgement on Eli after a lengthy trial. Punnett said Crown had to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt and succeeded. Punnett found Eli guilty of the second degree murder of Maria Rego, attempted murder of Gualter Rego and break and enter with intent to
commit an offence in Terrace supreme court November 5, more than three years after the crime was committed. On October 9, 2011, around 7 a.m., Kitimat RCMP were called to a residence in the Whitesail area for an alleged break and enter with assault, whereby officers found a man and woman, who had been assaulted and were in need of immediate medical help, said police in a release at that time. Both went to hospital in Kitimat where the woman died from her injuries and the man had surgery and was listed in stable condition, reported police. Continued on page 3
Residents question RTA salary payments
The Hospital Auxiliary tree in the Kitimat General Hospital lobby, which is seasonally decorated, paid tribute to Canada’s veterans leading up to Remembrance Day, which was marked yesterday.
Josh Massey Two Kitimat residents are questioning the payment by Rio Tinto Alcan of the salary of a provincial environment employee involved in issuing permits for the company’s $4.3 billion Kitimat aluminum smelter modernization project. Lis Stannus and Emily Toews are appealing the granting of a permit allowing the company to increase its sulphur dioxide emissions as part of the modernization work and now argue, in documents filed with provincial Environmental Appeal Board (EAB), that “the decision under appeal is invalid due to a reasonable apprehension of bias.” The two are requesting
documents relating to what’s called a secondment agreement whereby Rio Tinto Alcan paid the salary of environment ministry staffer Frazer McKenzie for two years while he worked the ministry’s assessment of the project. Rio Tinto Alcan is saying there is no bias and has filed its position with the EAB. Company official Colleen Nyce said secondment agreements such as the one for McKenzie are not out of the ordinary when it comes to assessing and permitting large industrial projects. “Secondment agreements are a practice between industry and government in British Columbia as a way for major projects that require significant time
and attention to the hundreds of permits required,” said Nyce. With more than 300 permits needed and the complications of planning a large project, Nyce said “the B.C. Ministry of Environment was not able to provide such a dedicated resource” and so benefitted from the Rio Tinto Alcan payments. As for the secondment of McKenzie, Nyce said he was not involved in the decision making process. “The ministry resource assigned through the secondment agreement provided technical expertise to Rio Tinto Alcan and acted in an independent regulatory role on the project,” she said. Continued on page 6
LNG Canada and BC Hydro mark power terms Cameron Orr An agreement to supply power to LNG Canada in Kitimat has been made with BC Hydro. The two sides announced the arrangement November 4. BC Hydro announced that the agreement gives hydro power to LNG Canada for their auxiliary uses. LNG Canada later clarified that auxiliary is essentially processes that aren’t related to the natural processing itself, things like lighting. Electricity from BC Hydro will account for about 20 per cent of the LNG Canada facility’s power needs, the company says. BC Hydro also notes that LNG Canada will be on the hook to fund some new power infrastructure for operation
and transmission pieces so they can hook in to BC Hydro’s own grid. The company has said details on the costs for that work is confidential company knowledge. Sources in LNG Canada say that the decision to use hydro power for their auxiliary needs came from comments made through community consultations. The company still plans to use gas turbines to provide power for the liquefaction process. The sources said that the scale that LNG Canada would operate at means it could not rely 100 per cent on hydro power. Using an existing electrical grid is still more the exception than the norm globally, says the company, where plants, including the Oman LNG facility some community
stakeholders visited recently, use gas turbines on-site to generate all of their electricity on site. This is the first power agreement signed in British Columbia with an LNG proponent, BC Hydro said in their news release. “We heard very clearly from First Nations, the local community, and the provincial government how important it is that LNG Canada considers environmental factors when planning for the proposed project,” said Andy Calitz, CEO of LNG Canada, in a news release. “The decision to power our facility with renewable electricity in combination with highly efficient natural gas turbines reflects our commitment to listen to, and act on feedback from our stakeholders, when possible.” More on LNG power on page 7
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Small business grows ... page 18