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VOL. 27 NO. 33
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Millions offered to First Nations for pipelines
ANNA KILLEN PHOTO
■■ Homemade goods GISELE LINDSTROM browses at the Mills Memorial Hospital Auxillary annual craft sale on Saturday, Nov. 29, the two-day sale featured homemade crafts and treats for a good cause.
FIRST NATIONS stand to earn millions from having natural gas pipelines cross over their traditional territories from northeastern gas fields to liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants on the coast. So far the province is offering $10 million per year for each of four natural gas pipeline routes now being planned to be divided up among applicable First Nations once those pipelines are in operation. It’s also offering signing bonuses and pipeline construction milestone payments to those same First Nations. Speaking last week, provincial natural gas development minister Rich Coleman said the provincial money is intended as one way for First Nations to benefit from what could be a significant industrial base for decades. “The First Nations side is coming along very well,” said Coleman of the provincial monetary package being offered as part of the province’s overall LNG strategy. The Nisga’a Nation, using its 2000 land claims agreement with the federal and provincial governments as a foundation, has already signed onto one route – Prince Rupert Gas
Transmission owned by TransCanada Pipelines, a 900 km 48-inch pipeline to feed PacificNorthwest LNG, a facility Malyasian-owned Petronas wants to build on Lelu Island near Prince Rupert. The Nisga’a are to receive $1.014 million right away and $5.07 million divided into two equal instalments – one when construction of the pipeline has begun and the second when the first gas starts to flow. These payments are in addition to a separate benefits agreement the Nisga’a Nation has signed with TransCanada and separate to any tax revenues the Nisga’a would receive from the pipeline as it crosses through Nisga’a Lands. Provincial information indicates the same basic package of a signing bonus and construction milestone payments as accepted by the Nisga’a is being offered to each and every First Nation along the four pipeline routes now being planned. Coleman did stress that other than the signing bonuses being offered, no money will be paid out until the province starts receiving taxation revenue from LNG developments.
Cont’d Page A5
City road project delayed THE CITY’S flagship roads project for the 2014 season has been delayed until the spring first because of rains this fall and now because of frost, says director of public works Rob Schibli. The $1,923,000 project to redo the water mains, drainage surface and subsurface of a 840-metre stretch of Graham Ave., the southside’s southernmost traffic artery, from Eby Street to Kalum Street, won’t completed until some time in the spring. “We have ceased works on the reconstruction for the season, and we’ll start back up in the spring as soon as the air and ground temperatures permit,” said Schibli. Until the repaving gets done in the spring the road will be gravel and dirt and residents were notified that they can address concerns and get updates on the progress of the project by phoning the city,
which would then work on solutions with the contractor for the project, Bear Creek Contracting. Bear Creek has recently done some levelling of the gravel and dirt in response to concerns over potholes, and will continue to make minor repairs and do upkeep over the course of the winter. The cause for the delay is being blamed on the rainy spell that happened earlier this fall followed by frost, said Schibli. “It was marginally behind schedule in early September when the rain hit,” he added. There are three weeks of paving work remaining and he does not expect the project to go over budget. Part of the spring work will be extending the sidewalk. “There is an extension of the sidewalk which will now extend all the way to Kalum,” Schibli said.
JOSH MASSEY PHOTO
SOUTHSIDE DRIVERS will be traveling over a graveled portion of Graham St. until paving takes place next spring.
In their words
Injunction
Major victory
Early settlers tell about their lives in northwest in new book \COMMUNITY A10
Imperial Metals has been granted an injunction preventing barricade\ NEWS A9
Centennial Christian School gets a big win at volleyball provincials \SPORTS A24