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Sentinel
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Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 61 No. 12
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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The union representing workers at the Kitimat Rio Tinto Alcan smelter have filed a judicial review in the supreme court challenging the smelter’s emissions permit which as of now does not require sulphur dioxide scrubbers which the union says is a health hazard. File photo
Union contests smelter’s emissions permit Unifor 2301 has filed a judicial review to the supreme court to challenge Rio Tinto Alcan’s emissions permit which allows them to increase their sulphur dioxide emissions without installing SO2 scrubbers. The union, which represents 950 members in Kitimat, say the increase in SO2 poses a “major public health threat.” From 27 tonnes per day, the RTA emissions will rise to a maximum of 42 tonnes a day, which reflects a larger output of aluminum, the company has said. Unifor 2301 President Rick
Belmont said in a union press release that the B.C. government “must take the threat to public health in Kitimat seriously.” The union says the emissions for the new smelter are only limited in relation to daily emissions, while it should be restricted for average emissions in five to 10 minute intervals as health effects from SO2 come from ‘spikes’ of concentration, they say. The union also believe the decision-making process itself was flawed, with a Ministry of Environment employee receiving payments from RTA.
Looking at Kitimat’s road future.
/page 5 Peewee tournament turns out well at new venue. /page 12 PM477761
A company spokesperson last November said secondment agreements — the name for agreements as in that case — are not out of the ordinary when it comes to assessing and permitting large industrial projects. As for the permit itself and the union’s recent filing, Rio Tinto Alcan spokesperson Kevin Dobbin said they are surprised by the union’s action. “We’re spending $4.8 billion on a new, state-of-the-art technology smelter that will reduce environmental impacts by over 50 per cent, so we strongly believe the
smelter is going to be very good for the environment and the health of our employees,” said Dobbin. He said the company commissioned a third-party study on the effects of SO2 which lasted 18 months and it was reviewed by the ministry of environment. That review led to the development of an Environmental Effects Management plan which will call for extensive testing in the start up phase, said Dobbin. As for another ongoing appeal by two Kitimat residents on the company’s emissions permit, Dobbin said the company will
watch how the process unfolds but RTA is pushing forward as normal with their permit in hand. “We’re proceeding under that premise that we have a permit from the ministry of environment,” he said. We still feel very strongly that the environmental impacts will be minimal and we’ll just go from there.” The environmental appeal of RTA’s permit by Kitimat residents Lis Stannus and Emily Toews begins hearings April 27 in Victoria, with hearings scheduled for Kitimat at the Rod and Gun Club starting June 1.
Fake oxy pills may have led to two ODs Cameron Orr Fake oxycodone pills, which have seen a rise in prevalence in the Lower Mainland, have possibly touched down in Kitimat. Kitimat Staff Sergeant Phil Harrison said there were two incidents of people overdosing on the pills in Kitimat in one week. On March 11, the second of the two incidents, the RCMP detail that officers found 45 bluish pills near the victim while paramedics conducted first aid. Both individuals have been treated and are recovering. The pills are identified by the letters CDN pressed on one side and the number 80 on the other. That branding is how RCMP determined what the drugs likely were. The pills have been sent to labs for analysis. Harrison said he didn’t know yet if the person found near 45 pills had any intent to traffic them. Harrison explained that counterfeit oxycodone is known to have either caffeine and Fentanyl or just Fentanyl, which is more potent than the pain medication oxycodone. Fentanyl is supposedly up to 100 times more potent than morphine and is
more potent than heroin. In February 2014 the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse issued an alert relating to the rising availability of illicit Fentanyl. The Centre’s alert described similar pills as being found in Kitimat recently, with the exception of the centre’s description being of green, rather than blue, pills. Also last week B.C.’s anti-gang task force in Chilliwack made a major drug bust which included large hauls of Fentanyl, however a spokesperson for the Combined Special Enforcement Unit in B.C. (CSEUBC) said the drugs confiscated by them were known to be supplying communities up to Dawson Creek, but were not known to be sent Northwest, including to Kitimat. “The connections that we know of start at Williams Lake and work their way up to Prince George and then go in the direction of Fort St. John and Dawson Creek, which were the terminus of the drug lines for this group,” said Sergeant Lindsey Houghton, a media spokesperson for the CSEUBC. In that raid 2.136 kg of Fentanyl powder and 12.83 kg of Fentanyl pills were found, valued at almost $4.5 million total.