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Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 61 No. 18
42 tonnes/ day (new)
Sentinel
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Wednesday, May 6, 2015
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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27 tonnes/ day (old)
SO2 hearings underway
Cameron Orr The environmental appeal hearings for Rio Tinto Alcan’s emissions permit that allows it to increase it’s sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions without the use of scrubbers has begun. The emissions currently permitted for the new smelter will be mostly reduced, while SO2 specifically will increase 56 per cent from its current emissions of 27 tonnes a day. Kitimat’s Lis Stannus and Emily Toews successfully filed an appeal of the permit, after several others also attempted but were denied. The hearings formally begun April 27, with remarks from the pair’s lawyers, and the Northwest Institute (NI) has provided summaries from the proceedings and submitted them to news media. NI says Stannus’ counsel Chris Tollefson opened the case saying it’s not about pitting jobs against the environment or people opposed to KMP. “This is about the need for an adequate venue to critically...review available science.” Continued on page 2
RTA’s ‘flotel’ leaves Kitimat harbour.
/page 5 Day of Mourning event marked in Kitimat. /page 8 PM477761
Walk for a cause A community walk for Autism Speaks Canada, to raise money and awareness about autism, was a great success, with 200 attendees and thousands raised for the cause. More about the walk on page 8. Cameron Orr
Alternate schools getting reviewed A review of all the alternate schools and programs in the Coast Mountains School District had students, parents and interested community stakeholders out to Kitimat City High last Tuesday to discuss the programs they run, their strengths and challenges. The review is being facilitated by consultant Frank Dunham, who will begin writing his report on feedback this week for submission to the school board. This review was initiated by the school board. But what the review is not, according to superintendent Katherine McIntosh in an opening remark, is a discussion on whether or not to close this or any other school. “The alternate program review is truly to help the board learn about what we’re providing for kids in those programs and what the challenges are,” she told the Sentinel. The process began with the new school board following the election, and talk about reviewing alternate programs
“It’s part of a healthy school system and a healthy school district. We really should be doing regular program reviews and the alternate programs in our District hadn’t been reviewed for quite a number of years.” began in December. “It was the new board [after the elections]...they started talking that perhaps it’s time to review all the alternate programs in our school district,” said McIntosh. Last week the first phase of the process wrapped up, and he’ll begin assembling the report this week. “It’s part of a healthy school system and a healthy school district. We really should be doing regular program re-
views and the alternate programs in our District hadn’t been reviewed for quite a number of years,” she said. “Our students change and our communities, and families change. Our community expectations of our programs change as well. That was why the board decided to embark on the alternate program review process.” She said district wide about 200 students use alternate programs and schools, and Kitimat City High enrollment is about 46. The eventual report from Dunham, which McIntosh expects at some point within the month, will be made public and will be a guide to the board for future discussion. “It will outline information for them and provide a direction for the future,” she said. McIntosh noted she has been impressed with the quality of the information that had been gathered in the process. Continued on page 6