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Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 61 No. 23
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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SO2 hearings resume
Cécile Favron Environmental Appeal Board hearings into Rio Tinto Alcan's permit to increase sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from their aluminum smelter resumed at the Kitimat Rod and Gun Club last week. The hearings, taking place June 1-5 and June 8-12, mark the second half of the 20-day appeal that was previously held in Victoria. Kitimat residents Emily Toews and Lis Stannus are appealing RTA's permit, granted by the Ministry of Environment (MOE), to increase SO2 emissions from 27 tonnes per day to 42 tonnes per day – a 55 per cent increase – after the Kitimat Modernization Project is completed. The appellants, Toews and Stannus, maintain that they are in favour of the modernization project, but are concerned about health and environmental damage that could be caused by releasing a high magnitude of SO2 without any emission reduction technologies, mainly scrubbers, being employed. RTA maintains that the proper research procedures were followed when the permit was issued and that there is no present reason to use precautionary measures to reduce emissions. The Kitimat hearings saw Toews testify as to the adverse health effects she believe she will experience if RTA raises their SO2 emissions. Toews suffers from asthma and left the lower mainland because the pollution levels were aggravating her condition, something that she believes will happen again if 42 tonnes of SO2 emissions are released from the RTA smelter each day. After Toews took the stand, Ian Sharpe, the Delegate of the Director under the Environmental Management Act, testified as to why he approved the application to increase the SO2 emissions limit. Sharpe emphasized that science has yet to determine if there is a link between SO2 emissions and adverse health effects.
Kitimat vet fundraises for Nepal
/page 3 Head of Kitimat RCMP retires
/page 8 PM477761
For what remains of the last two weeks of the hearings, six Rio Tinto Alcan experts will be testifying as to how they came to their scientific conclusions on the environmental and human health effects that played a role in the ministry's decision to approve the permit. The appeal began in 2013, shortly after the permit to increase SO2 emissions was approved by the Ministry of the Environment. Toews and Stannus, both elementary school teachers in Kitimat, sought counsel after they became concerned for their own health and the health of their students. Lawyers Richard Overstall, counsel for Emily Toews, and Chris Tollefson, counsel for Lis Stannus, are advancing a multi-faceted case against the decision to approve the permit. “The Ministry of Environment has failed in its duty to independently assess this project,” Tollefson was quoted as saying in a press release by the Northwest Institute of Biological Research at the beginning of the appeal. “[The MOE] seems to be more committed to meeting RTA's needs, and this reveals a systemic problem.” On the scientific front, experts from across Canada provided testimony to the appeal board in Victoria as to the evidence that SO2 emissions can be harmful to the environment. There is evidence to suggest that SO2 emissions can cause acid rain which effects the soil and can be harmful to vegetation, according to Richard Overstall. Continued on page 8
Library crafts Adorable monster-crafter, Teanna Dewalt, age 5, visited the Kitimat Public Library on her day off of school, on May 29th for Monster Crafting. Kitimat Public Library
Union letter blasts District Cécile Favron Unifor 2300, the union representing the striking District of Kitimat workers, released an Open Letter to the Public last Wednesday accusing the district of a “negative media campaign.” The union said that they have been unable to respond to the district’s false statements due to confidentiality restrictions set out by the Labour Relations Board. This open letter comes as the union and the district returned to the bargaining table last Sunday and Monday for resumed negotiations with their mediator. Unifor described in the open letter that only the bargaining committees, including the Mayor and Council, were privy to the information discussed in the mediation. When the union proposed an offer to settle in the final minutes of the last bargaining session on May 23, the letter says they expected that the district’s bargaining team “would confer with Mayor and Council and respond to [them].” However, the union states in the letter that “[they] were very shocked when
the district didn’t confer with the Mayor and Council and went on a negative media campaign.” The union wrote that they find it difficult to address the claims the district has made in their releases to the press because of the confidentiality agreement in place. Through the letter, the union did attempt to correct some factual inaccuracies in the district’s press releases. The union clarified the district’s comments on the debate over the harassment policy saying that they only want to change the protection of the harassment policy in the deal so that it can not be unilaterally changed. The district has also attacked the union for demanding a 5 cent per hour wage increase even if the district does not see revenue from the project, but the union said that they are only demanding that increase if the District sees the revenue. Also noted was the scuffle between the two parties over security of employment. Both sides say the other side demanded a clause that dictates a set num-
ber of employees under the district. The union finished the letter by explaining why they chose to reject binding arbitration. “Our union refused binding arbitration because we believe that the best Collective Agreements are bargained at the table,” the letter reads. The union’s letter came just before the two sides returned to the table for another round of bargaining last weekend. The talks were only scheduled for two more days because these were the only two days that the district, the union, and the mediator were all available to meet. Going into the mediation, Unifor agent Martin McIlwrath was optimistic that the talks could bring an end to the strike. “This is the best opportunity to get a fair collective agreement for our members,” he said last week. Also, the district’s Chief Administrations Officer Warren Waycheshen said last week that “we are always willing to do whatever is reasonable to get a collective agreement” and stated that the district always goes into the talks with a sense of optimism.