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Sentinel
Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 61 No. 31
LNG jobs no certainty Cameron Orr The provincial government has been touting 100,000 jobs connected to the LNG industry in B.C., but a new report is telling the public to dial their expectations down. “We find that this claim is not credible and that potential employment impacts have been grossly overstated,” the report, authored by Marc Lee from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, states in its opening paragraph. The report continues that they see 2,000 to 3,000 construction jobs provided per plant over three years, and 200 to 300 permanent workers. Drawing on the experiences of Australia, the report says that in 2014 there were 13,000 construction workers building three LNG facilities. It also goes on to suggest that the third-party jobs analysis commissioned by the province was only done to provide the appearance of independence, given that the consultancy Grant Thornton used numbers and models provided by the province. Under that report’s assumption of five operating LNG plants in B.C., it said it would employ 2,400, which the report says is, too, an overstatement, “based on real-world experience from Australia or Maine,” and that there may be closer to 1,700 jobs, it says. For Kitimat’s own projects, Kitimat LNG, the Chevron-led project, said they anticipate 4,500 total people for construction, which includes 1,500 working on the Pacific Trail Pipeline. Shell-led LNG Canada expects, at the highest end, 7,500 jobs including contractors in construction. Continued on page 3
Kitimat UNBC student getting molecular. /page 7 Kitimat raised director gets award nomination. /page 8 PM477761
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Wednesday, August 5, 2015
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The scene of a vehicle collision on Haisla Bridge on July 24, which sent two people to the hospital with injuries. Kitimat RCMP photo
$200K for intersection work The provincial government is spending $200,000 for intersection improvements at Haisla Boulevard and Kitamaat Village Road. That intersection is effectively the spot where Highway 37S ends and Haisla Boulevard, the municipally maintained section of road, begins. The spending is part of the B.C. government’s 10 year transportation plan, which includes $30 million for intersection safety improvements over three years. Minister of Transportation Todd Stone, in town for the announcement, said the improvements will include better sightlines and he also mentioned a traffic island, however there were no visuals available to how the intersection would look. The work will be done quickly though, anticipated to be completed before the construction season ends this year, and work will begin in August or September, he says. “It’s one of a number of intersections we are intent on improving in this corridor,” said Stone at the event July 27. Mayor Phil Germuth said he’s looking forward to other work such as the intersection at Cable Car and at the landfill. Stone said that the two additional intersections will be contenders for the next two years of the three-year intersection improvement plan. Other transportation issues weren’t lost on the minister, but said work is ongoing for those. Those issues being looked at are the Haisla Bridge as an aging but critical bit of local infrastructure, and development of the West Side Road, which would run down the west side of the Douglas Channel.
“There is a corridor analysis underway in terms of the West Side Road, and that is coming along. There’s still a bit more work to finish that off,” said Stone. “We’re well aware of the situation with the Haisla Bridge and absolutely agree that it will be a critical choke point that will need to be addressed, particularly once final investment decisions are reached with some of the LNG projects that anticipate being built here.” Stone noted increased funding in the B.C. On the Move plan which provides resources for bridges and secondary highways. “Haisla Bridge will be a good candidate, potentially, for consideration,” he said of that program. He added that the province would likely look to the federal government for support on funding Haisla Bridge. “We’re having discussions with the municipality and the federal government, and potentially proponents as well that will benefit from that bridge being upgraded.” Intersection improvements wasn’t the only funding announcement made in Kitimat last week. Member of Parliament for the Prince George area Bob Zimmer was also on hand to announce federal funding to fixup Kitimat’s sewage waste water treatment centre. The government announced $1.2 million for the project, which is being paid for through a one-third cost sharing with the province and the municipality. “In addition to a structural retrofit of the plant, the project will include replacing the pumps, the ventilation, filtration control and aeration systems,” said Zimmer. Continued on page 5