S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 27 NO. 40
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Crucial stage for LNG project THE NEXT step toward a small liquefied natural gas (LNG) project being planned near Kitimat should be known within days. That’s because Pacific Northern Gas (PNG), which would supply the natural gas to the Douglas Channel LNG project, has to tell the BC Utilities Commission whether it wants to build a 10-inch line just for the project or a larger 30inch line sufficient for that project and for other potential ones in the same area. The company will file to the utilities commission by Jan. 29, building off of approval given last November for PNG to build either line. The approval for either line, both of which would be approximately 9km in length from the current end of PNG’s natural gas line in Kitimat, is part of a series of complex moves involving PNG’s parent company, AltaGas of Calgary. AltaGas is a partner with Japanese energy giant Idemitsu Kosan and with international energy trader EDF Trading and Belgium-based energy shipper and provider EXMAR in Douglas Channel LNG. In turn, AltaGas and Idemitsu Canada are partners in a second potential LNG project known as Triton and going ahead of this one would require the larger 30-inch line. That line would also be sufficient to
supply a third potential LNG project, Cedar, which is backed by the Haisla Nation. All three LNG projects would have gas-cooling plants housed on floating barges and the Haisla would benefit from both Douglas Channel and Triton in addition to Cedar. If PNG tells the utilities commission it wants to build the larger 30-inch line, it would need to build what would be a companion natural gas line to its existing 10-inch line stretching west of Prince George which now serves customers in the northwest. It is commonly known as the “looping project” and PNG has already filed a project description with provincial environmental regulators in preparation for eventual construction approval. Neither PNG nor parent AltaGas have signalled its intentions leading up to the Jan. 29 filing deadline date and the utilities commission has said it has yet to hear from PNG. “There’s still really nothing to say,” said AltaGas official Sandra Semple last week. At a planned export volume of up to 550,000 tonnes of LNG annually, Douglas Channel LNG would be the smallest of the nearly 20 LNG projects under consideration along B.C.’s coast.
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More nurses to be hired
TERRACE COULD very well be in line to have vacant nursing positions here filled thanks to an agreement reached by the provincial government and the BC Nurses’ Union last week. But details are still being worked out, says the Northern Health Authority’s Jonathon Dyck. The overall agreement calls for 1,600 positions to be filled across B.C. with 100 of those for the north. The health authority’s jobs website indicates there are 12 positions vacant here and 39 within the northwest. “With any type of recruitment for nurses, there is a process we have to follow, and that includes going through an internal posting and an external posting,” said Dyck. “We are very early on in this process,” he said. Last week’s agreement follows on one reached four years ago between the
nurses’ union and the province which called for more than 2,100 positions to be filled but critics have pointed out that that agreement remains largely unfilled. Nurses’ union officials expect nurses now employed as casuals to apply for the positions which are to be classified as regular jobs. The province has budgeted $500,000 for recruitment and has set the end of March to have the positions filled. The greatest need across the province is for specialty nurses. The nursing job postings for Terrace include three for Licenced Practical Nurses, two for psychiatric nurses and one for a mental health clinician. There are also two general nursing positions, and positions open in critical care, acute care, the operating room, and maternity. Of those, three are full time, one is part time, and eight are casual jobs.
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■■ Jumping time AVA MARQUES is ready to practise jumps on Ocean at Copperside Stables Jan. 23. Karen Ritchey from Burns Lake was in town coaching riders and helping them get their horses accustomed to the rails and jumping.
Memorial map
Plan details
Shared tradition
Heritage society looking to get cenotaph on new online map \COMMUNITY A15
Refinery plan doesn’t include pipeline and terminal \NEWS A12
With a rich history going back to 1978, floor hockey engages everyone \SPORTS A22