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Volume 62 No. 05
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Rio Tinto fine amount has not yet been decided Margaret Speirs Submissions over how much Rio Tinto Alcan should be fined after being found guilty of killing salmon continued last week in Terrace court. The company was originally charged with one count each of harmful alteration of fish habitat and destruction of fish, two violations of the Federal Fisheries Act, from an event at Kemano where its hydroelectric facilities powering its Kitimat aluminum smelter are located. Those charges stem from an April 14, 2011 incident in which the company decreased the water supply to the Kemano River, a move that followed an emergency request made by BC Hydro regarding repairs the crown corporation needed to make. Rio Tinto was found guilty by provincial court judge Calvin Struyk a year ago and lawyers for the parties were before him last
week regarding the size of a fine and other matters. Penalties imposed on the company could be fines of up to $1,000,000, up to six months in jail or both. With eulachon and salmon in the Kemano River, and the importance of the eulachon to the Haisla people, Alcan had an agreement with the Haisla to give the eulachon priority. But in focusing on the eulachon, salmon weren’t considered, said Struyk in his March 2015 decision. That decision was released from a trial that took place over several days in May and October 2014. In its own statement of May 13, 2013, BC Hydro said it asked Rio Tinto Alcan to cut the flow of water into the Kemano River, which would mean less water going through its generators to produce electricity, because of a “hot spot,” a bad connection on a trans-
Club founder wins award.
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mission line that had heated up and was in danger of melting the connection. The transmission lines of Rio Tinto Alcan and BC Hydro are connected so that if the connection had melted, it could’ve potentially caused “catastrophic damage to the transmission line and surrounding area and result in a longer outage to repair,” said BC Hydro in that statement. It added that a repair was required as soon as possible. On Jan. 27, 2016, Crown prosecutor Michelle Ball said the crown wanted a fine of $250,000 and a Water Survey Canada gauge to be installed at a cost of $20,000 and monitored for 10 years with a cost of $20,000 per year. In replying, defence lawyer Robert Hunter said that if the flow had not been cut to the Kemano River, then the work to repair Contined on page 5
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
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Rail jam jammin’ January 29 Kitimat saw some spectacular displays of downhill snowboarding and skiiing skills during the Rail Jam event, which brought in many contestants who challenged the man made ski jump at City Centre Mall parking lot. Photo Chamber of Commerce
Industry vibe still positive: mayor The Premier’s B.C. Natural Resources Forum had Mayor Phil Germuth in attendance to hear about the state of the province’s resources industry and he says the overall vibe is still of optimism, even if no final investment decision has been made on local mega-projects. The event ran January 19 to 21. There were certain takeaways that Germuth took from the event, one being there’s a will be the mayors of communities upstream, midstream and downstream of natural gas proposals who see value in potentially putting together a presentation for the federal government out east to underline the important of LNG to the region. Such a mission follows a recent letter from the District of Kitimat and the Haisla Nation Council inviting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the area.
“The concern is that possibly back east they might be thinking that everything’s a slam dunk,” said Germuth. “Of course we know that’s not true. There’s still a lot of work to be done.” He said the town had received a response from the Prime Minister’s Office following the letter that Trudeau’s schedule is being reviewed to possibly fit in a trip to the Northwest. Meanwhile for B.C. specifically, the provincial sales tax (PST) is becoming a hot topic for LNG proponents. “The PST has definitely become an issue to them being able get a final investment decision because of the price of oil,” said Germuth. The companies appear to be seeking some flexibility in the PST rates to make them more competitive. “The PST does actually become one
of the considering factors for them. So hopefully there can be something there to be worked out,” added Germuth. Companies are also seeking reassessments from their materials suppliers to provide a better rate due to the low cost of oil, he said. The area political leaders, said Germuth, are all seeing the impacts of no FIDs and that is leading the collaborative spirit. “They’re feeling the slow down just like we are. Everybody is pushing for it and trying to work together to see it come through to fruition,” he said, noting the feeling of development is still optimistic from what he’s seen. The Kitimat-based LNG Canada project and the Prince Rupert-based Petronas are still the current top bets for projects that will go ahead, he added.