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Volume 62 No. 10
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www.northernsentinel.com
$20,000 raised in only three days
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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Shannon Lough In a short time, community support for a young commercial fisherman who was recently diagnosed with cancer demonstrates the incredible generosity of people on the North Coast. In only three days after a GoFundMe page was set up for Cody Scheureman by his girlfriend’s sister, $20,000 was raised by 200 donors. The initial goal was $10,000 to help with the financial burden while Scheureman goes through five months of chemotherapy treatment at the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital. But the donations keep rolling in from friends, acquaintances and even strangers. How do I say thank you?, Sheureman said. At only 30 years of age, he was diagnosed with a rare form of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. While he battles the cancer that affects his immune system he is unable to work with his crew who are currently in the south fishing for herring. The story of his diagnosis touched the hearts of many in the small city, where he shares a home with his girlfriend Sam Kasdorf. “My family is blown away because they see it all online. My friends and family who live in Alberta, and who have wondered why I’ve stayed up here so long in this rainy little town, see something like this happen,” Scheureman said trailing off in a loss of words. He doesn’t know where to begin to say thank you to everyone. He grew up in Kitimat, and then his family moved to Alberta. Homesick for the North Coast, he returned to study at the NorthWest Community College 10 years ago. He found a job and stayed. The names of the donors are shown on the Continued on page 9
The Bay opens in winter of 1956.
/page 5 Students and teacher, Japan bound.
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More than 30,000 comments have been submitted to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency on the draft environmental assessment report for the Pacific NorthWest LNG Project which ends Friday, March 11.
Pacific NW submits new info to CEAA Shannon Lough The have been more than 30,000 comments and new information provided by Pacific NorthWest LNG since the public consultation for the draft environmental report on the proposed Lelu Island project began 29 days ago. “We will be evaluating new information submitted by the proponent in an efficient way that meets our obligations to Canadians, as we do for every major project,” said the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna in the House of Commons on March 8. The proponent submitted its comments to the minister’s office on March 4 to address some of the environmental concerns that were raised by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) in the draft report. The deadline for comments on the environmental report ends March 11 and then the final decision whether or not to approve the LNG project will rest with McKenna. The first document from the proponent addresses the
CEAA’s conclusion that the project will have significant adverse affects on the harbour porpoise. Pacific NorthWest’s letter to McKenna, sent via email, states that the information in the “Marine Mammal Program Interim Report” was delivered on an interim basis and it was not the final report.
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CEAA came to its conclusion was not satisfactory with the proponent. “Project environmental effects must be assessed in isolation from effects caused by existing and future activities, other than those associated with the project,” the letter from the proponent states.
We will be evaluating new information submitted by the proponent in an efficient way that meets our obligations to Canadians
In the final report, the proponent found through data collection and habitat suitability modelling that there is an alternative habitat available for the harbour porpoise and “the project is not likely to result in a significant adverse effect to the harbour porpoise,” the letter states. Another letter sent to the minister addresses the CEAA’s analysis of how the LNG project would have significant greenhouse gas emissions causing adverse environmental effects. How the
The CEAA’s draft environmental impact statement found that the nature of greenhouse gas emissions are cumulative with climate change happening globally. “These findings are incapable of supporting the conclusion that the project will likely cause significant adverse environmental effects as a result of it’s GHG emissions.” Pacific NorthWest LNG suggests other amendments to the CEAA draft report, such as how storm water runoff from the LNG plant will be
collected to avoid contamination. Other nitty gritty amendments to the draft include adding seasonal temperature averages in Prince Rupert and semantics, such as adding “calm” to describe the winds that occur on Holland Rock. The public process is transparent, and all new information from the proponent and the 30,000 public comments are available to view online. “Once the report is finalized, all information will be provided to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to help inform her determination as to whether the project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects,” said Karen Fish, the communications adviser to the CEAA in an email. Fish also confirmed that a day before that public consultation process ended there were some in-person comments submitted to the agency. Jonathan Moore, Liber Ero Chair of Coastal Science and Management, at Simon Fraser Univer Continued on page 3