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High-risk schools wait for seismic upgrades Cornelia Naylor staff reporter
As tremors rattle the B.C. coast and experts continue to warn of an inevitable mega-earthquake that could hit the province in the next 50 years, 15 high-risk Burnaby schools are still waiting for seismic upgrades. In 2004, all local schools built before 1992 were assessed to see how well they would stand up to “the big one” – a catastrophic quake predicted by geologists when pressure built up between the Juan de Fuca and North American tectonic plates for the last 300 years suddenly releases. Twenty-four School District No. 41 schools were deemed to be at high or moderate risk of damage during a major quake. Eight schools have since been seismically upgraded (or replaced, as in the case of Burnaby Central Secondary), and four have been approved in principle to be retrofitted: Alpha Secondary, Montecito Elementary, Burnaby North Secondary and Stride Avenue Elementary. Provincial funding for Alpha was announced in May 2012 and for the other three schools in April 2013, but work on the projects has yet to begin, and no firm timelines have been announced. One reason for the holdup, according to School District No. 41 secretary-treasurer Greg Frank, is the Alpha Secondary project, which has turned out to be more complex than expected. Seismic Page 8
Cornelia Naylor/burnaby now
High-risk: The three-storey classroom block of Alpha Secondary has been deemed at highest risk of structural failure in the event of a major earthquake, but seismic upgrades are still “quite a ways” off according to the school district.
Province wants more info on spill plans Jennifer Moreau staff reporter
The National Energy Board is allowing Kinder Morgan to keep parts of its emergency management plan for the Trans Mountain pipeline system redacted for commercial, security and privacy reasons, despite the provincial government’s insistence on more details. The provincial government asked for
the missing information, along with an oil spill response plan, in a Dec. 5 motion filed with the NEB. “The province has found the redactions made by Trans Mountain to be excessive, unjustified and prohibitive. The redactions thwart the province’s examination of the EMP (emergency management program) documents, and preclude a thorough understanding of Trans Mountain’s EMP by the board and all intervenors,” the
government’s motion reads. Some of the missing information includes people’s names and phones numbers, bomb threat checklists and valve locations. A section on the Burnaby tank farm is missing information on site drainage and maps for the terminal and the evacuation zone. But in a decision released last Thursday, the NEB sided with Kinder Morgan. “In this instance, the board is satisfied
that sufficient information has been filed from the existing EMP documents to meet the board’s requirements at this stage in the process,” the response reads. The board went on to explain that the province will be privy to some of the missing documents as Kinder Morgan consults “implicated parties” to update the plans for the proposed pipeline expansion. Plans Page 4
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