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Prince George Citizen September 17, 2019

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Tuesday, September 17, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Rainy day art Mandy Paavola of MP Make-up Artistry paints a mural on the window of Magic Wash on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Carney Street on Monday afternoon.

Environmental review begins for petrochemical project Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca A preliminary project description is now on the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office website for a component of an ambitious petrochemical complex in Prince George. The 143-page document was posted on Thursday and marks the formal beginning of the EAO’s review of West Coast Olefins Ltd.’s proposal to build an ethylene plant on a 120-hectare (300-acre) property in the BCR Industrial Site. It’s one of three major components of a petrochemical complex proposed for Prince George, along with an ethylene derivatives plant and a natural gas recovery system. According to the document, the ethylene plant would use feedstock from Enbridge’s West Coast natural gas pipeline primarily to produce about one million tonnes per year of polymer-grade ethylene. In turn, most of that would go to the adjacent ethylene derivatives plant at the BCR to produce polyethylene – essentially plastic in pellet form – and possibly mono-ethylene glycol – used as antifreeze and heat transfer fluid – for export to Asia. The polyethylene plant, in turn, would be “developed by others” at a different site, according to the project’s proponents. Like WCOL’s ethylene plant, the derivatives plant would also go through the province’s environmental assessment process. Meanwhile, a subsidiary of WCOL would operate a natural gas recovery system, consisting of an extraction plant adjacent to the pipeline and connected to a separation

Today’s Weather Hi +13° Low +7° See page 2 for more details and short-term forecasts

LOCAL HOROSCOPE NEWS OPINION COMICS

plant at the BCR,10 kilometres away. The separation plant would produce ethane, propane, butane and condensate. While the ethane would go to WCOL’s ethane plant, the propane and butane would be loaded into rail cars and sent to Prince Rupert or Kitimat for export to Asia. The condensate, in turn, would be sent by rail to Alberta for sale into the condensate pool or could potentially be sold as feedstock to the Husky refinery in Prince George. The natural gas recovery system would be subject to a review by the Oil and Gas Commission. Proponents have said the projects are add up to $5.6 billion worth of construction and would employ about 1,000 people once completed. According to the submission to the EAO, the ethylene plant would account for as much as $2.8 billion of that total, with the construction expected to span from the spring of 2021 to summer of 2023 and generate 2,000 to 3,000 jobs at its peak. Once completed, it would employ 140 to 180 employees directly and 25 to 50 contract employees during commercial operation, and have an initial lifespan of about 25 years. “In addition to this, the local community will experience multiple indirect benefits, such as support of local services and inclusion of local institutions for training purposes,” WCOL added in the submission. On the environmental impact, WCOL says it is “committed to best-in-class environmental performance.” — see ‘THESE ARE, page 3

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FILE PHOTO FROM NORTHERN LIGHTS WILDLIFE WOLF CENTRE

A five-year program of wolf reduction has turned a 15 per cent a year decline in the population of the Central Group of the Southern Mountain Caribou into a 15 per cent a year increase, according a memo from the B.C. Caribou Recovery Program.

Wolf cull could target up to 80 per cent in some areas Randy SHORE Vancouver Sun The provincial government is proposing a predator cull that would kill more than 80 per cent of the wolf population in parts of central British Columbia that are home to threatened caribou herds, according to correspondence from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “The objective of this wolf reduction program is to reverse caribou population decline in the Tweedsmuir-Entiako, Hart Ranges, and Itcha-Ilgachuz herds,” says a memo signed by Darcy Peel, director of

A weekend in pictures

the B.C. Caribou Recovery Program. “To reverse caribou population declines, high rates of wolf removal (>80 per cent) must be achieved.” The Tweedsmuir-Entiako and Itcha-Ilgachuz herds are in the central part of the province, roughly east of Bella Coola and west of Quesnel, while the Hart Ranges herd is near the Alberta border, east of Prince George. A parallel cull is also proposed for the Itcha-Ilgachuz herd area to “remove cougars that have likely begun to focus on caribou as a prey source.” — see ‘THESE HERDS, page 3

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