Inside
u NEWS Mayor optimistic about economy, P. 2 u SPORTS Athlete nominated for award, P. 19 u NEWS Power project is paying off, P. 3 u CLASSIFIEDS, P. 12-17
Free Picture your bundle of joy in the Terrace Standard’s
BEAUTIFUL BABIES OF 2015!
SPECIAL EDITION
Published by Black Press Ltd. at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, B.C.
FRIDAY, February 5, 2016
Volume 10 Issue 33
TMC 20,200
Officially open…
DON’T MISS OUT! If your baby was born between January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015, we will publish their picture in colour in our beautiful babies of 2015 supplement.
INCLUDES FULL COLOUR! Entry Deadline February 18th
A WONDERFUL KEEPSAKE FOR YOUR PRECIOUS BABY!
S TANDARD TERRACE
Blackstone’s Restaurant
Chef Paul Beggs
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MARGARET SPEIRS / THE NORTHERN CONNECTOR
TERRACE - The Canadian Cancer Society in Terrace now has a new office, the log building on Keith Ave. where the tourist infocentre is also located. Cutting the ribbon Jan. 26 were, from the left, Sky Bryan from Silvertip Signs, Bruno Belanger representing Kermodei Tourism, Dave Pernarowski from Silvertip Signs, and Val Gauvin, a board member of the cancer society for B.C. and the Yukon.
Rio Tinto Alcan fine to be decided in spring By Margaret Speirs
THE NORTHERN CONNECTOR
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TERRACE - 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 corpo-
ration 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 for the company’s officials 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 transmission 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.
In court Jan. 27, 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 the hydro lines would’ve taken longer. And that would have come with a “catastrophic” loss of the eulachon fishery and “very significant” loss of the salmon fishery, he said. As it happened, there was some loss of the salmon but the eulachon were saved and there’s no evidence of long-term harm on the salmon fishery, said Hunter.
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