Alcan’s Kemano benefits Dear Sir The incredible ignotance of your Jan26 editorial, ‘‘Alcan Blues’’, cannot go unchallenged. Try for a moment to separate your. personal haired for Alcan (or is itall private industry?) from the power project, The power potential of the Nechako River system was one of many identified tong before the Sacreds were invented, back in the. days when Canadians were taught that such natural resources were an assct. All of our day-to-day electricity in B.C, is generated by hydro- electric power plants .. dams on Tivers. Yes, there are negative “aspects to every one. Yes, people were displaced,’ Yes, there are submerged lands instead of free- flowing rivers. And yes, [am sure we would do some things differ- enlly than in the bad old days. Never-the-less, the Nechako River could have been developed, and most likely would have been developed, in one form or another by either government or industry. Tt turns out that slick talking politicians. talked = Alean into spending their maney, instead of our lax money, io build the Kemano project and to locate an aluminium industry in B.C. where the only relevant asset was hydro- power potential, What if we did not accept dams and clean, renewable hydro power? Without clean, low-cost power, most of us would not be living here. Would the power for “our: few. residents come from burning fossil fuels like in 7 Europe? Coal? Oil? Think of the acid rain that would have fallen all (hese years! We would not be bemoaning _ Clearculs, but instead be facing will spread far and wide ALCAN'S KITIMAT Works are the industrial heart of the Kiimat Valley. The smelter provides many direct and indirect jobs, In the background are the Eurocan and Methanex plants. massive forest sickness and death just like those pious inhabitants of central Europe. OF course then we could be burming the dead trees, warmed by effects of our own greenhouse gases, Or how about nuclear power? Does that bring a glow to your fuzzy perspective? No, it is not a zero-effect pro- ject ... nothing is. It is just better than anything else, It permits fur- ther delay on the high cost. Peace River Site C development. And we can just forget about the next alternatives of the Stikine, the Liard or the Fraser! The Kenney Dam has long been a reality. The water stored in the reservoir no longer inflicis devastation with every spring flood. Fraser Valley residents have long forgotten when they would have been boat people. We ihe people, through the provincial government and B.C. Hydro, will compleicly control the water Dow down the Nechako. We own the only wires out of town. If we don’t jake and pay for the clectricity, Alcan simply can- not generate it. We have: total control! As an added safeguard, our governments have instituted - so many projects review and ap- proval steps thal we will be retired before Alcan could get the go-ahead on any project to use the power themselves. They don’t have any choice ... they have to sell to us, Unless we make population growth illegal, more power will be needed in B.C. Maybe the added people and jobs won’t be in Kitimat, or Terrace or Vander- - hoof. . _An editor’s negative comments, if assumed refleclive of the local attitude, would surely discourage many prospective investors. We should be damned happy it is Alcan’s money, and not more government debt and taxes build- ing this stcp. If you find difficulty with Kemano Completion, wait till you look beyond your nose at the next alternative. Dave Kelly, ' - Kitimat, B.C. Alcan power a great asset Dear Sir: Re: ‘Alcan Blues” Editorial, Jan. 26,1994, ° Your journalistic ponderiugs and certain venomous columns are a disservice to the integrity of this region’s fulure. Anyone can cite the so called pscudo expert/specialist(s) appar- ‘ent real numbers and statistics when it comes to intricate life systems, then target the big marks ic. namely industrial enterprises ere -in. our northwest with a cauldron of witches brew. Alcan has always provided and sold: ‘surplus power to their aluminum smelier from the Kemano..I generators into the northwest grid at considerable favourablity to both other com- mercial and domestic user groups in this region an beyond. ' So forget your nowadays posturing. You may feel this is a a Small feat, but others would argue: ~ this has ben a real ; asset. It also absconds the wind your sails reference your opinion that the company has taken ta he modem economic world of diver- sify or dic. This since, Alcan on the con- trary, are doing what Methanex, West Fraser and other alike must do to stay in some facsimile of compclitiveness. They arc actual- ly focusing and centering on those operations which they can perform best, resultant gains in productivity of a very select pro- duct range free-up finance for quality control, reasonable cxpan- sion and environment friendly improvements, In a rough, tough world out there, you’ve got to in Canada do what you do, better, even the im- possible to stay afloat, amigos. Your _ reference ’"resources foe jobs trade off so long a part of the northwest fabric becomes shaky’’ docsn’! stand up very well to scrutiny, either, Resources and to some extent manufactured goods (ie. ingots) experience the cyclical up and down tums we all hope to ameliorate and global coordina- tion of output and cost accounted replenishment of our invaluable natural stacks is a reality, un- denied. There ate positive social _ economic outcomes to the Ft. St. James — Fraser Lake — Vander- hoof areas to come from K.C.P. - and the anticipated recommenda- tions of the all parties present at B.C.U.C. hearings. Funny isn’t it how these plus points never receive air or print “40 Alcan’s ai time. I suppose they don’t aug- ment readership or listenership? ‘Secondly, if you took’a little larger look at what the fate of Al- can factors into the municipality and the regional district now, and in the longer run, you might just see that the extra power generated from Kemano II will ultimately be essential to a few very desirable palatable jobs within the context. of natural sensitivities, _for those in need an those yet to come. You should really research this ‘a bil further, and chuck your sar- . CAST. Thirdly, KC.P. megawatts. in the immediate term would be carefully integrated into the over- - all B.C. Hydro grid and this clear- ly a boon to the province and the public’s treasury as a whole, Gerry Bloomer, Kitimat, B.C, Future jobs key to project Dear Sir: . Regarding your cditorial, Alcan Blues,” Jan. 26, 1994, 1. Alcan did not pick a river, any river, to throw up a dam — they were invited by our provin- cial government in the 1940s to develop the northwestern part of our province. ‘You could possibly thank. them — you might not be here otherwise. I know [ would no | 2 Things have certainly changed between the 1950s and 1980s — many people now sccm to be primarily interested in “‘what’s in it For me?” instead of “in the overall’ picture, is this beneficial to a larger number of people??’ 3, Alcan, you, and I, along with many others would, I hope, have the right to institute legal action should something we were devel- oping, under the terms of a legal agreement, be halted after mil- lions of dollars had been spent. Incidentally, would you please inform your readers of the exis- lence of any documentation stat- ing that ‘Alcan has told the provincial government it'll face a massive lawsuit should the pro- ject be axed?”’ 4, What to do with the power that’ll be generated once the Kemano Completion Project is finished? Perhaps you and I as subscribers to B.C. Hydro will have usc for it-in our daily lives, and perhaps our taxes will not in- crease to pay for power which will have to be purchased out of province or to finance the build- ing of another dam on another Tiver. 5. “The modem economic world of diversify or die, some- thing {0 sell. to eam money.’ Very perceptive — businesses that do not make money do dic, and along with them go jobs for our workers and contributions to our communities by way of The following was the lead editorial in the Jan. 30 edi- Week. The newspaper comes out every Sunday. Health Minister Paul Ramsey should be congratu- Jated for recognizing the Prince Rupert, rather than points east, is the geog- Taphic hub of the northwest. orthopedic services. from Kitimat to Prince Rupert, Ramsey has made a sound declsion that will benofit all. It appears that there may be a gradual shift in. thinking : about this region among our fion of Prince Rupert This” . In transferring northwest . Rupert’s on the rise political leaders. Terrace has long been considercd ihe logical cen- tral location in the north- west, but that idea is slowly proving to be specious. With Prince Rupert Regional hospital also serv- ing the Queen Charlolle Is- lands and many north coast villages, and with the Ter- race. aitpott so often enshrouded in fog, Prince Rupert is the only choice for services like orthopedics. That's what the norihwest regional health care review found to be true, and it ap- pears that the health minis- ter agrees with that recom- mendation. ‘ Despite the howls of prolest being heard from Kitimat, Ramsey must stick to this decision, and make a few others, as well. Local hospital: administrators. are busy number crunching in preparation for possible bad news come budget time,” Ramscy must ensure that Prince Rupert Regional hos- pital can properly - service orthopedic services, and that takes money. Support staff and equip- ment must be. committed, and Ramsey should take ihe bull by the horns and make the decisions now. -Methanex located © spending, taxes and funding. It is from the profitable opera- 1 ! tion of business that all other . benefits are derived in our com- munities, our province and our country. 6. The doubt about the employ- ment gain to the northwest once Kemano is completed is begin- ning to sound like a worn oul record and very short sighted. Finally, construction jobs: can- net be discounted. They play a vi-. tal role in our cconomy and pro- vide food and shelter for many families. Because ihe permanent jobs proposed to be created by Kemano Completion vary from three to.ten (depending upon who ‘fs. telling the story), these are ‘direct jobs. Eurocan Pulp and Paper and in Kitimat priniarily because of existing in- Frastructure and there is no doubt future industrial development will occur once additional power be- comes available... Media (derived from the. word medium) as. defined in the Thomdike Barnhart dictionary means ‘having a middle position; . moderate, that which is in the middle; neither. one extreme nor the other.” ‘Perhaps you, along with Rafe Mair, who has recently un- dertaken a bash Alcan and bash ‘Kitimat campaign, would benefit from taking a long hard look at who you are and -what your. re- sponsibility is to your readers and listeners, “Sheila Reeves, The Terrace Standard, Wedn=sday, February 9, 1994 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Play hockey, eh! Dear Sir: As the husband and Number 1 fan of a Kitimat female hockey player, the time has come to say my piece. Bight years ago when I met my wife, and the other then-Kitimat Cougars, they were a struggling hockey team. a a The (eam got beat a lot more than it won games. They played for fun and sportsmanship! They had to work hard to finance trips out of town and to keep the team golng. Al that time Terrace and Prince Rupert were the tears 10 beat. aney were both strong and powerful teams. Kilimat kept on play- ing Now Kitimat is the team to beat, and nobody wants to play hock- ey against them. Smithers also sits on this list now, On Jan. 22-23 Smithers had a female hockey tournament. They would not let our rep team enter their tournament. I think all of the teams named above, including Kitimat, need to play cach other, in order for the league to survive and to grow. It will make all of the people above better sports persons in doing 50. So far this season Kitimat has travelled to all three out of towni ice arenas to play. Only Terrace, has returned the courtesy to return to Kitimat to play. Ladies this is a Sport, 7 not a job. Let’s have some fun and play hockey. Arnie Reay, Kitimat, B.C, Pensions under threat Dear Sir: I should actually be addressing this to the person in government party who has the intent to start conditioning the public for the jolt of canceling the Canada Pension Plan. _ Lagree times are tough and they’re going to get alot tougher. But just before turning the guns on the sick and elderly again, how about cutting back on unnecessary government spending and keep- ing (he Canada Pension Plan afloat for as long as we can? By unnecessary government spending I don't mean hospitals or soup kitchens. I mean the big, nasty stuff like out-of-sight pensions for government officials. Of course these jobs are tough, but so is setting chokers in the tain, Maybe just the present yearly salary would suffice if the offi- cial were {o eat his own porridge and use the RRSP method. , And what about the unnecessary airplane rides and the person hired by the present government for $80,000 per year just to find out what the public thinks of it. How about laying that person off and pay somebody $20 to sit in any local pub for 15 minutes and come up with the exact same results? Then the taxpayers could hire that $80,000 a. year guy and pty ‘him $100,000 to compile all the dubious spending and actually do something about it. I’m sure belt tightening is coming and we have to resort to com- mon sense year ifall else fails, a he Counc oi ‘gtumps writer” : ‘Dear Sir: we I am stumped, and writing to seek assistance from anyone ‘tn the community who can answer my question. . ~ The February 2 issue of this paper disclosed “Other known non- qualifying items recently sent to (councll) in-camera (behind- closed-doors) included the naming of three city streets.”’ Can someone please let me know why such routine business as naming streets is regarded BS “top secret”? os ee : Jerry Reitman, THE START IS FOR PEOPLE LEARNING TO READ More police wanted THE OFFICER in charge the RCMP here says he needs more money. Inspector Lawrence Yeske says many police officers are working overtime and not getting paid. , He may tell the officers to start pulting in bills for the overtime, The inspector made his comments to the city. It helps pays for the RCMP, That money comes from. taxes.” «.: Yeske said the free overtime was worth $82,000 last year. That’s what it would cost to hire another officer. © SHIP-BUILDERS: Graham Cowman and + Bobby Lisa Marshall built a tin foll boat during the Terrace Science Festival. It happened last weekend at - Caledonia school; There was also an egg-drop. Students used pevachutes to drop eags without breaking them.