by Michael Kelly

_ Last year was not a good one
for Alcan. Judging from its start,
1992 doesn’t hold a lot of. prom:
ise either.

The price of aluminum is the
lowest in real terms it-has ever
_ been, trading last week at spot
prices of 50 cents a pound on
the London Metals Exchange.
Stockpiles waiting to be sold
stand at a weighty 900,000
tonnes, the biggest accumulation
of any metal in the exchange’s
history. As part of a cost control
program Alcan operations in
eastern Canada were scaled
back, with hundreds of jobs lost

i Having problems with your WCB claim?
¢ You can get free, confidential advice, when af
Workers’ Adviser visits Terrace on January 15.

1° To make an appointment for a personal interview,

in Quebec as global profits
dropped.

Although the Kitimat smelter
was spared the job losses that

-have occurred elsewhere in

Alcan’s empire, the company
had to deal with legal entangle-
ments that prompted it to stop
work on the Kemano Completion

hydroelectric project in~ the

Northwest, with just over half of
its $900 million budget spent.

After five days in federal court
in Vancouver at the end of 1991,

it became clear that the appeal

against the decision that knocked
the props from under Alcan’s
legal right to go ahead with the
project would also spill over into

1992.

Justice Allison. Walsh deter-
mined on May 14, 1991 that the
federal government had erred in

granting Alcan the right to go.

ahead with Kemano Completion
without a full environmental
review. Walsh at the time was
ruling on a joint application by
the Carrier-Sekani Tribal Coun-
cil and the Rivers Defense Co-
alition to have work on the
project stopped pending a full
environmental review.

Alcan and the federal govern-
ment lodged an appeal against
Walsh’s decision, and got five
days in court starting Dec. 16.
Although Alcan’s attorney Brian
Wallace completed his sub-

‘mission in a day and a half,

there were also submissions to
be heard from the Carrier-

m@ Sekani, the federal government

icall the Government Agent’s Office at 638-3200.
1° The interviews will be held at the B.C. Access]
1Centre, 101 - 3220. Eby Street, Terrace.

For advice without an interview, contact Workers’

Adviser office in Richmond toll free 1-800-663-4261.

and the Save the Bulkley

| Society. At the opening of day
| five, Dec. 20, the three-judge

panel determined that the appeal

7 would have to be adjourned into

the new year in order to hear all
the submissions.

The judges offered a choice of
the second week in January, to
be heard in Ottawa, or April 8-

1 10 in Vancouver. The federal

government and Alcan wanted
the January date, but the court
said it would not force any of

Terrace Review ——~ Wednesday, January 8, 1992 23

‘Kemano Completion waits for spring court date

the legal counsel to travel to
Ottawa against their will and set
April 8 in Vancouver as the date
for resumption.

Brian Wallace argued for
Alcan that the company had not
been given an. opportunity to
present its side of the argument.
because Walsh’s decision came
as the result of a summary court
action — a motion — rather
than during a full trial procedure

that would have included cross’
examination.

Wallace also
argued that the EARP guidelines
are not applicable to settlements
made by the Governor-in-Coun-
cil, and that in any case Kemano
Completion would not fall with-
in the definition of projects that

‘fall under the EARP guidelines.

Wallace also challenged the

‘validity of the EARP itself. If

the guidelines apply to Kemano

Completion, he said, they intrude.

significantly into provincial
jurisdictions and also constitute
an intrusion by the Minister of

Environment into the law-mak-.

ing powers of other ministers.
The federal attorney Mr.
Wruck reiterated Wallace's
claim that the federal govern-
ment, along with Alcan, had not
been given an opportunity to
present its side of the story to
Justice Walsh. Wruck also chal-
lenged the admissibility of much

of the evidence presented - to
Walsh by the Carrier-Sekani and
Save the Bulkley Society, calling
it "hearsay and untested opin-
ion".

Mr. Pape, lawyer for the Car-
rier-Sekani, argued that in fact
the federal government and
Alcan had numerous opportun-
ities to contest the evidence and
had declined to do so. Pape said
the evidence from the Carrier-

‘Sckani had been laid before the

court, not to ask the court to

‘determine the level of environ-
mental impact but simply to.

demonstrate that there was rea-
son to believe there would be an
impact extensive enough . to
trigger the EARP. Pape went on
to say that even if the EARP
didn’t apply, the federal govern-
ment has a fiduciary duty — a

duty of trust specified in the

constitution — to protect native
peoples and that alone should
have been enough to warrant a
full environmental review. .
Les Holroyd, Alcan’s director
of public affairs, said Monday
the company’s legal department
was still considering a move t
have the EARP stayed pending
the court’s decision. The federal

‘government is currently conduct- —

ing an internal review to deter-
mine whether an EARP should
go ahead.

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