FIGHT POLLUTION

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1970

nnn i

Vol. 31, No. 42

FOREIGN MONOPOLIES WOULD TURN
B.C. INTO WASTELAND FOR PROFIT

The latest scheme to pollute the environment in B.C. was revealed last weekend
with the announcement that a giant forest monopoly was seeking permission from the
Pollution Control Board in Victoria to dump half a million gallons of highly dangerous
effluent into Tahsis Inlet on Vancouver Island.

ONTARIO UNIONS FIGHT ANTI-LABOR BILL. Thousands of trade
Unionists staged a protest last Wednesday at the provincial legislature
Against Bill 167 — a Bill to amend the Ontario Labor Relations Act. The
Amendments contain many new anti-union features. In 1969 union
members (above) demonstrated in Queens Park, Toronto against anti -

IN THIS ISSUE

Events in Quebec

—See page 5

NDP At Crossroads

— See page 3

What Does B.C. Get
From Its Forests?

— See page 3

This latest application comes
on top of the permit being sought
by the U.S.-owned Utah Construc-

tion and Mining Co., to dump 9.3

million gallons of waste daily
into Rupert Inlet from its mine
near Port Hardy on Vancouver
Island.

But the big monopolies are not
having it all their own way
anymore. The people’s fight
against pollution is entering a
new stage in B.C. as public resis-
tance is growing to the plans of
the corporate polluters ‘to turn
B.C.— its sky, land and waters—
into a vast wasteland in their
search for greater profits and to
make foreign coupon clippers

happy.

Resistance of the people
against the polluters is most
clearly revealed in the diffi-
culties the Socred government
and its Pollution Control Board
are having in being able to
deliver a permit to the Utah
company for its scheme to dump
effluent in Rupert Inlet.

It is further revealed in the
widespread indignation of the
public against the scheme to
flood Skagit Valley under a deal
signed by the Socred govern-
ment in 1967. The deal author-
ized the Seattle Light and Power
Company to raise the level of a
dam which would flood 6,300
acres in return for a payment of
$5.50 per acre.

The Federal government has
the power to step in, and vague
statements have been made by
Jack Davis, head of the newly
appointed Federal Department
of the Environment, that his
lawyers are studying what they
can do to stop.it. But only
increased public pressure will
compel both Victoria and
Ottawa to stop the criminal
destruction of Skagit Valley.

Towards this end the Society
for Pollution and Environ-
mental Control (SPEC) have
called for a mass demonstration
in the Skagit Valley for Sunday,
Oct. 25 at which they expect
some 2,000 people. Lower
Mainland recreation and conser-
vation groups are expected to
take part in the mass protest.

Meanwhile, public opposition
to the Utah mining company’s

application has stymied this -

giant corporation, the Socred
government and the Pollution

Control Board. On September 14
the Board decided to call off a

scheduled hearing at Port Hardy

on the grounds that its director,
William Venables, had ‘‘a sore
throat.”

It’s been the longest ‘‘sore
throat’”’ on record. One month
has passed and no new date has
been set for a new hearing. It is
clear from everything that has
happened that the company,
Board and government are
afraid of a public hearing.

In the meantime, work has
gone ahead on the company’s
$74 million mining site, and the
company is almost ready to
begin production.

SPEC, which opposed the
granting of a permit and has
demanded the right to appear
before a public hearing, has
warned the Pollution Control
Board and lands and forests
Minister Ray Williston that it
will take the Board and govern-
ment to court if the demand for a
public hearing is refused.

SPEC won a Supreme Court
case last June after it had
challenged the provincial
government’s refusal in similar
Situations to hold a_ public
hearing.

The Utah mining issue is of
major importance, not only

See POLLUTION, pg. 12

~ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1969

B.C. resource

mission

Westcoast Transmission Co.,

is the company which was

DR. BENJAMIN SPOCK speaking at @ recent peace meeting in tos granted the franchise to build a
Angeles. On Moratorium Day, Oct. 15, he spoke to a large rally of pipeline by the Socred

jten for an end to the Vietnam war. government a$ a handout
in the Quee: B

AST ante NeMahon. and is now actually

. this latest giveaway agreement

Dockers reject alee a
BELOW B.C. RATES

contract offer _nemie poco ipmr

B.C. Longshoremen this week voted down a new

i ic

wage contract, which would have ended their strike in feet. a day starting Nov. 1, 1971 at
30.5 cents per thou:

feet. Nov. 1, 1972 it is to go up to

800 riillion eubi day at

all key ports

While it is reported thatthe members were ‘not’ happy”

ILWU executive had recom- about terms of the new 31.

mended acceptance of the agree- contract which

ment proposals by union
by ns

over- each five years.

mbers will undoubtedly A survey conducted
fringe benefits, covering a two- serve as instructions to its nego- Pacific Tribune in Fé
year period on a present base tiating committee to get back to this year showed that the

Tate of $3.99-per hour.
Andy Kotowich, ILWU Area

+ Vancouver
ted many. UNION. See LABOR COUNCIL, pg. 11... pays about $1.10 for a thousand

HUGE NATURAL GAS
GIVEAWAY TO

oy A vast giveaway of B.C. natural gas to the U.S. was announced last week ina 20-
iY : year deal under which a U.S. company will receive up to 850 million cubic feet of gas a
day at rates far below those paid by B.C. users.

‘This latest sellout of a vital cubic feet — or more than three rates in

the amount of gas the U.S. Transmission for 38.4 cents a from

from B.C., thousand cubic feet (1965 that

‘and reduces the price they will figure), which is still “tarm down this latest deal,
veto
kind
been

run.
‘The agreement must now go B.C. Hydro has made a vast
before the National Energy. profit from the sale of the gas to the fullest use of this valeeable

consumers.
Federal Power Commission for In actual fact, B.C. users of policy
authority toimplement the deal. natural gas are paying higher needs!

Over the years U =
gas fields have been exhausted
and U.S. monopoly interests
have been anxious to increase
their gas supplies from B.C. and
other Canadian sources without
arousing public opposition. The
as is wanted not only for use in

wv Elizabeth Theatre Bennett's great friend, Frank

ind. cubic

§ cents a thou: ic fe
rould permit the By Nov. 1, 1973 deliveries to the
U.S. will rise to 850 million cubic
feet at 32.75 cents a thousand

< greement it is to last until
October, 1991 and prices after
1973 will increase at the rate of
in one cent per thousand cubic feet

the bargaining table and come up average homeowner in
with something better — particu- using natural gas

Pacitic Tribune

VOL. 30, NO. 43 ae 1 Oc

U.S.

By MAURICE RUSH

to subsidize the
in times what E! Paso Natural Gas export of the gas to the U.S. at a

came in an
agreement signed on October 10 will pay for the same amount
Detween Westcoast Trans- ew agreement. U
; the EIPaso B.C. Hydro, which last year will have the backing’ of the
Natural Gas Co. It combines all reported

previous contracts into one _ its sale of natural gas, bought the ~
package which vastly increases gas {rom Westcoast The public should demand

‘aM percent profit on — Socred government.

natural —,

ei

it to

the

ONE YEAR AGO. Above is the front page of the Pacific Tribune, Oct. 24,
1969, warning that a huge gas giveaway to the U.S. was shaping up.
At that time the application by Westcoast Transmission and other
companies had just gone before the National Energy Board in Ottawa.
One year of secret dealings between Ottawa and Washington finally
produced the recent sellout. The demand made in the above story is
equally applicable today: Reject the deal and ensure that our gas
resources are developed to place Canada’s needs first.