- Qil-eating wo

Arenicola
marina is a common carine
worm . that looks almost
identical to its smaller
terrestia] cousin, the ear-
thworm.-
underwater
hasa
charachteristic that is
arousing scientific interest
at the Bedford Institue of
Oceanography here.

It thrives on oil pollution.
Dr. Donald C. Gordon Jr.,
the institue, told a scientific
seminar on oil polution in
northern waters today that

Black Duck cove at the rim
of Chedabucto Bay supports
the largest population of the
worms he has ever seen in
the Maritimes.

The sheltered cove was
aoong the heavily polluted
areas when the tanker
Arrow sank in 1970 and it
remains heavily polluted
with bunker C.

Dr. GORDON'S TEAM
STUDIED WORMS FROM
Black Duck Bay and from
an unpolluted bay, Pet-

wick Inlet about 5 miles
rom Halifax.

His studies showed that
the worm's casings'the
excrement it heaps at the
mouth of its burrow-always

had lower hydro-carbon
content than the polluted
sediment on which the
animal fed.

Population explosions

rms thrive in spill areas

The study showed that in
heavy concentrations of oil
many worms die or leave
their burrows, so they

Serving Terrace, Kitimat, the Hazeltons, Ste

theherald

ae ine Nass :

t VOLUME 71 NO. [1

Price: 20 cents

TOSTERNTT OGLOEER 04, 1977

/

\ tonight's low four degrees.

probably suffer heavy
casulties when the oil first
comes. But when
weathering reduces the oil's

{Weather

Unstable air along the west
coast will bring slightly
better weather over the
next few days. Cloudy with
occasional showers and a
few sunny periods today
with the high at 12 degrees,

a

toxicity the speices comes
back faster than any other
species and has a population
explosion.

Dr. Gordon said later the
worm does not appear to
actually fed on the oil but its
body does absorb much of
the hydrocarbons in the
sediment it takes in.

Hydro carbon content in
the worm’s bodies
sometimes exceeded that of
the soilprobably because
the worm also takes in some
oil from the water. Its body

appears to contain some
enzymes that are capable of
breaking the ail down, Dr.
Gordon said.

However, Dr. Gordon said
in an interview he did not
foresee the worms ever
being deliberately planted
to break down oil pollution.

Arenicola marina and its
marine relatives are
common throughout the
world, he said, and their
populations will increase
naturally in ail poouteds
areas,

‘ e . ° t

. if
_ VANCOUVER (CP) —
‘The head of the Union of
British Columbia Indian
Chiefs told the West Coast
oil ports inquiry Wednesday
that oil supertankers are “a
sinister evil with the
potential to destroy our re-
sources.

George Manuel] told the
inquiry into the possible

ects of coast oi ports that
native people believe they
own B.C., including the
marine life, which he
described as an integral
part of Indian existence.

If oil destroys our fish, are
we expected to eat oil?”’ he
asked.

Manuel called for greater
autonomy for band councils
by which Indians govern
themselves. He said Indian
unemployment of between
67 and 82 per cent is a
product of the fact that
native culture does not pre-
pare Indians for the white
man’s wage economy.

Manuel said an oil port
would threaten . the
traditional food gathering
thunting and fishing)

economy which underpins |

the native people’s con-

ce

to fly to Ottawa today to *

confer with several cabinet
officials about the timetable
for his hearings. .

The inquiry is takin
longer than first expected,
and Thompson said federal
officials want to discuss how

far into 1979 it can be ex- — 3

pected to go. It was su
posed to finish by the end Mf
year.
Thompson is to confer
with Transport Minister
Otto Lang, Fisheries

Minister Romeo LeBlanc, -

and Justice Minister Ron
Basford. — a

Three-ye

WASHINGTON (CP) —A
Pp. ree ni
recommended Wednesday a
three-year delay: in con-
struction of a northern

natural gas pipeline to
revent osalble future .

osges of Alaskan oil.

“Prof. Todd Doscher of |
University of Southern

California told a U.S. Senate
committee that ‘current
plans for selling natural ga
might eventual e Bay ted
extraction of up to six billion
barrels of oil from the
reserve, since early with-
drawal of the gas would
lower pressure in the

reserve. :

A three-year delay to 1986
in starting construction of
the Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd.

raject to move Alaskan gas
65 e lower 49 states would
allow time to study ways of
preventing the oil loss, he

éscher’s _ testimony,
based on a study he recently
completed for the Alaska
government, is expected to
result in an extra Senate
committee hearing on

P ‘
recommendation for ap-
proval of pipeline con-
struction.

Committee chairman
Henry Jackson (Dem.
Wash.), who had planned to
wind up hearings Wed-

htt

trope walking on the

'
:

=

Inquiry will defy

By LEW DIGGS

MONTREAL (CP) — The
head of the Quebec com-
mission of inquiry into an
illegal police break-in in
1972 threatened Wednesday
to make public secret

. RCMP documents against

the wishes of federal
SolictorGeneral Francis

‘Ox. .

Jean Keable told Fox’s
lawyer, Rejean Paul, that
the documents will be
presented at the com-
mission's public hearing to-
day unless Fox supplies
affidavits contesting the
move by 10:00 am. EDT.

Fox had already filed two
affidavits with the com-
mission objecting to the
production of certain RCMP
intelligence documents

“” pelating to the break-in on

4 . Jeopardizing

library.

nesday, suggested the
committee invite the
professor and represen-

tatives of, oil companies.

involved in the project to a
hearing next week.

Doscher estimated that up
to 12 billion barrels of the 20
billion believed to be in the
reservoir could be
recovered if pressure in the
field is maintained.

LOSS PREDICTED

“You will never recover
as much oll from a reserv olr

ou a e press

if xrease,” he sda. .

_ ‘Two major‘ail companies
involved in the project
British Petroleum an

ARCO, believe they can
recover 40 per cent of the oil
in the reservoir, but Dos-
cher said recovery under
current pians would be
closer to 25 per cent,

The difference of opinion
involves predictions of what
will happen to the reservoir
once pressure is lowered
after gas is removed,

The companies say a
water layer beneath the oil
anda natural gas cap sittin
on top of the oil will expand.

Doseher predicts instead
that a layer of oll-saturated
natural gas, which is im-

sible to extract, ma

velop on top of the o!

er.
No one will know for at
least two and perhaps five

years from now how ef-
fective thé expanding gas
cap is in displacing crude
ail, and therefore whether
gas can be safely withdrawn
rom the reservoir without
affecting ‘the ultimate
recovery of crude oil,” he
told the hearing.
STUDY ADVOCATED

He conceded his figures
may be wrong, but said it
would be better to study the
matter thoroughly before
building a pipeline that
might turn out to be "a
sta, geringly expensive
white is a La predicted
that pipeline costs w
muclt higher than either the
companies sponsoring it or

feet instead of the $1.04

predicted by US. Energy
cretary James

Schlesinger.

“Tt is most important to
consider whether, even if
early gas withdrawal from
the Prudhoe Bay field were
not to jeopardize ultimate
oil recovery, the con-
struction of the pipeline and
the delivery of North Slope
gas is in the best interest of
the.nation at this time," he
told senators. "I submit that
it is not.”

John McMillian, chair-
man of Alcan Pipeline Co,,
parent U.S. company on the

7 To prevent oil oil losses

ar pipeline delay asked

pipeline project, said later
at Doscher's presentation
Was too broad and im-
Urecise.

His company and Alaska
8 had ma i
studies and age taeit that
pumping pressure can be
maintained with water
injection, ke said.

R

president of the California
ublic Utilities © Com-

the grounds that national
security might be threat-

ened.
Keable ruled last week the
wording in the affidavits did

Snot prevent persons other

than RCMP members from
revealing the contents of the

mitting commission lawyers
lO Ries lawyers then asked
_ Fox's lawyers then as
Guesday fore a delay in order
jo allow the soliciter-genera
ppare a new, an

more sweeping, se

of affidavits.

- CANTWAIT

the com-
mission’s work schedule and
he would table = the
documents in the com-
mision’s possession unless
his deadline was respected.

His threat was the latest
development in the sim-
mering federal-provincial
dispute over the com-
mission's power to examine
the RCMP papers.

Keable'’s threat came
after lawyer Paul insisted
that certain sections of a
Montreal city police report
on the break-in, tabled by
the commission, should be
marked out with a black
pencil. .

Commission lawyer Jean-
Pierre Lussier asked Det.-

mission, said the state fa-
yors the Alaska Highway

roposal under terms set by

atter. The president's
conditions require a western
leg of the pipeline for ser-
ving California customers
as well pa the recommend
price of $1.45 per thousan
cubie feet for North Slope
natural gas. _

Senator Mike Gravel
(Dem. Alaska) said neither

confidential papers, per-

sgt. Fernand Tanguay, who
wrote the report, to produce
an RCMP document on
which he based it. But Paul
objected, saying it might be
covered by one of Fox's
forthcoming affidavits.

LETTER FROM CUBA

Earlier, Tanguay and
Det.-Sgt. Claude Marcotte of
city police testified about
their personal involvement
in the breakin, conducted b
a combined _ federal,
provincial and city police
sine Rcos Tae

e Libre du
Glebe.

Tanguay’s report says one
of the goals of the raid was
to obtain a letter from Cuba
to agency journalist Louise
Vandelac.

PCB a

federal secrecy order

delays and red tape.

Midwest.

barrels a day.

foreign cri

refineries.

Oil partner pulls out

SEATTLE, Wash. — The Kitimat oil pipeline
proposal has lost the support of a major Minnesota
refinery, whose spokesman say the firm is tired of

The Koch Refining Co., which operates a 125,000
barrel-a-day refinery in Minneapolis, held a‘‘sub-
stantial interest,” estimated at between 30 and 40 per
cent in the Kitimat proposal.

Company spokesman say they are abandoning the
Kitimat plan in favor of a shorter pipeline in the

Shore said Koch has devised its own pipeline plan —
4 20-inch, 200 mile-long line from Wood Ri
Minneapolis with the ultimate capacity of 230,000

The Illinois end of the line could be supplied
barge or pipeline out of Gulf Coast ports Supp by
e oi. The Kitimat line would
from the West Coast to the Midwest and northern tier

ver, Ill., to

lied by

ship Alaska oil

deadly poison

says federal expert

BYDONNAVALLIERES _Jevels in that area.

HERALD STAFF WRITER

’ A foxic chemcial found in
Porpoise’’ Harbour near
Prince Rupert may be as
deadly as DDT in terms of
its lasting effect on the
environment, Terrace
rovincial court was told

uring the second day of a
trial in which Canadian
Cellulose Company faces
pollution charges.

Chris Garrett, a biologist
for the Environmental
Protection Service, testified
as a Crown Witness and an
expert on the effects of the
chemical poluchlorinated
bipheny! PCB) on aquatic

e.
PCN is ‘very persistent in
the environment,” Garrett

‘explained and will ac-

cummulate in organisms
within the food chain. —
Garrett also testifited on
the “excessive con-
tamination’ of Porpoise
Harbour and cited tests
which showed high PCB

his state nor the North Slo
oil companies should
required to help finance the
natural gas pipeline project.
Carter in selecting the Alcan
Pipeline Co. roject
recommended that the state

uarantee construction
oans.

Gravel said the federal
government should
guarantee the loans.

Another witness testified
that there is no PCB level

_ .that-is safe for aqautic life.

Otto Langer, a biglogist
with the federal government
and currently in charge of a
water contamination study
for the Environmental
Protection Service, stated
that even one molecule
could cause damage.

“All PCBs released in the
environmnet are
damaging,”' he said.

Langer said that all forms
of PCE will eventually be
phased out by the federal
government, Already all
non-essential uses of the
chemical have been banned
by law, he stated, ;

When cross examined
about different findings by
independent researchers
taking samples from the
area, Langer testified other
researchers may have
missed areas of con-
tamination. This would
account for CanCel’s
statements that there were
only 12 parts per million

while Langer released ~

figures of 50,000 to 100,00
parts per million eariler this
summer,

Results in June found
that PCB levels in Porpoise
Harbour had reached 76,000
parts per million and it was
discovered the chemical had
beenip. dispersed, he said.

Detense council for
CanCel Robert Gardenr
aceuse Langer of taking a
“crusading view" and of
prejudicing the court by
making statements con-
cerning PCB levels but
Langer defended his ac-

tions.
“It is the

public's
resource,” he stated.

“T see’

Alderman erred in saying
Terrace would have to pay costs

Ald, Vic Jolliffe lashed out
at increasing regional costs
that could be shouldered by
the municipality should
Terrace extend it-
sboundaries to include
outlying areas.

Jolliffe referred’ to
recently at Tuesday's
district council meeting
supported porjects in
regional’ areas which in-
clude firefighting facilities
north of Terrace boun-
daries, the study in Stewart
on boasting that town's
economy and a proposed
study to determine what
direction the unorganized
area of Thornhill will take.

“if you take over the

area” council will end up
with costs incurred by these
studies,"Jolliffe said.

Terrace pays “a chunk”
to adminster the region and
is getting very little out of it,
said the Terrace alderman
whois also a direcotr on the
regional board.

Jolliffe pointed
specifically to the Thornhill
study which would weigh
the pros a cons of
organizing that area.

When questioned as to
whether ‘‘we'’re paying for
the Thornhill study" which
could close the door on
Thornhill amalgamting with
Terrac, Jolliffe replied,
“that's right.”

However, Lew  Wat-
mough, regional director for
the Thornhill region, ex-
plained that who is going to

. pay for the study is un-

decided at this point.

At an earlier regional
board meeting. Watmough
asked the board’s approval
to do the study and also to
write a letter to the ministry

of municipal affairs to in-

vestiaget the possibility of
declaring Thornhill a
developing area.

In an affirmative reply is
received from the provincial
government, “the cilizens of
Thornhill” will bear the cost
of ane study, Watmoungh
said.

However, he added that if
Victoria does not approve
that study the regional
district will pay the cost.

The same is true of the
water supply now being
done in Thornhill, Wat-
mough explained, If the
question of a water system
is taken to referendum and
it's turned Gown the regional
district will pay the cost, but
if ir gets approval, the
people getting the service
willpick up the cost.

Jolliffe received council's
support in writing the
regional board to initiate a
joint Terrace-Thornhill

study on amalgamation of
the two areas.

nothing, wrong with letting
the public know that area is
contaminated.’”: ~

‘CariCel has heen ‘more
that willing” to co-operate
in cleaning up the PCB,
Gadner said, but Langer
disagreed with that
statement.

Porpoise Harbour is
considered an estuary of the
Skeena River, Langer said,
and the entire area is “‘a
very important and
essential nursery ground for
fish” and “‘very sensitive to
pollutants.”

Langer said he considered
PCB levels 1,000 parts per
million dangerous.

‘Ten parts per million is
extremely contaminated”,
he said.

Langer sited examples of
fish sampled from the
Fraser River which con-
tained two parts per million,
the maximum allowable
concentration for human
consumption.

Although he admitted that
Porpeise Harbour was a
“harsh environment” and
that only small crustaceans
live ther, Langer stated that
thelower animals would fee
on the contaminated food
sources and would be in turn
be eaten by fish swimming
through the area,

Chris Garrett, the
biologist .who testifies
earlier Wednesday, stated
that PCB may not
detectable in the water, but
aquatic life could still retain
the substance because of
eating contaminated plants
and animals.

Effects on aqautic life
exposed to PCB could in-
clude behavioural effects,
reproductive impairment,
and an increa suscep-
tibility to disease, all of
these resulting in the
organism's ecreased
ability to survive, Garretit
said,

Defense council  at-
tempted to bring in
resarchper taining to
bacteria whichbreaks down
PCB, but Garrett stated this
may only to a certain extent
over along period of time.

Yesterday was the second
day of the trial in which
CanCel faces maximum
fines of $55,000/f ocnvicted of
charges relating to the toxic
chemicals released in the
harbour.

were laid

Charges
following the alleged esca
of PCB from CanCl's pulp
mill log B pond through a roof
drain following a nsformer
losion last January.
e trial continues toda
with one more Crown wit-
hess and defense witnessess

ying