Pulp mills main polluters . . . see below

ic Tribune

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ErRabES CMON COUNEITD {
ees Cc

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Vol. 32, No. 26

FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1971

By MAURICE RUSH
The serious crisis in the province’s hydro services is one more example of how B.C.
Hydro and the Socred government have mismanaged the affairs of the government-
owned utility company. Hydro and its chief officer, Dr. Gordon Shrum and Premier

New ¢

1

ead tenant
S:
durin Th

0 thic MMANDMENT. Adding an 11th commandment to the existing

mee on strike against higher rents carries a placard which

ie Shalt Not Increase Rents Unjustly.” He is shown here

Stin ia Protest against Wall & Redekop’s proposed 10 percent
S. See story on page 2 on the tenants fight.

Bennett are directly responsible for the present state of affairs.

What the 2,000 electrical
workers are seeking is parity
with workers doing the same
work in other industries. In their
attempt to reach a settlement
the union lowered its demands to
18% percent over two years. But

standing like a block of granite,
refusing to budge to bring about
a settlement which is easily in
reach?

The explanation is to be found
in the fact that B.C. Hydro and
the Socred government’s hydro

States — not a kilowatt of which
is being generated in Canada. It
is estimated that it will cost the
B.C. public as much as $200
million to complete the dams
under the treaty with the U.S.
over and above what B.C. will

Dr. Shrum and Hydro have AS :
refused to budge Hor their ee sats been seriously get in return.
f a ; ; In addition to that, H
totally unsatisfactory offer of 14 The mismanagement of the the “Socred seen’ er

percent. Instead they propose to
cut down many of the conditions
established in the industry over
the years.

It has already been shown that
B.C. Hydro can meet the
demands of the electrical
workers without requiring any
boost in rates to the public.
Actually, as the PT showed ina
recent article, the difference
between the 10 percent the union
is asking for in the first year and
the 742 percent offered by the
company there is only a cost of

- about $450,000 involved. This

amount is only 2% percent — or
about one-fourtieth — of Hydro’s
increase in revenues for the

year!
Why then is Dr. Shrum

Dane "ebared :
ment t by a technical

© provincial govern-

trom ,.° COPE with pollu-

bo Bray tthe pulp mi
“gy, Ming P mills.

S
Concerned with the

q "oben,
ade the following

Pollution report favors
slant forest monopolies

“The evidence is in. It is
proved they (pulp mills) spew

does not even deal with many
subjects canvassed at the
hearing ... This report is an

action to bring pulp mill pollu-
tion under control was an

for permission to dump over 25
million gallons of effluent a day

pulp mills.
The ESCA statement says that

is.
See PULP MILLS, pg. 12

province’s power resources is a
top scandal of the Socred
administration, It has saddled
the province with huge debts and
interest payments for which the
hydro workers cannot be held
responsible.

Dr. Shrum and Premier
Bennett want to impose low
wage settlements on their
electrical workers to find more
money to pay off the huge debts
incurred under the Columbia
River sellout to the U.S. and to
meet the exorbitant interest
payments on the Columbia and
Peace projects.

They want the 2,000 electrical
workers to accept low wages to
help pay for the blunders of B.C.
Hydro and the Socred govern-

~ ment. To put it another way:

they want their employees and
the consumers to subsidize the
cheap power given to the U.S.
under the Columbia sellout by
accepting sub-standard wages
and high rates. The is the nub of
the problem.

One of the main reasons for

Columbia dams to store water to
produce electricity in the United

seriously underestimated the
cost of the Peace River dam and
the power needs of B.C. In the
early sixties Hydro estimated

that the demand for electricity

would increase by 6.4 percent
annually. Actually it was over 11
percent. Consequently Hydro
has had to borrow tremendous
sums at today’s astronomical in-
terest rates to build needed
generating facilities.

Because of the blunders and
mismanagement of the
province’s hydro resources the
people of B.C. are saddled with
huge debts. In the fiscal year
ending March, 1970 interest costs
were $106,400,000 on a long term
debt of $1,443,529,000. And its
still going up.

The cheap power from the
Columbia which could have been
ours was given away, while the
public is being burdened for
generations to come to pay off
debts to create other sources of
power. The overall loss to B.C.
under the Columbia deal was 18.8

Pins: billion kilowatt h
inv inte t Saturda ee ee
mee Tort on pollution sharp comments in a bulletin ye Dea ett Rea Hae a ptaneee teat Ae = electricity per year, more than
St j 4 s 5 x x
industry which issued this week: truction at Quesnel has applied complete the building of the the total amount generated by

Hydro last year!
See HYDRO, pg. 12

0arg 9 lution Control . . . . h killin
ee son in the air, and fis g !
“ Weert under sharp fire See in our waters...” The into the an aoe eS
rekesme by environmental report ‘‘offers inadequate air 1s ae Petes
sant fails pio charged the standards, retreats from the ee m Bee ik = :
- ton tds © set high enough _ best of present water standards, Tt Ae Ore Fe eacnaied the i S er en 8 tr) e

Prec. to € report as an :
wretteg ye Participants who insult to the participants in the kraft me ae aes 2 =
Rich bes tS to the hearings hearing, with possible exception ae oe ror polls ut or air ri Cc es

Cy ltonmen ast August; the of the Council of Forest Indus- ne ae - pulp mill country. :

Lisp Unity a oe ties eae, BOUDHE SIS “That’s were the Ueae enoney

Ks to a Of the anti-pollu- Underline. the urgency of and the heavy political intluence —See Pg.- 12

er