SE eit ee a nae ee See emcee Sh Date A ec PEE OIE AD Tis cause Mt capitan -enert weer i a a by Michael Kelly In separate discussions last week the MLA for Skeena and the pro- ponents of a copper refinery and smelter concept revealed that the copper project and a move to develop a locally-controlled port facility in Kitimat are each count- ing on the other’s success. Dave Parker said during a press conference Friday at his Terrace constituency office, "PRM makes the whole project very feasible. Without it, it’s still feasible but the return is just adequate." The day before while addressing a meeting of the Terrace and Dis- trict Chamber of Commerce, PRM representative Roger Taylor said the Kitimat port development Terrace Review — Wednesday, January 23, 1991 A3 would be “enormously beneficial" iin to the viability of the proposed copper plant. "The existing facil- ities are not realistic; we need a dedicated area to offload the con- centrate from barge to hopper to conveyor,” Taylor said. "Port deve- lopment would be the answer. Otherwise we'll have to build our own dock." Members of the local port deve- lopment committee are scheduled to meet with officials from the Ministry of Regional and Eco- nomic Development and the Ministry of Environment in Vic- toria Jan, 29. Parker said they will discuss the prospectus for the project and receive the final report from Sandwell, the consulting firm that did the two-part feasibility study. The committee may send the final report back for further changes, he said. | Parker would like to see the prospectus put before the Major Project Review Process before the end of February. "We want to be dredging by November," he stated. No details of the feasibility studies have been made public. Link emerging between port and smelter Fariview Terminal: the Prince Rupert deep sea port recently expanded to three berths but is operating at only 40 percent of * capacity due to low shipping demand. Port officials believe more ® capacity in Kitimat is illogical. Parker declined to give any inclica- tlon of the estimated cost of the project or the land area it will occupy, other than to say it will involve lands currently held by Alcan, Eurocan, and the Crown. He also said the feasibility study shows that most of the goods flowing through the proposed port would be forest products and mineral concentrates. The port would be governed bya body of local representatives, but Parker again declined to discuss its structure or statutory nature in any detail. "It will be very much a local entity," he said. ct. —— Effective Februa the Board of Trustees of the Terrace Regional Health Care Society wishes to announce that Visitors, Staff and Patients of Mills Memorial Hospital and Visitors and Staff of Terraceview Lodge* will no longer be permitted to smoke within their respective facili- ties. This policy contributes to the goal of the Board to promote a healthy environment. TERRACE HEALTH CARE SOCIETY INTEGRATED HEALTH CARE SERVICES Ist, 1991 "Residents of Terraceview Lodge may smoke in designated areas of the Parker sees the port concept as a collaborative effort between the government and the port users, The port users would build their own docks and develop their own working areas, and the government would do the rest. "It’s the govern- ment’s job to provide the infra- structure, the access to the gate," he said. The main boost for Terrace in the scheme would be integrating the port with the Tertace-Kitimat airport and its surrounding lands. Once the port authority, or what- ever the governing body will be called, is established, "then we can look at transferring the Terrace airport to the port authority", Parker indicated. Control of the airport being transferred, the port authority could then examine the development of lands around the airfield. Parker noted that there has been no development to date duc to the terms of the agreement between Transport Canada and the provincial government that spells out conditions of occupancy. The process of tuning up the port idea requires the port committee to deal with several provincial government agencies, Transport Canada, the federal marine trans- port authorities, federal fisheries and one federal Crown Corporation — the Canadian National Railway. The line between Terrace and Kitimat is currently serviceable for the type of traffic the railway has been shipping for many years: wood chips and chemicals. Cargo with greater density — like mineral concentrates — would have to be shipped in partial carloads if the line isn’t upgraded. Decreased loading per car would make the material more expensive to transport for the shipper. CN has its own internal upgrade and maintenance schedule, which at the present time calls for a gradual upgrade of the line over the tiext 10 years, That upgrade last week. study." logical." does not include replacement of more than a dozen wooden trestle bridges, which are currently the Hmiting factor in the speed and size of trains that haul between” Terrace and Kitimat. The cost of replacing the bridges has been estimated at $14-16 million. Parker said he is attempting to persuade CN to do the work in three years instead of 10, starting the bridge replacement in 1992. "It Struggling Rupert port opposes Kitimat plan Prince Rupert in general is taking a dim view of the push for port development in Kitimat. Acrimony over the development move, being advocated by Skeena MLA Dave Parker, appears to be growing, with Parker and Prince Rupert mayor Peter Lester trading insults through the media Parker claimed in a press conference Friday that Rupert "just doesn’t want anything to happen in Kitimat". The revenue and traffic situation, however, at Rupert’s main commodity port, Fairview Terminals, is far from healthy and the port’s manager Is concerned. Terry Andrew sald Monday of the Kitimat plan, "We've made it clear that it does not seem to us like a productive move." Falrview recently expanded from two berths to three, and Andrew said the port has been running lately at about 40 percent capacity. Shore workers are feeling the pinch, and there is no indication that traffic through the port is going to make any kind of dramatic surge in the immediate future. "The market is in a depressed state, and expansion has been sufficient for the existing market, and more,” Andrew said. He believes there would be no net gain in shipping traffic simply through the establishment of more port capacity, meaning that the two ports would split the existing traffic, rendering both economically questiczable. "It's like a transfusion from your left to your right arm," he said. "Te’s difficult to determine what the objectives are," he added. "they’re being very secretive with that feasibility Andrew concluded by acknowledging that there will be a need for more port capacity in the Northwest sometime, but not now. "It doesn’t seem to be the opportune time. It isn’t means a fair bit to the petro- chemical and mineral concentrate shippers," he said. When asked how his proposal was received by CN, he replied, "Guardedly." If all goes as planned, Parker said, the port committee will be able to report to the Cabinet com- mittee on sustainable development Jan. 31 and Parker himself will be able to take the proposal to Cabi- net Feb. 6.