wots ~. FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping, Carolyn Anderson ~. each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5R2, . Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copy- ° A4 ~ The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 26, 2006 TAN DARD» __ ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988. - PUBLISHER: ROD LINK . ADDRESs: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. » V8G 5R2 a “TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 + FAX: (250) 638-8432 . WEB: www.terracestandard.com’ EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com In the dark _ . oar TOO litle is, known about how natural gas ; ; edge and it needs to be closed. - Up here it’s about Pacific Northern G Gas (PNG), “the utility which delivers natural’ gas to this re- - “gion. PNG buys gas from producers and passes. that cost, without markup, to its customers. . “: PNG makes its money by charging for delivery. | — PNG has been in trouble for years, a victim of the. ve hard-pressed northwest economy which has seen - it lose large customers such as the pulp mill in. : Prince Rupert and, more recently, methanol-pro- | . mo ducer Methanex i in Kitimat.. ~ Without large customers, PNG. wants smaller : ed ‘customers. ie. residents and small ‘businesses ‘to’ .. pay more to maintain its delivery system. So it ap-. |. :Plied to. the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC),. the: “provincial regulator, for approval to ‘raise . ~~ rates.. PNG assembled a mountain of data, as did the BCUC. ‘The goal is to determine if what PNG wants to charge i is reasonable for customers and ; for PNG’s shareholders.» — _ _. The parties then retreated to attempt ‘something _ called a negotiated: settlement. These are some- -.» times considered more appropriate, than full pub- ; | lic hearings. — - | ' But these deliberations were held i in secret. And : that raised the rather. bizarre spectacle of Skeena_ “NDP MLA Robin Austin, armed with a protest a petition signed by: thousands, having to represent ~~ the wishes. of northwesterners from behind closed doors. less than what it first wanted. But that proposed déal'’ ‘has’ beén ‘stalled because “of, protests, from. people such as Mr. Austin and from: ‘groups repre- senting pensioners and retired civil servants. _ ‘The BCUC is now mulling all of this over before taking its next step. For now it is saying interested parties have until early May to comment. © And that’s where the problem of public partici-. pation comes in. There.is no widely distributed _ ‘how to’ guide for the public. There were no press releases from any of the parties outlining what has | happened. All the: action is taking place } in Van- couver: ~To be ‘sure, there j is information on the BCUC website, but you first have to have a computer and _ be website-savvy. Not everyone is. Without the. __ active participation of Mr. Austin or the groups of | ee retired people, we might all be in the dark. | The BCUC’s job i is to represent the public. So - far, it seems to be doing that judging from its re- ~ sponse to the protests about the stalled PNG rate -- proposal. But it needs to do more and it needs . to do it in the northwest. The old saying “justice _” must not only be done, it must ‘be seen to be done”. 7 applies. -PUBLISHER/EDITOR: © ~. Rod Link ‘ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach . ". PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur _ NEWS: Sarah A. Zimmerman ~ COMMUNITY: Dustin Quezada NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs . CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham . ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: _ > Bert Husband, Ellie Higginson _ 7 ZO WINNER _ AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik . NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION PRODUCTION: Susan Credgeur SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.94 (+$4. 06 GST)=62. 00 per year; . Seniors $50.98 (+$3. 57 GST)=54.55; Out of Province $65.17 (+$4.56 GST)=69.73 Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)=167. 89 MEMBER OF B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, , CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND _ B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (www.bepresscouncil.org) Serving the Terrace and Thornhill area. Published on Wednesday of * right holders, including Black Press:Lid., its illustration repro services and advertising agencies. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mail pending the Post Office Department, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents "Those settlement hearings did result i ina pro posed deal whereby PNG would get'a rate hike of ‘norms. aa G CNA... i Conmunmre Newseartes Attest srees hk Coleatio Pian Golwatie and Fotos oe . © @ Black Press “WE ‘AN, OFFER , You A WIbE VARIETY OF CHILD- CARE CHOICES FOR 4 1200 AYEAR / ‘you CAN cHoose CHILD CARE. FORA MONDAY, OR FORA. _TUESDAN, on A WEDNESDAY, ok : A THURSDAY, OR A | | _ FRIDAY... re | Be { iP ree wee S kev ‘AND LORRAINE MAKE. ro FOR STEPHEN, HARPER'S woe a “enorce. IN CHILD Cane ALLOWANCE” - _opiviss - Think twice about the avian. flu THE INEXORABLE i increase in. avian influenza hysteria is’ leading governments locally : and internationally, to consider increasingly radical measures . to contain the perceived threat of.a human pandemic. The swift and lethal re- - sponse of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to the duck infected with a harmless HS virus in British Columbia is a good example. And the recent discovery | ’ that people have been infected - in China can: only exacerbate this situation, “These - measures _ wild populations of birds and _ stockpiling masses of expen- sive drugs of questionable ef- .-ficacy.. . “But before we impose such drastic methods, _ heed the root cause of the prob-’ lem. Many strains of avian in- fluenza circulate in wild birds ~ at low levels, without causing _ illness. we should Natural selection plays an important role in’ regulating wildlife populations. A virus enters a population and re- moves those that are unable ~ to defend themselves from the: attack. ° Biological diversity. is the . ‘Key to the. population’s sur- vival. Animals that survive infection and reproduce. will include - , keeping all domestic birds in- _ doors, away from wild birds; culling flocks at the first sign _ of even. a-harmless strain of flu; draining wetlands; culling . o "likely pass on their “resistant” DEBRA: PROBERT rt “tolerant” genes to future generations. The conditions “ern, intensive poultry farms are quite different from: those found in nature. . There is no:question: that. the virulence and rapid spread of the H7N3 outbreak in Brit- ~~ ish Columbia, in February of: 2004, was*exacerbated by the limited genetic diversity of the birds and the way they are raised. They spend their short lives eating, sleeping and defecating in the same confined space be- fore they are sent to slaughter. Under these conditions, natural immunity. is virtually . impossible. In contrast, backyard and ‘organic flocks are. typically. more diverse and more closely emulate nature. in. mod- © _ During. the 2004 “outbreak ° in: British Columbia, of 553°" * backyard flocks tested, only one tested positive for the vi- | rus, and that was after testing ‘ negative twice. _ _ What does this have to do . with the spread of the virus in Southeast Asia, China and Eu- _rope? Why, in apparently more open systems, have avian flu “outbreaks been increasing? ~The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) lists six con- .. - tributing factors affecting the " spread of highly . pathogenic 7 viruses ‘in Asia. . Three of these have to do with an. increase of poultry populations and intensification of poultry production. . Asia has seen an explosion of industrial poultry farming and is expected to eventually. ‘dominate global production." Not only have developed countries exported their in- satiable appetite for animal products, they have also ex- ported intensive poultry and egg production technology. But this technology is be- ing exported into a potentially devastating environment. In developing countries, a dramatic increase in intensive’: poultry production is often combined with poor hygiene: and little or no bio-security. Domestic birds from differ- ent areas travel long distances, sometimes hundreds of miles, _Aimerica.’ becomes .. and ‘are © brought together in poultry markets crowded with _ people. | National and international monitoring systems are ig- nored or inadequate. In both’ developed and de-. veloping countries, intensively _farmed poultry populations are _ a jackpot for viruses. _ The cramped quarters make transmission from host to host extremely easy: The diversity — . that is key. to the survival of wild bird populations does not exist among domestic flocks .and animals’ immune systems are compromised, rendering them susceptible to infection... ‘Sloppy hygiene and. lack of regulatory oversight, along ~ - ' with a lack of.international ac- countability make an already serious situation deadly. What, is an economically devastating. problem i iB, ‘North, “life-. threatening one in developing countries. Before we resort to extreme measures that can and will have a permanent effect on nature as we now know it, we need to assess the devastation . wreaked globally by the un- sustainable appetite for animal protein. Debra Probert is the execu- tive director of the Vancouver , Humane Society. . ' The Vancouver Humane Society is a registered charity dedicated to the humane, treat- .- ment of animals.. persons who deem their inter-_ ests to be affected by a pro- ‘posed zoning amendment by- _ law are the adult equivalent of Halloween parties. Fearful of . being in the dark, residents ~ imagine monsters where none may lurk. Just as kids trick-or-treat in’. groups, residents who. might be affected by an interloper’s arrival show up en masse to ' present a united front, to let ‘the interloper know right off | who he will be dealing with if he. breaches community This group solidarity also warns elected officials this by-law better be fairly weighted. . Fear of the unknown in- cludes residents’ worry they may end up risking hangnails, hernias, and heart attacks striving to measure up to the - interloper’s standards, should he turn out to be a persnickety property owner. Remember Roseanne envy- . _ ing her new neighbour whose husband customized their row house kitchen by _ building in a dishwasher and storage | shelves so that Dan and other husbands then had to duplicate. his improvements to satisfy their wives? No by-law amendment is _with a newcomer. THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI needed to trigger competition Often in- terlopers buy in; build, fence, and landscape disturbing the equanimity of a. complacent neighbourhood. » Not enough ‘they should fence their lot complete with a gate they keep closed, in- stead of making do with odds and ends and bracing wobbly. sections with boards jammed into the ground, they may hire a career fence builder to erect a perimeter unwavering as a sunbeam and level as a Pacific horizon. They finish up by land- scaping every inch to resemble a memorial cemetery where even squirrels dare not dribble a pine cone. Summoned. to -a_ public hearing, aware of the grilling - they'll face from assembled » critics, these interlopers arm . themselves with detailed plans backed by engineering studies, consultants reports, and sur- " veyors measurements., No risk ‘theyll construct a 4000 sq. - ft. building only to find nine inches of one side encroaches - on an elderly widow’s over- grown lot. ‘the application by JL Trucking to open a gravel and backhaul operation in the Copper Moun- tain subdivision of Thornhill proved to be typical. Prior to the hearing, 166 ad- jacent property owners signed in support of the application. I signed after learning JL _had cleaned up garbage and derelict vehicles my dogs and I had been tripping over since 1975, and that JL would train» people to operate heavy equip- ment, a skill now much in de- _ mand yet with too few training sites. | The pit is expected to pro- vide up to 10 jobs throughout its eight-year life and supply special. aggregate not now available to Terrace. My single concern was what effect removing gravel to a depth of 20 feet might have on the water table of the wells ‘consultants This just might be good after all PUBLIC HEARINGS held to” receive presentations from all supplying. Thornhill’s frst class, bountiful water. Here I had to go on faith, trusting the expertise of the and engineers. If, some day, my taps trickle, thanks to disturbance of the water table by a JL bulldozer, Vil regret my signature on that petition. The usual objections were: . raised: noise from the cone »* crusher (we were told this is a » The. April 12 hearing i into’ state-of-the-art, quiet crusher); dust; noise.and traffic of.grav-" - el trucks, up to 4.8 trucks per» day, hauling beyond the 8 a.m. | to 6 p.m. limitation on the pit operations; risk to kids’ safety (some fear kids will impro- vise a jungle gym out of the ‘pit equipment); and a drop in property ‘values. Ironically, one participant urged JL to buy a mothballed gravel pit our neighborhood fought when its owner applied for permission some 15 years 4 ago. A JL truck driver said they had orders to drive under the 50 kph speed limit and never to use jake brakes. . Mention was also made IL documents the origin of its -backhaul, apparently a rarity in the gravel business. ° We all await the regional district’s decision on JL’s ap- plication.