MSGi ase RES SH w wT Oy t Oo BRITISH COLUMBIA : By SEAN GRIFFIN : Hearings into Alcan’s contentious ; €mano Completion Project will move Tom the packed community halls of Smith- a and Vanderhoof into the relative quiet of ie Robson Square media centre on Tues- oH and Wednesday of this week as the ri eral department of fisheries continues € series of meetings on its discussion paper On the project. i But if the setting is quiet, opponents of e Massive project are not likely to be, as farings in other centres have already _ demonstrated, Already, groups ranging from Native tri- Pa councils to the Fisheries Association _ Tepresenting the major fish processcrs, have criticized Alcan’s proposed expansion as a Project “whose negative effects. . .are simply _ too great.” The formal application for the Alcan pro- | cays filed in January with the provincial | eae the first step in an approval process Be Ich the aluminum multinational hopes Will be completed quickly. bed the Kemano Completion Pro- Ject — a name that is meant to leave the pepe impression that the company is Oing nothing more than completing a job Not finished in 1950 — the plan calls for the Construction of a new dam on the Nanika “ver in northwestern B:C. as well as diver- Sion of more water from the Nechako Reser- Volr (See map) to increase the water flow toa Second hydroelectric generating station at Kemano. A new tunnel carrying water to €mano generators would be driven 16 km through Mt. Dubose. The new hydroelectric facility would 8enerate power for two new aluminum smelters in the province, one slated for con- _ Struction near Vanderhoof, and another at 4n undisclosed location. € project.is a scaled-down version of an earlier proposal advanced by Alcan in 1979 which called for more extensive water | diversion and the construction of three aluminum smelters. But that proposal met aes public opposition and also ran in to _ formidable obstacle in August, 1980 from -C. Supreme Court Justice Tom Berger _ Who ruled that the federal department of fisheries had the jurisdictional authority to Semand that Alcan regulate the flow of ater from its reservoir and spillway to pre- . Serve fisheries habitat. _ The court ruling was virtually the first ig that Alcan’s near-feudal control over _ “ie water resources of the area had been challenged, : en the company came back with a €W proposal for Kemano Completion, it _ Prefaced the actual application with a mas- ‘ive public relations campaign. Special ——— |Kemano project no deal for B.C. — Terrace way Gisen an. Bulkley R.», % B16) aN a Fort St. James / Houston Burs Exe _ Stuart R. Jommuswvexnd Morice R. L Kitimat ; ot . of % Morice L. v.“) Proposed Dam @ ~ Francois L. ~ ph G. % Pe fy bce Skins Lake Spil “A > /* Proposed Reservoir % ge Nechako R. CZ seo j . . Sao © Nanika L. ae oni ; ft py oe Ve ad x Pl : ” ™ %, Ce er Tahtsa L. “8, Kenney Dam 'o- “a Nechako Reservoir ~, wwene= Water Systems Kemano a — — : P mpc: aps wee Existing Tunnel Gardner Canal P ia ee ae Ya T. eeeee Proposed Tunnels 0) 10 20km Me ; ee / snes Existing & Proposed [| --_ f Transmission Lines s Above, Alcan’s plans for a new dam and diversion of water for the Kemano Completion The Kemano Project; at right, one of several glossy public relations brochures put out by the company. Sn ue OFEL community relations officers were assigned to various centres in the Northwest, blocks of television time were purchased for advo- cacy advertising to emphasize Alcan’s “new commitment to shared resources” and the support of local municipal officials was sought — all under the direction of Alcan’s newly-appointed vice-president for British Columbia, Bill Rich. The application has been deftly timed, filed during the province’s worst economic crisis, at a time when many government Officials, local organizations and unem- ployed workers may be more inclined to come down on the jobs side of the jobs versus environment argument. _ The company also chose the town of Vanderhoof — an Interior centre where the main industry, wood, is depressed, where environmental organizations have little influence and where local officials could easily be won to the proposal for a new indusirial base — and anrounced it as the site of one of the new smelters. Alcan vice-president Bill Rich acknowledged that the choice of Vanderhoof “was intended to contribute to the overall acceptability of the project.” Alcan also announced in advance that it was prepared to establish a seasonal sche- dule of increased water flow from the Nechako Reservoir, a proposal designed to head off any significant opposition from the federal department of fisheries. But is the current Kemano Completion Project any less detrimental to the environ- ment, particularly the salmon fishery, than previous schemes? Will the new aluminum smelters provide any significant benefits to the province? Perhaps the most forthright answer to those questions comes, ironically, from Mike Burgess, secretary of the Fisheries Association who presented a joint brief signed by the association and the Fishing Industry Committee of the Environment, which includes the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union and other industry groups. “The potential negative affects to the users of the fisheries resource will likely outweigh any projected new benefits to the people of B.C.,” he told the fisheries department public meeting in Vanderhoof. He added in a letter to the Vancouver Sun: “The Kemano Completion Project .. Should be opposed in total.” Backing up fishing industry opposition are reports by both the fisheries department and the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission which state that Kemano Completion threatens the fish hab- itat in the rivers directly affected and could affect “all Fraser River sockeye and pink salmon stocks to some extent.” Alcan has insisted that its project is based on the principle that it will result in ‘tno net loss of habitat.” But even if that is true — and the fisheries department questions it — it is based on current fish stocks which are now greatly depleted, partly as a result of the first Kemano project. The need has been emphasized for some time to build up fish stocks to historic levels to guarantee the future of the resource and the thousands of jobs that go with it. Kemano Completion would close the door to building up stocks in the rivers affected. The loss of the fishery would affect not only the Native groups in the Northwest who depend on it for survival, but also thousands of jobs in the commercial fishery as well as those related to the sport fishing industry. see KEMANO page 10 The privatization of the former Crown-_ Owned Pacific Coach Lines was completed With a vengeance Mar. 31 — leaving the €stern Transportation Union, which Tepresented PCL workers, with only one- Quarter of its members working and leav- ing bus passengers facing fare increases and service cutbacks. _ Fares on the Vancouver-Victoria run Jumped 31 for a round trip on Apr. | as ific Coach Lines (1984) Ltd., one of Our ccanpanies taking over the old corpo- Tatior, assumed operations. Some service Cuts nave also been effected and many Passengers fear more will come should any lin; not prove profitable enough. But the hardest hit by the transfer to the Private sector were members of the West- tm Transportation Union. According to President Dave Ulrich, only 90 workers of nes some 350 who worked for PCL have been taken on by the various private owners. “As of Saturday, we had about 350 active people” Ulrich said in a telephone interview from Victoria Apr. 2. “This morning, we have about 90.” Four companies have bought the assets , of PCL: and will each provide different services: Maverick Coach Lines will oper- ate the Vancouver-Nanaimo route; Island Coach Lines (Gray Line) will operate the Vancouver Island runs; PCL (1984) Ltd. will operate the Vancouver-Victoria run; and Cascade Charter is to provide service in the Fraser Valley. For this week at least, however, Grey- hound was providing service in the Fraser Valley. In addition, Greyhound has taken over all services, including ticket sales at the Vancouver bus depot, which were formerly handled by PCL employees. PCL privatization hits union, services The owners of PCL (1984) Ltd. are all former executives with the Crown com- pany, including W.W. Watson, the former assistant general maanger, Bjorn Bjorn- son, the former comptroller and D.W. Gordon-Levett, also a former employee. Only 32 of the 90 WTU members re- hired will go to PCL (1984) Ltd. the union had filed an application to the Labor Rela- tions Board for successor status with the new company but that case will now lapse, said Ulrich, following the signing Mar. 31 of a new three year agreement between the company and the WTU. He noted that the union was compelled to accept a cut in wages of some 12 per cent and existing provisions in the old agreement allowing for longer shi‘ts will now be used more extensively. + Ulrich said that he “could : ot com- ment”, however, when asked if he thought one of the purposes of the privatization was to circumvent union agreements and reduce both service and employee wages. He did note that there would likely be significant cuts in service in the Fraser Valley as a result of the transfer to private owners. Although the full effect of service cuts and fare increases has not yet been felt, the immediate effects have borne out what the opponents of the privatization program had said. Many had warned that service would be reduced to only the profitable routes, fare would be increased and hundreds of jobs lost just to enable the government to obtain short-term rever.ue benefits. PACIFIC TRO UNE. APRIL 4, 1524 9 4