A new way to do it. re’s a survivor Not that old deal to take over childcare. services\ NEWS A10 ~ Eight northwest bands celebrate a like to survive prostate cancer\COMMUNITY B1 Ken Fuergutz describes what it’s Check out what happened at the final game of Oldtimers’ Hockey League\SPORTS B4_— - WEDNESDAY. March 24, 1999 ~ $4.00 PLUS‘7¢ GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of tha Torrace area). . ; VOL: 11.NO. 50 Loggers angry over export veto IWA split over work plan » Aman and his dummy THE FIGURE on the right made by Mike Talstra on the left won second place for most life-like dummy at the fifth annual Dummy Downhill com- petitions held on Shames Mountain March 13. Betty Barton photo/Shames Mountain Eight of the dummies were on skis and one on a skateboard and the plan was to have them careen down Panhandler trail and over a jump. Only one made it, however. Orange fish spur dump debate By CHRISTIANA WIENS SALMON FOUND downstream of the Terrace dump are orange, says an environment ministry biologist in Smithers, Remi Odense took part in fish sampling studies to decide what effect area landfills were having on the environment. He sald coho tested downstream of an orange sudsy deposit in a side channel of the. Kitsumkalum River could be polluted, And leaking into that side channel below the Terrace dump is an orangey substance. Odense said the thyroid follicles of the coho studied were growing slower than they should be, they had more -pig- ment in their kidacys and they generally appeared Icss healthy than other coho, Odense said none of the indicators were lethal but could lead to a Jower survival rate. The City of Terrace will need to work on treatment options, he added, “We don’t want It to degrade any more than it has,’ Odense said of the river quality. This leaves the city wondering whether it can include the cost of treating the effluent Icak in the planning for a sub- regional landfill it has underway with the regional district, Instead of looking fot another location for a sub-regional ' landfill, the city might be in a position to first treat the leak and expand the site to create a much larger facility. Yel key questions remain on whether the result would be: more cost effective and environmentally sourd than fixing * up the current Thornhill dump or building a new one at Onion Lake, These and other questions are being directed by a regional district committee to the environment ministry in Smithers. The more money that is put into a facility, the less en- vironmental risk there is that something will go wrong in the fulure, says environment ministry official Frazer Mckenzie in response to the committee’s queries. And in the end it is up to the committee to come up with a financial figure, he said, ‘How much money ate they willing to spend to reduce the risk?’? Mckenzle asked. Mckenzle is responsible for setting environmental goal- posts for the committee and said area sites cach have their own natural features which lend themselves to possible de- velopment. . The existing Thornhill site, for example, is mostly clay- based. That creates a natural barrier between the waste liq- uids and the soil and groundwater undemeath the dump. The clay collects leachate naturally, which ultimately, makes it easier and less expensive to treat. Mckenzie said the wetlands below the dump could be used as part of a natural filtration system that cleans the . leachate before it enters Thornhill Creek. But, said Mckenzie, the area would still require intensive leachate treatment as a subregional site because it would be a major landfill development sitting directly adjacent to a small stream that contains cutthroat trout. - “We would require a very robust intensive leachate “management system,’ Mckenzie said. So far none of the ‘trout tested show signs of leachate pollution.. By JEFF NAGEL WEST FRASER's logging contractors and their workers are furious with the TWA for holding them hostage in an attempt to pro- tect other union jobs at Skcena Sawmills. Loggers for Alm-Wood Contacting and Friell Lake Logging both IWA- unionized contractors — say their outfits voted overwhelmingly in favour of a raw log export plan that’s scen as the key ta keeping West Friser’s logging operations running this year. ~ . “We were unanimous,” said Friell Lake ‘logger Bill Montgomery, adding IWA log- gers are angry that sawmill workers in the same union haven’t supported the plan, Local IWA members, all of whom belong to Local 1-71, voted 142-49 to reject the provincial Job Protection Commission's plan. Union leaders vowed to oppose the export idea unless there’s better protection for 70 mill workers who face layoffs when a work-sharing program runs out in June. Montgomery noted West Fraser has said it won’t run more than one shift anyway, adding the mill workers’ opposition boils down to spile; reflecting a historic rifi be- tween [WA loggers and mill workers, “Qur so-called brother mill workers went against us and whether we get it or not keir jobs are still gone,’’ ine said. ‘If the table was tumed we would vote to give those guys jobs. This is garbage.”’ Lo “They’re just trying to screw us around," added Martin Dumont, 2 Friel! Lake logger based in Kitimat. “They never support the guy in the bush. , Alm-Wood Contracting president Rob Wood is convinced IWA members at his logging firm also supported the plan. ““They’re all 100 per cent bebind it,” he said. ‘These guys want to go to work. Some of them have been off six to cight Flood conce A SNOWPACK THAT is twice its normal depth has government officials keeping a close eye on the potential for flooding as the warm weather arrives. Len Barak, an environment ministry water management technician in Smithers, says a reading earlier this month at a Terrace-area measuring station showed a Snowpack of 191 per cent of normal, rough- ly twice the average depth, Another station at Wedeene, midway be- tween Terrace and Kitimal, showed 224 per cent of normal. ‘‘That’s the biggest we've got in our area,’’ Barak said. The high readings come aller record snowfalls were recorded in Terrace and other northwest areas this winter. But whether rivers and creeks will jump their banks depends on a number of factors, say environment ministry officials. Local diking authorilies have been notified of the atest snowpack readings. nionths.”’ “All they’re doing is shafling the log- gers,"’ he added of the mill workers, He noied that West Fraser's other logging contractors are non-union, along with many of the smaller road builders and sub- contractors, are non-union. “If they’re going to have a vote on the economic plan they should Jet everyone vote — not just the union members,” Wood said. West Fraser forester Scott Marleau said all IWA mnembers got to vote on the plan because the Job Protection Commission de- cided they would represent workers and be signatories to the plan along with the government, West Fraser and the Truck Loggers Association as reps of the con- tractors. “The IWA is sort of split right down the . middie between the mill workers and the loggers on this one,’? Marieau said. “‘T’ve heard rumours about decertification, that loggers are saying wiry is it that we're members of the IWA but when we need help we don’t get it.’” Because the company says it can only economically operate one shift of ihe saw- mill this year and because it already has most of the timber required cut, very little logging is needed this year to feed the saw- mill, The plan to seek permission. to export more than 200,000 cubic metres of timber was an idea of Wood and the contractors, who say it’s the only way to keep their companies. afloat and keep some 400 workers in the bush. Wood hoped that the Job Protection Com- missioner would meet with government of- ficials this week and look for a com- promise. Cont'd Page A2 rn raised “"We have to be on alerl when see numbers like that,’’ said Barak. Barak, who has been a water technician for many years in the north, says he can’t recall secing such a high snowpack here. “Tt’s not a big surprise. We knew they were breaking records with the snowfall,” Barak said it’s not a given that at Jeast some flooding will occur because ideal weather conditions could cause a gradual runoff. “There’s always the possibility that regardicss of the size of the snowpack, that you can fave a moderated melt,’’ he said. Yet Barak said so many different vari- ables exist which could affect How levels. “The best we can hope to know in advance is like about five days, or something like that,’? Barak added. The low-clevation maclt traditionally doesn't slart until April, followed by the mountain runoff in May. olunteers were out ERE athag a iv between the two bridges head- ing east of town last week, using a speed board to publicize the dropping of the Hwy16 speed limit there. What was once 60kph is now 50kph between the inter- section of Hwy16 and Hwy37 going west to the Inybird store. Police and high- ways ministry officlals say having a continuous 50kph route leading through Thornhill and Terrace will be less confusing. From the left are Luisa Cordeiro, Richard Ambridge and Jean Wiltzen with the speed baard. oo