By JOANNA WONG
IT’S BEEN 10 long and
agonizing months, but
Kalum St. Shell service
Station owner Giannino
Pretto is finally back in
business.

, Pretto and his wife
Sheila were forced to stop
selling gas last November
when they found contami-
nated soi] on the property

-wWhile installing new
_ pumps,

The discovery put what
was supposed to be a 10-
day project on hold until
Pretto could reach an
agreement wilh provincial
environment officials.

“We're all thrilled that
it's finally coming toge-
ther,” said Mrs. Pretto.
“it’s been a long, drawn-
out frustrating process.”

According to Pretto’s
accountant John McMynn,
the root of the contamina-
tion problem was a gas
tank from a previous sta-
tion that had been left un-
monitored in the ground,

“The contamination has
not travelled so that’s why
they’re allowing us to do
what we're doing,” Mc-
Mynn explained. “If it had
travelled off property
[Pretto] might as well have
walked away.”

To get approval from
environment officials to
reapen, Pretto dug up the
contaminated soil around
the area for the new tanks,

He then isolated the
hole from the rest of the
site by installing a plastic
liner and put clean fill
around the tanks.

“What we have is a
land of purity in a sea of
contamination,” McMynn
said.

Pretto had initially
hoped that Shell would
help him cover the exorbi- -

t

removing the sail, but the
company maintained it
wasn’t their responsibility.

“I’ve got to pay for it,
It's bad luck,” Pretto said.

He says the cost of
cleaning up the site will
be at least $250,000 -
down from original esti-
mates of $700,000.

“It’s a significant finan-

Jobless
rate falls
two points

NORTHWEST unemploy-
ment dropped by more
than two percentage points
in July. :

Stats Canada says the
jobless rate for this region
dipped to 12.9 per cent
from 15 per cent in June.

Although there’s no ob-
vious source of the extra
1,700 jobs in the north
coast/Nechako region, in-
creased seasonal summer
and tourism jabs some-
times boost summer em-
ployment levels.

Unemployment remains
four points higher than the
8.9 per cent rate a year
ago, prior to the shutdown
of Skeena Cellulose.

Stats indicate B.C,
gained 16,000 jobs in July,
but those numbers were
ptimarily in the urban
south. In the logging and
wood sector, 9,000 jobs
have disappeared since
this time last year,

Government spending
culs and the softwood lum-
ber dispute is expected to
hold back B.C,'s economy
in the shart to mid-term,
according to the Statistics
Canada report. Govern-
ment tax cuts will help sti-
mulate the economy, but
on balance the government
sector will be a drag on
growth, the report says.

Terrace Economic De-
velopment Authority exec-
utive director Brian Baker
said the local retail sector
appears fairly stable de-
spite the difficult econ-
omy. “It’s not the best of
times,” Baker said, “But
the future will be a lot
brighter in days to come,”

tant cost ‘of treating’ and” -

Gas station action

GIANNINO PRETTO expects to ba pumping gas at his Kalum St, gas station
by tha end of the month after a lengthy delay for environmental cleanup,

cial burden,” said Mrs.
Pretto. “It isn’t going to be
easy — there’s not a lat of
money to be made in gas
pumping.”

“It’s one of those things
where you think is it all

worth it?” she continued.
“But if you don’t persevere
then you’ve got nothing.”
While waiting for the
Station to reopen, the Pre-
ttos have made ends meet
by selling groceries and

washing cars. In the mean-
lime, they had to lay off
seven employees.

Mr. Pretto hopes he'll
be able to hire all his for-
mer staff back and be open
by the end of the month.

McEwan GM

is pleased to announce the appointment of

STEVE NICKOLLS..
SALES MANAGER

" Steve would like to express his appreciation to his more than
750 customers over the past 4 years who are the foundation
for his success. Steve and his sales staff will continue to provide
the highest levels of

The Terrace Standard is now

www.terracestandard.com

Check out our site or call 638-7283 for advertising Information

Customer Satisfaction.

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‘ Peay of :
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Date: August 17 7-31, 2002

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