Ican calls biologists’ ~ demands unreasonable TERRACE — Biologists who slammed the 1987 deal that gave Alcan rights to much of the ~Nechako River wanted un- reasonable concessions from the company, says vice-president Bill Rich. __ Rich was responding to leaked Department of Fisheries “and _ Oceans ‘memos in which some biologists criticize the Nechako Settlement Agreement for giving ‘Alcan the right to take up to 88 . percent of the river’s pre-1950 flaws for the Kemano Comple- tion Project. - -* He noted that some of the “memos were written prior to the ‘deal, in which some scientists dis- ‘agreed with the fisherics minister “about what the minimum flows should be. - The status. quo wasn’t good enough for them, Rich said, ad- ding the scientisis were calling for flows that would have reduced the amount of water Al- can was taking at thal time. » And Rich said DFO wasn’t the only place where people dis- agreed about what. the flows Should be, “Within Alcan there were those ‘who bad argued for lower flows | than agreed to, Rich said, and _ Some of them fear the company gave away too much in agreeing to a comprehensive program of fish habitat mitigation. “There are some within the company who still are nervous about that,’’ he said, The company has also been criticized for keeping secret some of its reports and studies on the project, : Some of those studies aren't being released because they relate to the Nanika Diversion — a plan to add parts of the upper Skeena watershed to the Kemano reser- voir that was scrapped by Aican. “We're not going to spend a lot of time answering questions and debating it because it’s not part of the project,”’ Rich said. And he said Alcan can’t release all the other documents and studies it has compiled on the project over the years — even if it wants to. Reports Alcan prepared for its court'‘case against the gavernment in the 1980s must remain con- fidential according to court rules, Although an out-of-court settle- ment was reached in 1987, Rich says documents entered in the case remain privileged because the case is only adjourned. ‘That court case is not finished _— it’s adjourned. And it is still Natives poised for court action to stop Kemano TERRACE — Cheslatta natives are calling for a judicial inquiry into the Kemano Completion Pro- ject. “There’s got to be a full federal-provincial judicial, in- quiry,”’ Carrier tribal chief Justa Monk said. “Natives and enviranmentalists opposing the billion-dollar hydroelectric project say Alcan’s pplan:ta divert half the water in the (Nechako-River — reducing it to " as: ‘Aitle.a as 12 per cent of pre-1950 flows —~ will destroy thé river and its salmon. Seventy-five members of the Cheslatta. band lost their homes when. Alcan flooded 120,000 acres of their land in 1952. And they say they'll fight Kemano Completion to the end. "Ifa Supreme Court challenge of ihe project fails to force Alcan to undergo a federal environmental review, Monk says, they will try to entangle the project in their na- tive land claim. Cheslatta band researcher Mike Robertson says the band will seek to have Kemano halted until their land claim is settled. But when interim measures ne- gotiations on their claim. might start is up in the air, If the band’s legal and political arsenals fail ta stop Alcan, Monk said, his peaple will turn to direct action. ‘We have some plans,’? he said, ““But I am not prepared to disclose them at this time.” ‘It’s up.to us to assert our authority,”.: Robertson added. “Our whole future’s at tisk be- cause of that project.” ~ He said it’s not the fault of the Cheslatla peopie if the province has to pay millions of taxpayers’ dollars in compensation to Alcan in order to-halt the project. "They (government officials) are the ones that went behind closed doors and let Alcan go ahead and do this without any consultation,” Robertson said. - “This is the penalty they’re going to have to pay for it. “They’ve gol to pay the piper or else face some extreme con- sequences.” - He doesn’t rule out the pos- sibility that Alcan might come up ‘with some compromise that could “> get the band’s blessing. But he said that would require a ~ . scaled-down project, higher flows in the Nechako River, Alcan par- ticipation in a plan to revitalize Help open doors for Diabetes PRESIDENTIAL CAMMAICES | : Please Volunteer Ly La | Call 7824334 or homed 4-800-665-6526 the Cheslatta River, and 2 com- pensation package for the flood- ing that happened in the 1950s. *T£ Alcan wants to work in this territory they’re going to have to play by our rules,’” he said, “We can no onger allow one corpora- tion to control such a vast terri- tory.”” ‘‘They’ve made such vast prof- its from this territory. , it 8. time they put some ofit back, STRENGTH Thule Roof Rack Systems i The Best Skiing Connections In The World Made Easier potentially active.”’ The case could someday be reactivated, although = Rich declined to speculate what kind of situation might prompt thal, He maintains the company will oppose any type of public en- vironmental review — which premier Mike Harcourt bas cam- mitted the provitice to carry out. “The lime for a public review” was a [cw years ago — not now,’ he said. “That is not a reasonable re- quest to make of us when a pro- ject is half done,”” About $600 million has been | spent on the Kemano Completion Project so far. 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