A12- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 29, 2003 _ TERRAGE STANDARD - M@ Seared at Sears | BOOTA Uppal stands beneath what was left of his backlit sign on the west side of the Sears building on Kalum St.. An electrical problem trig- gered a fire in the sign shortly after 7:30 p.m. More than 25 firefighters trom Terrace and Thornhill responded to the scene. The fire was quickly extinguished and electrical power to the sign cut. Uppal estimates the sing's replacement costs to be $3,000 but no damage was done to the building itself. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO Mega-bucks at stake over Alcan court case By JEFF NAGEL THE PROVINCE would have to provide Alcan with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of power if Kitimat wins its battle io force the aluminum company to build a new, much larger smelter. That’s one of the terms of the 1997 agreement that settled Alcan’s claim for compensation over B.C.’s 1995 decision to cancel the Kemano Completion Pro- ject. That deal guaranteed Alcan 20 years worth of low-cost replacement power — equivalent to the extra electricity that the scrapped hydroelectric expansion would have generated — if it builds a big new smelter, Kitimat administrator Trafford Hall said the cost of the replacement power may be one factor on the minds. of provin- cial officials in resisting Kitimat’s argu- ments that the province should vigorously block power exports by Alcan, He and Kitimat mayor Rick Wozney met enterprise minister Rick Thorpe and energy minister Richard Neufeld on the issue Oct, 9, . Hall said he tried to persuade them to look at the benefits and not just the costs of such a scenario. “If the contract was adhered to there’d be a new large smelter built,” he said. He estimates the value of the 175 megawatts of power the province would have to provide Alcan at between $400 and $500 million. “That would be somewhat expensive, but it wouldn't be any more expensive than that which they've sunk into Skeena Cellulose with no reward to date,” Hall said. “It would give us a shiny, new smelter which would secure the future of the re- gion for years to come,” he added. “There is a huge benefit to it.” Additionally, he said, the power trans- fer would not be a subsidy but rather re- paying a debt to the company for the can- cellation of KCP. In order to deliver the power to Alcan, Hall said, Pacific Northern Gas would likely build a gas-fired generating station between Terrace and Kitimat. He argues that would also secure the long-term future of PNG’s natural gas pi- peline serving the region, which would be in jeopardy if the Methanex plant in Kiti- mat - PNG’s biggest customer. - shut down. “There’s a whole series of very large public benefits that would fall out of AI- can building a new. large. smelter,” he said. Hall rejects the theory that the 1997 agreement on compensation could unrav- el if Kitimat launches a court challenge to enforce the terms of Alcan’s original ° contract limiting power sales to the vicin- . ity of the smelter. “You're not reopening a contract if you go and try to enforce the existing ane,” he said. ; Any compensation owed to Alcan has also declined, Hall said,. because the company has over the past six years been able to export power at large profits under another plank of the 1997 deal. The deal also enshrined Alcan’s much more valuable. water rights, he added, noting they would go back on the table if Alcan went after compensation again. “It’s not a credible argument to think that Alcan: would reopen the agreement,” he said, “You're not. going to. challenge somebody for a dime when you risk losing a dollar.” The town is edging closer to launching its lawsuit over the issue — something it has held off daing for nearly three years. The meeting in Victoria’ wrapped up with officials pledging to try to draw up a possible new route to finding a resolution, he said. . “This is really our last effort to avaid any kind of court proceedings,” Hall said. “We'll have to see what they come up with and see if it holds any promise al all.” o Minutes. T here are 525,600 minutes in a standard year. The Royal Canadian Legion is asking you to take two minutes of chat time to share with us as we remember our war dead at 11 a.m, local time on 11 November. Help us creace a “Wave of Silence” from coast to coast through your participation. It’s not much to ask in return for what we have as Canadians, But it will mean the world to those who survived the wars of the past century, and to those still in our military forces today. It will show them that their service counts and that they will not be forgotren as we speed our way through the 21* century. The Royal Canadian Legion A force for remembrance Lest we fo rget. AMT ure SPER ILENCE For information on this and other programs see our web fe at or call a branch near you. I InterConnect (250)635-7995 Youth Opportunities (250)635-3812 Northwest BC Métis Association ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - POTLUCK Place: Happy Gang Centre INTERCONNECT & YouTH OPPORTUNITIES We would tike to thank the following people for their support on our Open _House—October 10, 2003 Date: Nov. 8, 2003 We arefocatedat- Thank VERY MUCHII!! Time: 6:00 p.m, #530 takeke Av. River industries MeDonalds John Crawford of SRI inc. Elections To Fallow. Contact Heather (250) 638-1537 ra —/- The Government of Canada has contributed funding ta these initiatives ass TRGSS Canadi BES lnterConnect & Youth Opportunitias are programs of Terrace & District Community Services Society TURNS A DOUBLE SHIFT INTO A CAKEWALK. Comfort on Concrete WITH SOFT FOOTBEDS AND SLIP-RESISTANT SOLE OUR SERVICE OXFORDS MAKE SHORT WORK OF ; LONG HOURS. MacCarthy Motors ( Terrace ) Lid, Gary MacCarthy and staff would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the following businesses and individuals who helped in making our Grand opening a huge success. Trimline Signs Northwest Weekly M & M Meats Rovers Air Liquide Rudon Enterprises Superior Linen Hawkair _ Coast Inn of the West Northern Motor Inn Terrace Standard Blue Ridge Graphics Gemma’'s Boutiques CFTK and The Mix Skeena Valley Golf Club Salvation Army Thornhill Jr. Sec. Band = Safeway Baskets Unlimited - Gifts by Design Grand prize was supplied by HAWKAIR @ for a trip to Vancouver. 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