r} Klappan coal could fire a new power plant in region By ROD LINK AN ONTARIO company with a significant anthracite coal deposit north of here is banking on the provincial government's new en- ergy policy to bring its project into production, The emphasis of the new po- licy on all sorts of energy produc- tion, including coal-fired gener- ating plans, fits well with the plans of Fortune Minerals for its Mount Klappan holdings, says president Robin Goad of London, Ontario, Anthracite is the hardest form of coal, has a high energy-produ- cing content and is more environ- mentally-friendly to burn than other, softer coal varieties, he said. “I know B.C. has a vision of green sources of power — wind- mills, tidal power, run-of-river. Those are good: for small amounts of electricity, but B.C. needs a lot of power,” said Goad, “There’s no getting around it. Coal-fired thermal generating plants will be needed,” The advantage of coal-fired plants. over natural gas, for in- stance, rests with fixed costs for coal, Goad continued. “When you talk about a $1 bil- lion power plant and the fluctua- ting price for natural gas, you can’t plan for that," he said. Goad was reluctant to reveal names of power companies For- tune is speaking with, But he points to partnerships between power companies and coal-produ- cers in Alberta as precedents. “I can see [a power plant] somewhere in the northwest. It could be in Terrace or Hazelton or Stewart,” said Goad. The key would be the distance anthracite from Klappan would have to be trucked and still be economical. There is rough road access to the Klappan site and Goad is heartened by provincial govern- ment pronouncements it wants better access to more remote re- source areas. Iskut power pl — with By JEFF NAGEL A PROPOSED $195 million hy- droelectric project on the Iskut River has gained environmental approval — but for less water flow than its backers had hoped. Regulators have more than tripled the minimum amount of water Coast Mountain Hydro will have to leave in the Iskut canyon to protect salmon habitat. The company can now divert all but 16.6 cubic metres per sec- ond of water — not the five cubic metres per second it proposed - the environmental assessment of- fice decided. “We have less water available for the turbines than we planned on,” Coast Mountain president Cliff Grandison said. The run-of-river project doesn’t involve a dam, but would divert a portion of the Iskut’s flow through a 3,2 kilometre long tunnel to drive its generators before rejoin- ing the main river channel. River flows range from about 24 to 700 cubic metres per second —meaning the power company now has approval to divert about a third of the river flow at low water in the winter. 11 would take about 20 per cent or 132 cubic metres per second at high water. “It threatens the viability of the project,” Grandison said of the new conditions. “We're looking at reconfiguring the turbines and other variables to see if we can recover some of the loss,” It may be possible to revisit the flows issue on a test-basis after construction under what's called adaptive management, he added. Coast Mountain’s Forrest Kerr project has advanced in another key area, It's one of 30 energy proposals out of an original 70 to make BC Hydro's shortlist for fu- ture green power generation. _ Meanwhile, Grandison says other challenges centre on finat- cing and concluding a deal. with aboriginal groups. Coast Mountain has made an offer involving jobs and other benefits to the Tahitan bands at Iskut and Telegraph, Creek, he =ting in up to:$160 million In ex- 2: ~ change for a 25 per cent: stake: in said. . - So far there's no ‘deal, “he said, but Grandison was optimistic that COAL in the Mount Klappan area near iskut was extracted on a test basis in the mice 1980s. But Fortune Minerals, the new owner of.the deposit, hopes to go much further. Plans for the Omineca resource road to open up an area to logging and to other mineral deposits, also north of here, wouldn't directly help Fortune, But it would set a precedent for access to the Klappan area, said Goad. Fortune closed a $3.1 million deal for the Mount Klappan prop- erty with Conoco, a major Ameri- can energy company, last year. The property came into posses- sion of Conoco in 2001 when it bought Gulf Canada. Gulf acquired the coal leases in 1981 and put considerable work into them. Fortune is also replacing a $210,000 reclamation bond Con- aco had for roads at the site. Should the holdings go into commercial production, Conoco will receive royalty payments of $1] a tonne. Gulf did not make a production decision, but did go as far as to take out a 200,000 tonne sample, 100,000 tonnes of which were shipped to Europe. The property is 150km from “l can see [a power plant] somewhere in the northwest. It could be In Terrace or Hazel- ton or Stewart.” Stewart as the crow flies but far longer by a road. Fortune officials do talk about a shorter route, making Stewart an. attractive port should the property ever reach production, Goad said the company . is looking at an open pit mining plan based on starting small and enlar- tol ity bei vd ging as financing allows. The company is now transfer- ting approximately 500 boxes of data to a computer modelling pro- gram that wasn’t available in the 1980s and early 1990s. That'll provide a more accurate picture of the deposits when it comes to designing an open pit mining plan, said Goad. A. small company, Fortune does not have any producing pro- perties but does have interests in cobalt-gold and copper-silvers -de- posits in the Northwest Territories and has a stake in a potential limestone quarry in southwest On- tario. Klappan feasibility studies da- ting back to 1991 indicated there could be. potential for-an open pit operation taking out 1.7 million tonnes of anthracite over a 21- year period fram just one of four deposits. an a vances: more restrictions THE RAGING waters in 1 the the iskut F River canyon could be partially diverted through : a tunnel to power generating turbines run by Coast Mountain Hydro. one can be hammered out. He said the Tathtan appear in- terested in maximizing benefits from the energy project as part of any agreemeni. There's no legal requirement for a First Nations deal, Grandison. -~ added, but said it's desirable and. has been suggested as part of the environmental assessment, A. four-partner consortium called Sino Energy Group is put- the operation, their That’s based on Coast Moun- tain raising $100 million in con- ventional financing with help from TD Securities. Extra money over and above the $195 million estimated cost would be earmarked to cover any expansion phase, Crandison said, That would consist of an. extra turbine that would be used during peak summer flows only. che. power. project would trans: “mit 100: megawatts: of power to the B .C. grid via a new 188-kilo- metre power line it would build to connect to existing lines at Me-- ziadin Junction. Power transmission lines would use what's called direct current light to transmit electricity: with minimal loss. The line could be .overruns and for a possible future tapped to. power a inajor. project like a new mine, but it wouldn't be able to provide electricity to smaller users in the Iskut area. There would be about 75 jobs in the construction phase and a tninimal number once the gener- ating station is built. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 23, 2003 - A5 CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag: Proud of small town Dear Sir: This is an answer to “Still a small town” letter to the editor of March 26 by Sandra Kuhar. You have-no clue about working in: the retail business with your flippant remark, “if you are so - dead set against working stat holidays don't work at Wal-Mart". Let me set you straight on this one, -If one retail ; store opens on a stat (regardless of the fines imposed) all other retail stores are forced to open by their head offices, I know there are employees that work for Wal- Mart who have to work on Christmas Day getting ready for their Big Boxing Day sales, Well, we in Terrace appreciate having Christmas and Boxing Day off to spend with our famities: ; No traipsing around the ruddy malls looking for - stupid sales. So yes, I guess I do have a small town attitude. Diane Pipe, Terrace, B.C. ; Don’t need this here. Dear Sir: Please forgive my old fashioned attitude, but + wouldn’t it make a whole lot more sense to give. people a place to work and make money instead of giving them a place to spend money. they don’t have? Huh? Am I the only one thinking this way? As a consumer, I must say I would like to go to. Wal-Mart, one that is closer than Prince George. However, as a clear-thinking resident of our fair city, - . I have seen the economic down turn here, and- witnessed the fact that. work, even part-time, is a: dream situation especially for our young people. I believe we should just stick with what we havei -until such a time as people can afford to buy. more than basic necessities, if they can even afford that. '- I’m also very worried about. the traffic situation.’ Just where is this proposed signal-light going to go?,. At the end of the George Little Bridge? Again, please excuse my old-fashioned attitude, but this would: make about as much sense as an overpass that you need to turn left or right to either get on or get off. Think now, boys. We have enough problems from would-be airline pilots in cars coming off the bridges from Thornhill. Must we add yet another accident waiting for a place to happen? Are the paramedics and police that desperate for more work? | think not. Let’s get real folks. We don’t really need a Wal- Mart at this time. Yes, it would be nice, yes, it would: be convenient, yes, they probably have low prices, yes, yes, yes, to all the so-called pluses. But, I noticed that the first thing Zellers and . Canadian Tire did when they opened up was to flog their credit cards, Whoopee! _- Let's spend money we don’t have, at an exorbitant, . amount of interest, just so we can have a Wal-Mart. Am I the only one who realizes that all this credit stuff just adds:to-ourinational debt? ¢::,°> fh Strive ah Cimon. folks;..please; put, this-one, on. the,.back burner for’ awhile. Let's stimulate the local’ economy. . by creating jobs, not by adding to the financial stress that is already here. i? And by the way, while Wal-Mart would no doubt — be creating jobs, we would find that other local. retailers would be forced to reduce staff considerably. ° Joan Roy, Terrace, B.C. It’s all for Alcan profit Dear Sir: Alcan is selling power at the expense of aluminum production; therefore at the expense of jobs and our current government is not alarmed. Let me quickly give you an idea of what is occurring. Alcan in Kitimat received the rights to exploit a natural resource of British Columbia in exchange for providing employment and infrastructure to the people that this resource belongs to. To date al! announcements of expansion in B.C. have not materialized yet there are continual developments in: other places. It seems Alcan has decided selling power from our natural resource can increase their developments without reinvesting in British Columbia. Alcan had originally agreed to use the water resource for aluminum production in B.C. which would result.in the creation of jobs. By selling power Alcan benefits because very few jobs” are required for power generation. Let me put this another way: You ask your neighbour for the use of their vehicle to take a load to ithe dump. In exchange they request that you take © their garbage with you.. “By power selling On the way you decide 'to go to the next town for some errands. You choose Alcan to spend the night. benefits because When you don’t come - _ very few jobs are required for power generation.” you may ‘neighbour about your trip. Would that be an acceptable situation? home your neighbour does... not look for you because they don’t want the hassle cause them.. Finally, you arrive, back at home, leave the truck.: with an empty tank of gas and don’t. talk io’ the’: Of course not. However, Alcan is currently doing a a very similar thing. Alcan is using a natural resource ihat belongs to British Columbians. for. Alean’s benefit, not for the benefit of the people that this resource belongs to. Our representatives are doing nothing about it an seem to be encouraging Alean to sell power, which allows Alcan to finance developments in other places. Rick Fairbairn, Kitimat, BC” “About the Mail Bag The Terrace Standard welcomes letters. Our. address is 3210-Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2. You can fax us at 250-638-8492 or a-mail us at newsroom @terracestandard.com. No attachments, please. We need your name, address and phone number for verification. Our deadiine is noon Friday or noon Thursday if it’sa long weekend.