Fishe issues surface The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 15, 2000 - A15 Greens worry about road By JEFF NAGEL BUILDING A new road from the Kentess gold-cop- per mine to Stewart could threaten the world-class fishery of the Sustut River, environmental critics warn, Cutting 130 kilometres of new road through the Sustut wilderness would create a much shorter and cheaper route to port for Kemess and make other mines in the area much more viable. It’s also viewed as a potential bonanza for both Stewart and business sup- pliers as far away as Ter- race. But to environmental groups it amounts to the ressurrection of a bad idea they thought had been put to rest. The new sections of road include areas of very unstable soils, says Smi- thers-based Sierra Club or- ganizer Rosemary Fox. “There is considerable concern about sedimenta- tion going into the Sustut River and affecting the really high value fishery there,” she said. “There are all kinds of ramifica- tions.” Fox was among envir- onmentalists who first raised red flags about new Private roads in the area when ori- ginal mine developer Royal Oak pondered build- ing what’s called the Sloan connector. That would have been a road running south from the mine site to the north- west end of the B.C. Rail extension. The idea was to haul ore concentrate a short distance by road to rail- head and then run it all the way to Vancouver. But that scheme was abandoned and Royal Oak instead used the Omineca resource road to carry .con- centrate east to Macken- zie and then by rail south to Vancouver. New mine owner North- gate Exploration also re- jected the Sloan connector when it determined the B.C. Rail extension would be unusable too many months of the year, But any new road net- work from Kemess to Ste- wart would include the Sloan section. “It does mean resusci- tating the Sloan connec- tor,” Fox said. “(The De- partment of Fisheries and Oceans) has expressed considerable concern about the impacts on fish pools regulated HOME OWNERS who set up swimming pools in their yards will soon be subject to new city rules. City council is introdu- cing a new bylaw that will require new pool owners to either fence or guard their pool or entire yard so small children can’t get in and drown. The bylaw won’t affect existing in-ground swim- ming pools — of which there are few anyway in Terrace. Bul new ones that are built, and more common above-ground pools that are dismantled and set up again each year will fall under the bylaw, said building inspector Paul Gipps. Any pool intended for swimming or wading that’s over two feet deep and has a surface area of 100 square feet or more is cov- ered. Those pools must be enclosed by a fence at least 1.5 metres high and have a gate with a locking latch mechanism. The change comes on the heels of advice from the B.C, Children’s Com- ‘mission, which found a series of three drowning deaths of children in the past three years were due ta the ease of access ta a pool. City councillors also wondered whether the fen- cing rules would apply to fish ponds that are growing in popularity with garde- ners, “They range in depth,” noted councillor Olga Power. “People have these unguarded pools of water on their property.” Gipps said while fen- cing any dangerous water body is a good idea, the bylaw is intended to cover only pools “intended for swimming, bathing or wading.” Hot tubs aren’t affected either, he said, because they’re below the 100- square-foot size threshold. Some councillors felt the issue was such a ser- ious safety concern that existing pools shouldn’! be | 1-888-334-9769 a wav paguide,com ge a Te px = ; “te ve LC exempted. But Gipps said it would be difficult to find all ex- isting pool owners, prefer- ring instead to use public education to persuade them to protect their pools. With features that make “$1,700 Value Group At No Extra Charge: <>: «Speed Control « Tilt Steering » Privacy Glass + Roof Rack vis Now Lease for only [Well Equipped with Fors ' of that proposed road.” Ed Mankelow, chair of the B.C. Wildlife Federa- tion's mining land use committee, has asked the province to withdraw ear- lier approvals for the Sloan connector. He alleges three major spills of ore concentrate from Kemess have oc- curred so far along the Omineca road. In one incident, Manke- low says, concentrate spilled into Sustut tributary Moosevale Creek, cleva- ting the copper level in the water to 33 times normal levels, “With the environ- mental record of this pro- ject to date, we do not be- lieve that we can allow this company to build the proposed Sloan connector road,” he says. Fox notes a road from Kemess to Stewart would also create a “huge circle route” and open up a vast area for resource develop- ment and human use. “This argument that it’s going to be just an indus- trial road doesn’t hold water for the lang term,” she said. “A very careful look needs to be made at the impacts on wildlife.” Fox also points out Vic- toria already gave Royal Oak $14 million for. con- struction of the Sloan con- hector as part of the $166 million in compensation extended to the company for the expropriation of its Windy Craggy copper de- posit in the Tatshenshini. Because the road never got built the mine used the money for other expenses in building the mine, Fox Says. “The public has already paid once for the Sloan connector,” Fox said. “If this road is going to be paid for out of public money, why should the taxpayer pay twice for that portion of the read?” need this 4 Congratulations to Bonnie Burkett of Terrace, the lucky winner of a trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The trip was drawn from attendees of a Car @ Smart Seminar; a joint Ford of Canada & Terrace Totem Ford | effort to provide women with the relevant information they | to make automotive decisions. Bonnie attended the April seminar of year. spokesperson for Terrace Totem Ford and Hostess of the Seminars, says locally over a hundred ladies from Terrace and area have attended in the past year. 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