Ai2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 10, 1994 Opponents doubt KCP business TERRACE AND KITIMAT Chamber of Commerce represcn- latives came under fire from en- vironmentalists here at last weck’s public hearings into the Kemano Completion Project. They were defending a study they presented to the B.C. Utili- tics Commission detailing the economic impacts of the KCP on Kitimat and Terrace. - The study predicts the construc- tion phase of the project will bring nearly $27 million into the northwest in direct jobs and spin- off effects, Rivers Defence Coalition law- yer Devid Austin challenged Ter- race Chamber of Commerce pres- ident Sharon Taylor to answer how Terrace would be affected if 88 per cent of the water was diverted from the upper Skeena. ‘*Lel’s put the shoe on the other foot,’’ he said. Taylor responded that she has no qualificalions to answer such a question, Chris Lemon, a_ lawyer representing A River Forever and Vanderhoof-area communities and businesses, suggested the two communities could face a reces- sion if they make plans and rely upon the business generated by Kemano. ‘You create an economy that can’t support itself over the long term,”’ he charged. Taylor responded that the sbut- down of construction in 1991 was unplanned, but when KCP resumes and eventually ends, it will slowly decline. “7 don’t think the wind-down from the construclion phase would create trauma,’’ added Gary Robinson, the consultant who prepared the study, Under questioning, Robinson agreed the construction jobs from KCP probably represent a five to 10-per-cent increase in the north- west economy. Lemon suggested the study was over-oplimistic — that Jess work in the later stages of the project will go to local workers. He demanded to know whether the Kitimat Chamber's Sheila Reeve had any promise from Al- can thal there will be smelter jobs in the future. “T have faith that Alcan will be there in Kitimat to produce aluminum for a good many years to come,” Reeve replied. “There are no puarantees.’” She rejected the suggestions of project opponents that KCP is of little value to the northwest be- cause there will be no permanent jobs as a result. “It’s the same as saying the pyramids of Egypt shouldn’t have been built because there was no long-term ‘employment as