AG Te ERP ae

SNS, CURRIER eae

$400,000,
‘total cost of the project.

Stewart
hydro line

“The Regional District of

_Kitimat-Stikine has accepted a _

revision to the Stewart hydro
line route which will bypass
Cranberry Junction. According

to B.C. Hydro, the bypass: will
‘provide a more direct route than

their original plan and save them

_ money in line construction costs,

' Hydro’s project manager,
Mike Gwilliam, said the revised
route is in an area which has
already been logged and is ex-
pected to save Hydro about
two percent of the

**The potential environmental

impact was also examined,” said
Gwilliam. “The impact is con-
- sidered to be very low. Fish and

Wildlife have already verbally

advised that they have no abjec-

tions.”’

The route was originally plan-

‘ned to follow the road from New

Aiyansh to Cranberry Junction

and then Highway 37 to Stewart
__ because it would be the cheapest

‘route and have the least en-
‘vironmental impact.

However, regional district ad-
ministrator Bob Marcellin says
that the revision is an improve-

“ment over the original route
‘because it
‘vironmentally sensitive area and

bypasses an en-

will avoid any potential harm to

-moose and fish populations.

Projected
impact minimal

Fears by some Kitimat-Stikine-

Regional District board mem-
bers that the Stewart hydro ex-
‘tension could have a negative

- impact have been quieted — for
_ the time being.

Concern was expressed recent-

ly that the Meziadin area could

be the hardest hit if commercial
development around Meziadin

Lake was caused by the avail-
ability of hydro power. This

“prompted the board to write a
letter to B.C. Hydro asking

“them to outline future plans.

The regional district has learn-

ed since, that Hydro has no

plans to provide stepped-down

“power at Meziadin because of

the high cost and limited number

_ of consumers.
They have also been told that

‘the 138-kilovolt line will follow

the highway right-of-way and:
‘therefore is expected to have no
‘environmental impact on wilder-
“ness areas and little impact on

‘tenure holders such as trappers.

‘However, if a decision is made
to build a larger capacity line in
order to provide power to con-
sumers north of Meziadin, such
as Klappan Coal, ‘‘a new trans-

_ mission line corridor will be re- -
quired’’,

Also, director Ruth Hallock

_ pointed out that Premier Vander

Zalm recently held discussions

“with the U.S. government over
the possibility of extending the }.

line into Alaska.

- Weeber

RT OT AT MA amma

The port town of Stewart continues to boom from logging and mining activity. Approval has been granted and
planning begun to extend the B.C. Hydro grid northward from Aiyansh, replacing the diesel generating system
that has limited Stewart's Industrial growth. With the avallability of main-line hydro power, a wood processing
facility for the town has become a real possibllity.

Tom Taggart photo

Economic Development Commission
sees Highway 37 corridor as next priority

Following many years of hard
work by the Kitimat-Stikine
Regional District’s Economic
Development Commission, the
Stewart hydro extension is close
to reality, and now the commis-
sion is searching for a new pro-
ject with regional impact. So at
their last meeting, discussion
turned to the development and
promotion of Highway 37, via
the Nass Valley, as the gateway
to the Yukon.

Commission member Pete
says, ‘‘Highway 37
would have tremendous poten-

tial for this region if it were to-

become the route to Alaska. It’s
two to three hundred miles
shorter than the Alaska
Highway, and better in terms of
grades and scenery.”’

Telegraph Creek member Dan
Pakula agrees, but he says it’s an
uphill battle to promote tourism
when tourists ‘Shave to come to
a halt for five minutes and wait

for the dust to settle every time a
truck goes by’’.

He said road conditions com-
bined with competition with
asbestos and logging trucks is

more than a tourist should have.

to bear. He added also that the
present level of industrial traffic
could soon increase when other
mines, including Klappan Coal,
open up.

Pakula also pointed out that a
better road would mean lower
freight costs and lower prices in
communities like Iskut and
Telegraph Creek. ‘‘When
Cranberry to Meziadin opened
up we were able to negotiate
cheaper rates. with Lindsay’s
(Cartage)’’, he said, ‘‘and we
could get more cuts if the road
was upgraded.”’

On a motion made by Pakula,
the commission will be lobbying
the government for improve-
ment to the road, but he says
there’s another problem that

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they can’t address. The corridor
is divided by Economic Develop-
ment Regions Seven and Eight,
which separate Dease Lake,
Cassiar and Atlin and ties them
economically with the
Buckley/Nechako communities
of Smithers, Houston and
Vanderhoof:

Pakula says, ‘‘It excludes us
from any discussion in that
area’, and. suggested that. the
commission lobby to have the
boundaries changed and have
the whole corridor included in
Region Eight. However, he add-
ed, the people in Cassiar aren’t
very excited about the sugges-
tion,

He said it was recognized at
the last meeting of the
Buckley/Nechako Economic
Development Committee that
the boundaries as they exist are
inappropriate. A recommenda-
tion was made that the S6th
parallel become the boundary in
order to include Iskut and
Telegraph Creek in their region.

Pakula says Minister of State

Stephen Rogers is presently in-

vestigating the possibility of a
change, but he says it would
make the situation even worse.
The. boundary wouldn’t only
divide the highway corridor, ‘it
would divide the regional district
as well,

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