Playing Catch up with the July News (July 28, 2006)

We try to pick and choose the big stories of our sabbatical, to archive for future generations of Podunkians.

The July 28th recap

Gusts of money prepare to blow into Rupert

The announcement by BC Hydro that it approved of the Mount Hays Wind farm project could pump millions of dollars into the local economy. With purchase agreements reached with BC Hydro, Katabatic Power can now get busy preparing the plans for its 14 turbine wind farm expected to be in operation by 2008.

The Daily News had the details on yet another project that goes from the could be, to the will happen phase of development.

WINDS OF CHANGE BLOW ON NORTH COAST
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, July 28, 2006
Pages One and Three

Some $230 million-worth of power projects on the North Coast that will generate enough “green” electricity to power 81,000 homes got the thumbs up by B. C. Hydro Thursday morning.

B. C. Hydro announced it has agreed to purchase power from Katabatic Power- which is proposing a 14 turbine wind farm on Mount Hays – and the Anyox Hydro Electric Corp – which is proposing to restore the old power generation facilities around the old company towns of Anyox and Alice Arm.

Province-wide B. C. Hydro accepted 38 contracts from independent power producers in order to meet the growing demand for electricity.

Representatives from both Katabatic and Anyox said they can now move ahead quickly with their respective projects.

“We are thrilled with the acceptance of the bid and we are very happy to see B. C. Hydro buying wind power. They accepted three wind power bids, one of them was ours and tow others in the Peace Region,” said Jonathon S. Raymond, chief operating officer for Katabatic Power.

Katabatic’s project is worth $52 million, will generate an estimated 25.2 megawatts and is expected to be in operation by 2008.

Each megawatt generated can power 1,000 homes.

Katabatic is pleased to be the first to take advantage of the world class wind site that has been identified on the North Coast and the company believes the development of a wind energy industry will follow, said Raymond.

“We believe in wind on the North Coast. This will be the first wind farm up there and hopefully the first of many,” said Raymond.

The site proposed for the wind farm is on the back side of Mount Hays, with access from Wantage Road, and only one or tow of the turbines will be visible from town.

The company is currently two-thirds of the way through its environmental assessment – it will be holding an open house in Prince Rupert in September- and has financing in place. Katabatic expects to be able to announce its financial partners within three weeks.

“then we have some contract work to do with the turbine supplier, finish off our construction agreements and then we just have to pick a date to go into construction.” He said.

Meanwhile, John Turpin, director of operations for Anyox Hydro Electric Corp, said the company hopes to move into full construction within 60 to 90 days.

“With this contract in place we can finalize our financing and proceed with full construction this fall,” said Turpin. “It’s a big day; we’ve been waiting on pins and needles for a few months.

“We are very excited about the opportunity and happy the power will be used in B. C.”

Anyox is proposing four projects worth about $180 million, with a combined output of 56.5 megawatts, and the company hopes to be on-line by Jan 1, 2009. The projects include refurbishing the old dam system at Anyox, installing a hydro electric project on the upper Kitsault River at Kitsault Lake and installing tow small run-of-river hydroelectric projects on Trout Creek and Homestake Creek.

All four projects are slated for a remote area, on streams that flow into a narrow fjord system with its terminus at Portland Inlet and all are on water systems where natural barriers have prevented fish from entering the waterways.

The company has been working on the Anyox and Kitsault projects for the last five years.

Most recently, Anyox Hydro Electric expanded its camp to 73 beds. The camp will house the crews needed for construction.

The company hopes to do its tunneling at Anyox this winter. It has to install a tunnel to carry pressurized water three and a half kilometers form the dam, through the mountain to the powerhouse where electricity will be generated.

They hope to start general construction in the spring and have hired Finn Conradsen as a full time coordinator in Prince Rupert.

“We have a lot of excellent suppliers in Prince Rupert and we have been doing a lot of business there over the last five years getting ready for this,” he said.

“We are excited about the next two years; I think there will be a lot of spin off benefits in Prince Rupert, the Nisga’a and communities in the Nass Valley. We will be drawing a lot on the local labour force.

Casting off for fame, fortune and bad feelings

The Great Northern Salmon Fishing Classic gets underway on August 1st, and while the sports fisherman are out seeking the coho, the rest of the northwest is feeling a little left out. The Daily had a report on the backlash to the tournament in its July 28th edition.

FISH DERBY IDEA MAKING LOTS OF RIPPLES IN REGION
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Friday, July 28, 2006
Pages One and Five

Communities from the Queen Charlotte Islands, north to Stewart, along the Skeena River and into the Nass Valley all feel left out in the cold when it comes to a Prince Rupert centered fishing derby.

“It would be really nice if the Charlottes or Terrace and Kitimat and other great fishing destinations could be part of it as well and have the benefit of additional tourism<’ said Urs Thomas of the Golden Spruce Motel in Port Clements. “ We are all suffering form the loss of the ferry and to me it would spread out the money a little it, maybe even the fishing pressure.”

The $160,000 fishing derby launched by the Northern Fund Management Committee – which was given $450,000 by the province in the wake of the Queen of the North sinking – has left a bitter taste in the mouth of some people throughout the region, many who feel the initiative will draw tourism away from their communities.

“If you would have the option to fish on the Charlottes or fish in Rupert and maybe have a similar fishing experience but have the chance to win $100,000 with your biggest coho, what would you decide?” he said.

Thomas contact Tourism Prince Rupert and was told other communities could not participate for a variety of reasons.

“They were always saying there are too many scales and about rules and regulations,” he said,”but on the other side, I just talked with an enforcement officer here on the Charlottes and he said there’s actually no concerns as long as they’re within the (fishery) regulations.

The derby is just the latest apparent misstep on the Charlottes by the Northern Fund. They’ve also raised the ire of people there about plans to distribute 100,000 brochures to tourists in Alaska telling the QCI’s are still accessible

We had a look at the draft and we’re not that excited about it,” said Thomas. “We kind of stopped that project for the moment.”

“We’re not even sure if it makes sense at this point because in our opinion the season is more or less over,” said Thomas.

Concerns are also coming from up river, as Terrace and Kitimat – who were left off the committee by the province –are wondering why they weren’t given a chance to take part.

“They’re not unhappy that money is coming to the Northwest to promote tourism but they are concerned by centralizing the fish derby solely in Prince Rupert. that it’s going to attract all the fishermen to go (there) and have quite an adverse effect on little communities like Kitimat,” said Skeena MLA Robin Austin.

Over the Labour Day weekend in September, Kitimat has traditionally held a fishing derby.

“(The Rupert Derby) is going to draw tones of tourists and fishermen who would normally pull their boats down the Kitimat River or into Kitimat.. to Rupert to take advantage of what will be a huge prize,’ said Austin. ”People just wish it would spread out a bit and say have a weigh station in Kitimat for people to partake.”

Tourism representatives in Terrace are congratulating Prince Rupert for their good marketing efforts, but say the whole situation is very unfortunate.

“What inadvertently happened is, they’ve actually pinned one community against another when we were really working well together as communities for tourism,’ said Jennifer Lewis, Terrace Tourism Society executive director/ “It’s really unfortunate, but it’s too important that we stick together in the North.”

While there may be some pull away form other Northern communities to Rupert, there is some benefit in that more people should be coming down Highway 16, she said.

Our lodges are not going to go empty because of this fishing derby,” said Lewis. “I think it’s a benefit all the way around, but it’s hard when you live in these communities and one of them gets something when everyone’s supposed to be represented.

“It’s all those bad feelings when your brother gets the best piece of pie and you get a little slice. It’s those feelings that hurt and make you feel excluded, but I think we do really need to rally around Prince Rupert.