Burns Lake, B.C.- The Minister of Jobs Tourism and Innovation, Pat Bell, will be in Burns Lake today to meet with community, First Nations, union and business leaders.

 

 The session is designed to start working on an economic strategy for Burns Lake in the wake of the loss of the community’s primary employer.

 

250 direct jobs have been impacted since the tragic fire one week ago at the Babine Forest Products sawmill. Two people died, another 19 were injured in the explosion and fire which levelled the mill. The loss of the direct jobs has a ripple effect throughout the region.

 

Pinnacle Pellets is one of the businesses impacted by the loss of the Burns Lake sawmill. It has a pellet plant in Burns Lake which employs about 55 people directly as well as several trucking contractors . That plant got its primary wood waste supply from the mill. Pinnacle President and CEO Leroy Reitsma says   the pellet plant has a good supply of wood waste to keep operations steady in the short term, and for the long term there are other options . He says they not only have a plan “B”, but plans “C and D” as well. Those plans for wood waste supply could include sending truckloads that were   bound for the pellet plant south of Prince George ( Strathnaver) westward to Burns Lake. For now, Reitsma says he wants Hampton Affiliates to have  the time it needs to work through this tragedy with the community and its employees.

 

Hampton Affiliates,  the Portland Oregon company which owns the mill, has not made a decision on the possible rebuilding of that facility as there are many issues which need to be dealt with, including securing a timber supply.

 

While  the loss of the mill was the result of a tragedy, the result is not something new to a northern B.C. community.   Kitimat   is now in a state of rebuilding its economic base in the wake of the loss of both the Eurocan mill and the Methenex plant. Kitimat Mayor Joanne Monaghan has spoken with Burns Lake Mayor Luke Strimbold  and says she promised  Kitimat will offer whatever assistance it can, including making sure Burns Lake workers know of all the job possibilities that are opening up in the northwest. “The RioTinto Alcan modernization project will need hundreds of people, there’s the work to be done clearing the way for the Highway 37 transmission line, and there’s the LNG plant development” says Monaghan.