Kitimat Gives Unconditional Support to RTA Kemano Tunnel
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 11:22 AM
Kitimat, B.C.- Kitimat City Council voted unanimously in favour of supporting Rio Tinto Alcan involving their latest water licensing issue with the Province. The Kitimat Council will send a letter to the Province, expressing unconditional support for the Kemano tunnel construction completion.
“I worked on this particular issue for 13 hours on Saturday and it was really interesting” said Kitimat Mayor Joanne Monaghan “I don’t know how many Ministers I talked to but it came out ok in the end”.
RTA’s work at the Kemano Power Facility came to an abrupt halt when they began taking the workforce off of the site Friday afternoon after BC Minister Pat Bell withheld his signature from their application for a water license. The license would allow them to put water into the second tunnel, currently under construction. RTA says the tunnel will be used as a back-up power source at the Kemano Power facility, but critics are raising red flags that this project really is Kemano completion , a project that was put to rest in 1997 by former Premier Mike Harcourt.
RTA says it was shocked at Bell’s decision to hold off on signing the license, saying they are not using more water, simply wanting the amendment to put the second tunnel into use. In response RTA, which has already invested over a hundred million dollars on the project, ordered everything shut down.
“Obviously this has drawn a huge amount of public concern as it came out on Saturday and Sunday,” said Kitimat Councilor Phil Germuth.
Germuth discussed a few key questions on the Kemano issue such as power generators and the allocation of water flow for the second tunnel. “Generators for facilities like this aren’t something companies just stock on the shelves, it takes years to actually build these and get them out,” says Germuth. “As for the water flow, they (RTA) are actually allowed 170 cubic metres per second, they are only increasing three, not going above the 170 but up to 147, so it’s a very nominal increase in the flows.”
Minister Bell mentioned the water license is not required until construction on the new tunnel is completed. The Minister will not sign the amendment until the three communities primarily affected by the tunnel , Kitimat, Vanderhoof, and Prince George, have held council meetings to discuss the issue.
Vanderhoof held its meeting last night. Vanderhoof Mayor Gerry Thiessen says the Province is the steward of the Nechako, not municipalities. The letter from Vanderhoof calls on the Province to address the terms of the 1997 settlement agreement. The Prince George meeting is being set for July 30th which is the next date for a regular meeting of Council.
There is also a labour issue facing RTA. The latest bargaining update on a possible strike was released last Tuesday. The day after being notified, RTA filed an application for an “Essential Services” order and Bechtel filed an application for a “Common Site” order to CAW-Canada. RTA is arguing there is the element of essential services as they make ongoing efforts to manage the water along the Nechako river to reduce flood risk. RTA feels if it is unable to generate power in Kemano there will be flooding in the Vanderhoof area, much like recent floods in the Prince George area. For this reason, RTA is asking the Labour Relations Board that certain hourly employees in the Kemano and Kitimat control rooms continue working during a strike/lock-out.
The scope of this essential service will be determined next week as the Union will take part in negotiations through the LRB in Vancouver. In the meantime, RTA is prohibited from starting a strike/lock-out until there is a ruling on the application.
Comments
Kitimat doesnt have the Nechako flow through the community but will see jobs and tax income from this. Shocking that they support it “unconditionally” isnt it?
Actually, lets shut the river down completely. Think of the tourist attraction options. We could have dry riverbed “boat races” such as the link below, or people could use atv’s to follow the historic path of James Mcdougall. We will finally have real tourism dollars!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley-on-Todd_Regatta
Don’t f—- with the big boys Pat. You can’t win. I find it amazing that the selling of the BCR didn’t require municipal approval, but this agreement does. Must be an election coming soon.
well, if there is less water in the riverbeds it will be easier to clean the oil spills.
The Nechako would not be a dry riverbed since it is still a watershed collector for the areas east of the reservoir. Just pretend Mother Nature built the coast mountains a bit further inland …..
I mean, she obviously did not know that Kitimat could not get long on only fisheries and would need electricity for aluminum ….. nor did she know that a city would grow up at the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser and too much water in the Nechako would not be considered a positive ….
See, even Mother Nature is not perfect, she obviously does not excell in planning for the whims of humans …. ;-)
“…. will be easier to clean the oil spills.”
I can see it now … continuous wire fencing along the length of the spill with vent pipes drilled into the ground at a 25 metre grid …..
Nice!!!!!
They invested $100 million and don’t plan on drawing water through it?? Really, we are supposed to believe that?
Germuth: âAs for the water flow, they (RTA) are actually allowed 170 cubic metres per second, they are only increasing three, not going above the 170 but up to 147, so itâs a very nominal increase in the flows.â
Is this for real? RTA can’t increase the present water flow through the existing tunnel from 144 cubic meters per second to 147 cubic meters per second? That’s an increase of only 3 percent! And for that extra 3 percent RTA needs a second tunnel?
Who makes this stuff up?
Kitimat is dying, they need anything at all to boost their economy
The LNG Plants at Kitimat might be nothing more than a **red herring**. There will be a glut of natual gas on the market for years to come. In fact there is potential for huge gas finds in China and Russia as Countries continue to use **fracking** to access this gas.
Seems to me that just a few years ago we were going to import natural gas into Kitimat and pipe it to various North American markets. We are now going to export it to other Countries. What will we be doing two years from now??
Lets see what happens after the next election. Most if not all of the huge expansion etc; may be nothing more than election hype.
Kemano two on the other hand is a **boni fide** project by RTA to increase their ability to produce power and sell it to Hydro. This is the real game plan, and people should not get side tracked by the BS.
Correction : they have spent $100 million on a $700 million project…for back up water supply? Something about this story stinks like BS.
RTA can well the power to who ever they like, not just Hydro. Hydro would charge transmission costs. So who wants to buy the power? That maybe the play here.
Have any of you seen the outflow from the Kemano hydro electric plant? I have. I have also been on the Nechako river. Maybe if some of you saw these things you could make a better opinion. Oh nevermind, you would have too much info then.
Dear Mr. Mesenier
Please allow me to provide a fact base to your article about our Back Up Tunnel Project:
1.The existing tunnel in Kemano is nearly 60 years old. Recent engineering studies including underwater inspections inside the tunnel in 2010 and 2011 are inconclusive and therefore indicates a degree of risk for tunnel collapse.
2.Rio Tinto Alcan examined several options for ensuring tunnel integrity, resulting in the proposed Back Up Tunnel Project plan.
3.The regulatory process with Canadian Environmental Assessment was followed which included in depth consultation and communication in the watershed region. Approval was received in June 2012.
4.Rio Tinto Alcan also initiated the process to have the definition of KEMANO WORKS properly described in the Final Water License such that it includes two tunnels and not 1 ½ tunnels. Otherwise, we would not have authorization to use the second tunnel.
5.Rio Tinto Alcan is not asking for a change in the amount of water in its water license. The water license already allows for diversion of 170 m3/s which is sufficient for our needs.
6.The Back Up Tunnel Project does not include any new generation capacity; no effect on Reservoir operations and no more water.
8.In summary, this is a Risk Mitigation Project that will cost Rio Tinto Alcan over US$500 million; It will employ close to 400 workers during construction; it will assist with much needed flood mitigation; and it will bring an opportunity for economic benefit to the watershed region and indeed northern British Columbia.
Paul Henning
Rio Tinto Alcan, VP Strategic Projects Western Canada
See what happens when you inject facts into the conversation? No posts since 9:56.
Dear Mr Alcan.
1. Inconclusive means there was no final results either way.. So why do you spin it to make it seems like there is danger with a collapse. With any tunnel is there not always a chance of collapse..of course there is… but to spin it the way you did is typical big company BS.
2. as a Resident of PG I have a few suggestions for you .. stop flooding out all the areas below you on a yearly basis.
3. Start paying the real cost of the power you use rather than the cut rate you get.
4. How long will this tunnel take and how many full time jobs will be had once this job is complete.. as in will it keep employing anymore people or are you just spinning more again ?
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