Explosives Plant Rep Not Sure What Happens Now

Friday, June 22, 2007 06:30 AM

Dyno Nobel’s Business Development Manager says he honestly doesn’t know whether the apparent support of the Regional District’s Board of Directors is enough to keep his company interested in a proposed emulsion explosives plant near Crescent Spur, while the province’s Crown Land branch decides if it will authorize the use of crown land for that purpose.

The decision from the province’s regional office is set to come down July 17th, after fully examining residents’ public safety and environmental concerns.

Dyno Nobel is a Calgary-based company with more than 900 employees across the country and more than 50 similar manufacturing sites. Bob Pankhurst says the company wants to build a three-person explosives plant near Crescent Spur to meet a demand for its products from the mining industry in BC. Pankhurst says emulsion explosives are chemically stable and his company is dedicated to the safety of its employees and the enviroment. He says the industry may be the most regulated in the country, next to the nuclear industry.

"We were hoping to have our approvals in spring and to have the plant in operation by the end of 2007," says Pankhurst. If given the green light in July, the plant would now not be operational until mid-2008.

The Dyno Nobel rep admits there are others waiting in the wings, "We’ve had some interest expressed from other communities, but we haven’t done anything about that."

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Friday, June 22, 2007 06:30 AM in News by Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on June 22 2007 7:30 AM

Ah, Dyno Nobel is from Calgary. No wonder their rep is not sure what the heck is going on! He's probably never seen this much regulation and hill billy intervention before. That's BC for you!

Dyno should be lucky they aren't setting up in PG. From everyone I've talked to, PG is the toughest municipality in BC to start a business or build anything, other than downtown Vr. It's not just the municipal government regulations, it is the effect on the investor and the extreme length of time required to open up shop that wears out new comers. Clearly Remple is going to need lots of encouragement to actually complete his Light Industrial proposal by the airport. It takes more than just money to build in PG.

Posted by: Gofaster on June 22 2007 4:00 PM

Well if we lost them we lost them.
Not sure how I feel about having an explosives manufacturing plant in the areaa, but I am sure ticked byt the sneaky way they tried to set up the plant.
So what were they going to do, come in , build and then say or by the way we are here and we might blow up your community????? Too bad???
Bad way to do business.....
So this kind of underhandedness, McBride Mayor Mike Frazier, we really aren't going to miss much.
And no I am not an environmentalist....realist maybe....reality...I would like some say before I fine that my family and I might get blown up

Posted by: owl on June 22 2007 4:03 PM

"while the province�s Crown Land branch decides if it will authorize the use of crown land for that purpose"

So why would they want crown land? Can't they buy land? Aren't these people free-enterprisers?

Employing three whole people? ... WOW!!!! bending over backwards for 3 people!!!!

Go buy some land, get the rezoning from the regional district and be done with it.

If you you want freebies, you gotta stand in line, that is the same all over the world, unless you live in the parts of the world where a cool C$20,000 and the use of a time share condo in Monaco will get you to the front.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on June 22 2007 10:31 PM

Gofaster says Dyno "I am sure ticked byt the sneaky way they tried to set up the plant."

Now how come Gofaster says Dyno was underhanded and tricky? Should Dyno have asked Gofaster's permission before asking for crown land? How come everyone seems to know about the application by Dyno, except for Gofaster? Now that is the real question here.

Owl, you can't just buy crown land. The government won't sell it. Just go try buy some crown land and find out what happens. You can call your crown land purchase the Nobel Owl, HeeHee!

Posted by: thereasonableman on June 22 2007 11:54 PM

Just so you know, emulsion explosives (used for mining) are diesel and fertilizer mixed together. It takes an explosion to set it off. It is hauled in trucks (emulsified, or already mixed) in trucks on the same roads you and I do every day. You don't even know it's there. Non-volatile, safe. As long as it's far enough away from people's homes (just in case, scenario) I don't see why there should be any issues with it.

Posted by: owl on June 23 2007 1:07 AM

Maybe the residents of Crescent Spur are like people in many other communities, they know what makes their community tick and what will cause it to bloom and what will cause it to wilt.

When people come from all over the world to go heli skiing in wilderness, that is exactly what they want � wilderness. Not factories. Factories belong closer to urbanized areas.

It appears that they have started to build an industry of another sort for themselves and they are looking for compatible businesses. They know more than anyone else what is compatible. For others to bully their way into their homes and business is very abusive and disrespectful.

This is the existing livelihood for those in Crescent Spur.

http://www.crescentspur.com/gallery/p/list1ItemID/v/39

How to ruin an industry we are trying to build up in this region in one fell swoop for all of three jobs!

The Neanderthals are those on the RDFFG Board who do not understand their constituency and do not understand how quickly a tourist niche which has been built up over years can be destroyed.

Posted by: owl on June 23 2007 1:17 AM

On a personal note. I now know why the Germans I met a couple of months ago at the Inn said they were going to McBride the next day. They were going heli-skiing and had been doing so for several years. They did not stop anywhere other than to change plane to get to PG. They were wondering where the "action" was in PG. Since there was none in this town for such visitors, they went up to their room early and to bed. Their real purpose was to get to this little part of wilderness in a yet undeveloped part of the world and use high tech equipment to get some pleasure of high altitude spring skiing with quality accommodations and food at base camp. That is what we need more of. 3 jobs in an explosives plant are better located in another area.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on June 23 2007 7:21 AM

Owl, where those people are going you wouldn't even see this "factory".

You might see a bunch of cut blocks that look like factories, but they are not. Imagination is a wonderful thing, especially after a little weed and wine and like company.

Making places look like factories is why the people at the Spur are able to collect UIC, use a plowed road and get the occasional guiding job. Those that aren't able or interested in catering to tourists, can work in the factory. After they pass a drug screening. What's the matter with that?

Posted by: owl on June 23 2007 9:00 AM

YDPC

It is still not getting through is it? It is their community, it is their life. Not yours. Not mine.

They outnumber you and me in their community. I would not want them to tell me what I can and cannot have in my community. Why should we tell them what we want in theirs. To me, THAT is the issue.

Until you understand that and the RDFFG Board, who ought to be sitting in their chairs with that principle tattooed on their foreheads, understands that, it is the end of the story.

Move on, find another property. The place is vast. Unless I am missing something, there is tons of property. What is so unique about this one that they cannot operate their? Move to Slim Creek if it needs to be remote. If it is so safe, then move it to the outskirts of McBride.

Posted by: Safe Plant on June 23 2007 1:28 PM

http://www.aar.com.au/pubs/pdf/insur/pap6apr05.pdf

In August 1994, a catastrophic set of explosions went off in the explosives facility of Dyno Nobel's where 11 employees were killed and the explosives facility was completely destroyed, leaving a crater 40 metres wide by 15 metres deep. The immediate area was devastated and property was damaged up to two kilometres away from the scene of the blast.

Posted by: owl on June 23 2007 4:49 PM

http://www.justmake.no/kunder/norwatch/index.php?artikkelid=871&back=2

Bottom of page, some more information on that explosion. Dyno Nobel denies responsibility. That is why they can say they had no incident since theu opened their doors in 1970.

Whoever is responsible, it shows that an explosion at a factory can occur.

Posted by: thereasonableman on June 23 2007 10:35 PM

Some good points made. Maybe they should look to another location, one which addresses everybody's needs better.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on June 23 2007 11:26 PM

Funny. People dig up something from a third world country with bandits running all over the place and apply that to a backwater place in the middle of nowhere.

Next we will be hearing about school buses being blown up and we will have to provide guards on all our school buses so that doesn't happen in the Spur. Funny.

Posted by: owl on June 24 2007 2:16 AM

Here is a report from a proposed plant in Australia.

Has anyone seen the environmental and consultation report the company has carried out for its proposed plant in Crescent Spur.

Remember as you read it, this comes from a country that is a bit forther to the right politically than we are in BC. But it appears they still think more logically than we do. Not quite that redneck after all down under.

http://www.coordinatorgeneral.qld.gov.au/library/pdf/nitrate/SEIS_Final_March07_Part1.pdf

Posted by: owl on June 24 2007 9:14 AM

I was just reading the above report in more detail. It refers to the incident in Toulouse in September 2001.

Here is one article on this incident involving safe fertilizer ........

[/url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1557644.stm[/url]

Those dammed Neanderthalers are pretty smart people. The dummies are those who are led by the nose by those who are dangling 3 jobs in front of idiot public reps.

;-)

Posted by: owl on June 24 2007 9:14 AM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1557644.stm