Explosives Plant Jumps First Hurdle

Monday, July 30, 2007 01:18 PM

The Integrated Land Management Bureau has approved the use of Crown Lands near Crescent Spur for the development of an emulsion explosives plant.

Agriculture Minister Pat Bell says there are conditions attached to the approval "The Regional District must now go through the rezoning process which will include a public hearing, there will have to be a 750 metre buffer zone around the plant site, and there are conditions about security and safety."

The proposed site of the plant is in the Robson Valley, 50 km west of McBride, 9 km from Crescent Spur, off Highway 16. The site was chosen because it meets business needs, is within an area that had been previously logged and avoids sensitive mountain caribou habitat.

At the Regional District level, the matter of timing has been raised on more than one occaision by McBride Mayor Mike Frazier. He is concerned that if the company, Dyno Nobel, is not able to start construction by September, then Dyno Nobel just might move elsewhere.

Even in a best case scenario, if there were no delays, the quickest the Regional District of Fraser Fort George could complete the process would be late October. Acting Administrator Terry McEachen says there would need to be a change to the Official Community Plan, which requires public consultation and a public hearing, and approval from Victoria. McEachen says if there are no delays and Victoria gives approval in time, the earliest all readings of ammended by-laws could be completed is October 19th.

The company, Dyno Nobel, is investing about $3 million dollars in the site. The company's Business Development Manager Bob Pankhurst says Dyno Nobel can work with the time line. "I can't affect the process, it is what it is, but we are very happy to hear we have been given the authorization from the Integrated Land Management Bureau."

Initially, Dyno Nobel had hoped to have a facility in operation in 2007, Pankhurst says they are looking forward to having the facility up and running in 2008.The proposed plant would initially employ three people manufacturing explosives for use in the mining industry.

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Monday, July 30, 2007 01:18 PM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: Andyfreeze on July 30 2007 3:09 PM

Interesting proposal.
But why here and why now?
And another question...what kind of businesses need and use explosives?
Of course...mining.
I would imagine they go through quite a bit of explosives?
I am also hearing there will be another announcement very soon in regards to another mine north of Fort St.James.
Guess we just have to wait and see,but I would think the explosive plant is wanting build here for a specific reason.
What do they know?

Posted by: Moses on July 30 2007 4:11 PM

What do they know?

Mining.

Posted by: Gofaster on July 30 2007 4:22 PM

Well in my opinion, if First Nations, can't get it stopped there is some heavy money changing hands somewhere I truely believe.

Posted by: owl on July 30 2007 4:51 PM

The Regional District, unlike Prince George, has very little unoccupied land zoned. In other words, they are not ready for industrial development in the areas lying around population centres of any sort.

For instance, the local land identified as having some heavy industry potential, such as in the Salmon Valley area, is not zoned for industry, and may not even be identified as such in the OCP.

So, every time someone wants to put in even the smallest proposal such as this one, even though it has some abnormal requirements for safety, they have to deal with a long sequential process.

Archaic, to say the least.

Posted by: camoose on July 30 2007 8:08 PM

Wow! best we don't let this one get away. After all it means 3 big jobs and lots of jobs for the Regional District to put them through the hoops. Not to worry though, it'll be a done deal for sure. Pat Bell, the mouthpiece for mines, is all for it.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on July 31 2007 6:07 AM

"..9 km from Crescent Spur.."!!!

Is Dyno Nobel making nuclear devices? Some of the most vocal Crescent Spur hippies must be worried about radiation fallout from the weekly testing of those quality assurance bomb tests!!
HEEHEEEE! What a bunch of muffins.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on July 31 2007 6:09 AM

Hey wait a minute, we could use some explosives to pop out some big stumps and rocks on our trails! I wouldn't mind being able to drive over to Crescent Spur Hardware to pick up some blasting sticks.

Posted by: Gofaster on July 31 2007 8:27 AM

If this is such a great deal, why are they not building this plant in their home province, ALBERTA, and outside their home town...CALGARY??????
I guess they dont' want to blow up their own arses...

Posted by: owl on July 31 2007 9:31 AM

Blasting sticks? Go to Cinema for those. They send off pretty colours at the same time.

;-)

Posted by: diplomat on July 31 2007 10:19 AM

Dyno Nobel already has two manufacturing plants in Alberta: Red Deer and Gregg River. There is also a plant in Nanaimo.

It appears there are eight plants in Canada and the new one would be the ninth.

If it is o.k. for all the other places, why would it be not o.k. for Prince George/Crescent Spur?

Posted by: owl on July 31 2007 11:30 AM

It is difficult to make reasonagble comments on this topic since location is one of the key factors in placing any kind of land use whether it is recreational, residential, industrial, commercial, agriculture, etc.

The area around Crescent Spur is quite large. Can anyone provide us with a map of exaclty where this plant is proposed to go and what other uses are near there and may be affected by it, no matter whether it is an explosive plant or a slaughterhouse, or a shake factory or whatever.

Posted by: owl on July 31 2007 11:40 AM

I did my own research. :-)

for those who wish to see, and have not seen, the application to change the offcial community plan, here it is (just over 3 megs):

http://agenda.rdffg.bc.ca/June07/RB060749.pdf

Posted by: rvr on July 31 2007 8:55 PM

Looks like the closest property is about 1.5km to me from the maps. Where did the 10km come from, is there some unknown downtown location for Crescent Spur?

It's not about distances, its about the fact that 100% of the people who live there don't want it there. It isn't such a bad industry that it shouldn't be anywhere in the valley. It could easily have been located in a location more suitable to the valley communities but the province just didn't make the effort.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on July 31 2007 11:11 PM

Why does the province have to make the effort? The province doesn't run Dyno, so why should the province start running all the pop plants? The application for land can't get so complicated that every snot that feels like it, can nix an application. As long as the regulation that govern the industries safety is followed the province has nothing more to look at in that direction. If the Chicken Little's in Crescent Spur want to run around flapping their wings and hollering, well it's a free country, so go ahead and be silly. Anyone in business in this country knows this is just another one of the reasons why being in business isn't easy.