The Mayors State Of The Community.. Oh No, Not Oil Exploration Again

By Ben Meisner

I had a chap come up to me the other day, practically spitting on me, to tell me that he knew that Shell was about to announce a refinery would be built in Hixon.

I had to step away from the shower and when he appeared to come back to earth, I asked a few important questions.

1. What are they going to refine at this brand new refinery? Fraser river water?

2.  Where will all of the new crude oil come from for this brand new venture?  Well of course, he gushed , from the new oil wells that are being built in the area.

3  I asked why would Shell, Petrocan or for that matter Donald Duck want to build a refinery in Hixon if there is no oil or gas wells in the region?  (Matter of fact I reasoned, the province offered up $25 million dollars to the first company to drill a hole… regretfully still no takers, not one single drilling permit has been issued!)

4 Then I asked why you would build a refinery in Hixon, because it is close to the Markets of Canada?

I coiuld see the wheels were starting to turn, (at a slow speed I must admit ) I thought well maybe some of these pie in the sky rumors that have drifted around town, can be found in the night dreams that many real estate salesmen seem to have.

Of course if you happen to do a deal with someone from the 604 and sell them a bunch of property for some of those up and coming projects, well it is an instant pay day. So you can expect that there is a lot of this type of rumor going around, but of course we also were as I recall set to have a steel mill at Salmon Valley along with a new super container port there, then there is the light industrial area near the airport, get you piece of the action now and make some real estate and developer happy. Then there is the super port in the BC industrial area, and then there is the 500 acres needed for an air cargo container port.

It all sounds so good I think I’ll go out and buy a piece, well on second thought, not quite yet.

Wonder where these kind of rumors get their start?  Well in his state of the community address on Monday, Mayor Colin Kinsley said “ Mining and petroleum interests in this region are also being explored as we see a resurgence of commitment from firms to grow and diversify business’.

Maybe he is going to be the first person or company to seek a permit for some petroleum exploration. Or on the other hand, maybe he is just blowing some smoke at us.

As for the renewed interest in the petroleum industry north of the pine pass, and not , "in our region” they are watching the business shrink and shrink fast , but then maybe the City of Prince George can sell some firm some ideal land for aye, lets see a  ,"refinery”? 

Now that’s a good idea.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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