Brink Sends Letter to City About Raising River Road

Sunday, January 13, 2008 07:00 AM

Prince George, B.C.- The President of Brink Forest Products says his company will have a concrete berm system in place by the end of the weekend to protect his company’s property from the flooding Nechako River.

"We have constructed our berm at our own expense, which has been approved by the same engineers that the city uses. We are not asking for one cent from the city, province or whoever towards the costs of this berm.We have constructed this concrete berm which will be a permanent structure to prevent such a reccurrence on our property . It exceeds the 200 year flood level by a considerable amount."

(at right, John Brink stands beside concrete dike built by his company)

At the same time Brink says he does not want the City building up River Road in front of his property.

In a letter to the City , appropriate politicians and civic bureaucrats,Brink makes the following statement:

"My companies, Brink Forest Products Ltd. and John A Brink Investments, have an obligation to protect their properties for the purposes of insurance and the safety of employees. We have started and will continue to construct emergency works on the properties, including diking, berming and concrete blocking, and intend to tie them into the city works on the west and east ends of our properties. These should be completed this week end.

"We expect the city to cooperate with us to protect our property in the interests of protection of life, property, and the greater good of the community. If the city constructs the temporary raised roadway extension or berm along River Road, as they are now doing, there will be a significant economic impact on the business activities of the companies and will further create an unsafe working environment such that employees will not be able to work because of unsafe working conditions. In these circumstances, we will be seeking appropriate compensation from the City of Prince George for any damages that will flow from the city’s actions. In addition, if the city interferes with our ability to tie into city works we will hold the city responsible. "

Meantime Paul Laplante of Eco Technologies, the company that first came to light as having the capability to break up ice jams says he is on his way to Prince George to look at the jam.

Laplante says, I’m really glad to see that the river is so big it makes it easier to work on it." Laplante is coming to this city to look at the ice jam at the invitation of the Director of Operations for the Provincial EmergencyProgram, Jim Whyte. Whyte has talked to Laplante and has sent him pictures of the jam seeking his input.

Today Premier Campbell gets a first hand look at the flood. He will also meet with various officials in the city who are in charge of the flood control.

While the Province is responsible for the compensation involved in the flood, they are not able to make decisions as to how it will be fought. Both federal MP’s say they can offer help to the City but are not able to dictate how the City handles the flood matter.

The City’s recommendation for a hot water treatment in hopes of melting the ice jam has gone to PEP, (Provincial Emergency Program) seeking approval of funding.

It has been rumored the project would cost $400,000 to see a 2.7 kilometer pipe line built that would move about 500 gallons of water a minute to three locations along the Nechako. The heated water would then be injected below the ice into the river. The engineers involved feel that the idea has a very good chance of working. They however cannot go ahead until the Province springs for the money.

At the same time, Brink says he and the group of business people who own and operate businesses along River Road, have been in contact with Eco Technologies in New Brunswick and a company in Edmonton which he believes has two ice breakers on hand. "We are looking at buying or leasing one of these units to tackle the ice problem "says Brink.

What about the idea of having such equipment tackle the ice jam? "The Idea is a no brainer” says Brink, "Let’s get on with fixing the problem. "

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Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 07:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: flood guy on January 13 2008 7:24 AM

Way to go John! As usual, the good solid pratical solutions come from industry...

Posted by: thereasonableman on January 13 2008 8:31 AM

"Today Premier Campbell gets a first hand look at the flood. "

What is it, a freakin' tourist attraction ?

Our "community leaders" should find it personally embarrassing that industry has to take over the job of public works in order to be able to stay in business.

Posted by: heidi1555 on January 13 2008 8:43 AM

Palopu mentioned in the "No Dollar Amount Attached to Hot Water Jam Melt Plan." article this:
"In addition the silting of the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser has probably caused more greif to the Sturgeon. I suspect that a good dredging with the goal of getting the river back to its normal, deeper channels would over time have a beneficial, rather than a negative effect on fish."

I went and dug up some pictures of my kids and I walking where the the Nechako and Fraser usually run but had run dry at the time. Oct. 6, 2006. I'd like to know how deep those channels were previous to this date? If Ben and Elaine don't mind I don't mind if they get posted. One is of kids sitting in mounds of rocky sand. Hard to imagine from looking at these pics. how the channels may have been years ago.

Posted by: heidi1555 on January 13 2008 9:20 AM

Also the McMillan creek that runs by my house and flows into the Nechako river quite often is nothing more than a puddle in many places. How are the trout expected to get to the river? A little off topic but it goes full circle.

Posted by: flood guy on January 13 2008 9:53 AM

I don't know Heidi, but at our house, the creek dries up like that, and several miles down stream from our place, it goes over a 250' waterfall. Somehow there's fish in the river every summer for the grandkids to try catching...

Good work on the ice breaker from hell !

Posted by: heidi1555 on January 13 2008 10:03 AM

500 gallons of water a minute to three locations along the Nechako makes me nervous. They are fighting an ice jam that caused flooding with water???? What if (there's that what if question again) it causes more flooding, washes out that expensive road they started to build up that is causing Mr. Brink more of a headache. Instead of building up the road I think when it's possible to do so they need to dredge the rivers after of course Mr. Laplante clears the ice.

Posted by: socredible on January 13 2008 10:08 AM

"Our "community leaders" should find it personally embarrassing that industry has to take over the job of public works in order to be able to stay in business."

Isn't that what Gordo calls "public-private partnerships" ? (Unless you're a good Liberal, of course ~ then it has a different meaning) ;)-

Posted by: Honestjoe on January 13 2008 10:14 AM

Good work John! Forget about the hot water, it is a waste of time and money. Use Eco's ice breaker.....it has a proven track record. This is no time to reinvent the wheel! To date, the handling of this matter has been a comedy of errors.

Posted by: flood guy on January 13 2008 10:18 AM

Think about that dribble of hot water this way - by the time it travels to the nozzle site, it will be down to atmospheric temperature, and as long as its moving will not quite freeze. A lot of us built back yard skating rinks this way - as long as the water is moving, spray it out on the ice, then it freezes and then kids can play hockey.

Is more ice what we want on your river system ?

Posted by: flood guy on January 13 2008 10:19 AM

Posted by: heidi1555 on January 13 2008 10:27 AM

I hear ya flood guy last year we built a pretty mean ice rink also in our backyard. The more water that came the thicker we built it up :) small scale. In the spring we had a huge mess to clean up. Hopefully Mr.Laplante can get here before they run the water from the mill so his job is easier.

Posted by: NMG on January 13 2008 11:05 AM

"In addition, if the city interferes with our ability to tie into city works we will hold the city responsible"

Huh? Wouldn't they require City approval prior to doing this, much like any other citizen in the City of PG?

"At the same time, Brink says he and the group of business people who own and operate businesses along River Road, have been in contact with Eco Technologies in New Brunswick and a company in Edmonton which he believes has two ice breakers on hand. "We are looking at buying or leasing one of these units to tackle the ice problem "says Brink"

And then what? Brink and the industry group must be smart enough to realize that they can't just buy a machine, head down to the river and start "tackling the problem"? Note to John and the others in the industry group, that is not YOUR river, it's OUR river! If the industry folks do just head down there and "take care of business" without approval and ANY environmental damage occurs, I sincerely hope there are significant and crippling lawsuits directed their way.

This is turning into quite the pissing match. To me, anyway, both the City and industry are starting to look like children playing with millions of dollars instead of stuffed toys.

Posted by: Eagleone on January 13 2008 11:31 AM

.

I wonder how much the city will be charging for the water meters this year?

IMO John Brink physically can not drive a fork lift over that raised road (clearence)... much less with a lift of lumber. Also a chip truck and a trim block truck will need to swing wide and will it be able to handle the new grade without spining out. IMO that could cost the city at least a few million in payroll jobs when he has to close up operations. Not sure how well that Esso card lock is going to work either?

If the city people can not compromise, then the whole lot of them should be looking for new employment come next November, IMO.

.

Posted by: owl on January 13 2008 11:39 AM

NMG

"In addition, if the city interferes with our ability to tie into city works we will hold the city responsible"

City works would include water, sewer, etc. In this case, the key city works would appear to be the road.

Normally the cost of tying into a road is at the cost of the property owner. In this case the city changes the quality of the road surface and the elevation of the road surface. In effect, they have cut off the connection initially provided by the owner.

So, the questions then become:

1. notice
2. impact on carrying on business in an uninterrupted fashion
3. negotiation

The conditions are "emergency". The question is, how much of an emergency is there and who should bear what cost and how much discussion should there be to provide proper interfacing of the work of the city and the work of the owner so that there minimal down time and minimal cost.

That determination may have to be done by lawyers and possibly the courts if lawyers cannot come to a solution agreeable to both parties.

Posted by: owl on January 13 2008 11:54 AM

"If the industry folks do just head down there and "take care of business" without approval and ANY environmental damage occurs, I sincerely hope there are significant and crippling lawsuits directed their way."

I have not heard anything about DFO or MoE weighing in on this. Nothing reported in the media. No minister coming out there and saying �Woa there people!!!!!"

In fact, if the DFO or the MoE has stopped the removal of gravel which has happened in the past, they should be held at least partially responsible for this, in my opinion.

Remember, we are not the only city and province with a river that ices up, with environmental laws that are federal and provincial. The machine has been used in other jurisdictions. The operators of the machine may have the most experience with that and will likely not move in without such approvals. Remember, they promote themselves as dong environmental works. Ice is not the only condition they work with the machine. Wetlands are much more environmentally sensitive and they operate in them likely based on riparian management plans in part.

Which, of course, leads to the next big outfall from all of this. How much has the City actually worked with the MoE and DFO with maintaining and improving the riparian conditions of the rivers as they flow through the city? I know that at one time some work was done in the Cottonwood Island Park area. I also know that people have been concerned about McMillan Creek. So, are Heidi�s concerns legitimate?

As a collective, we really do not know very much about this sort of stuff, do we? How little we know about the true state of the union of this city, other than a few embellished words every year by the mayor, is coming to light with each such situation.

Posted by: bohemian on January 13 2008 12:11 PM

Battle of the River Enforcers?

Posted by: NMG on January 13 2008 12:36 PM

"I have not heard anything about DFO or MoE weighing in on this"

I agree completely owl. I would also assume that they would not even get involved unless there was a formal proposal put forth in regards to possible action OR if action did occur and formal approval was required and not received.

Right now, all we have are a bunch of people EXPLORING options. My hunch is that's why they've been silient. The other perfectly reasonable explanation is that they ARE looking at stuff behind the scenes and choosing not to get involved in the war of public relations. Probably a very smart move if that's what they are doing.

In any event, I can't even fathom them not having input/control into anything that transpires. One would assume that industry is smart enough to cover that off angle before moving on anything that may impact the environment. If they aren't that smart, then that's their problem and let them suffer any potential consequences.

Posted by: flood guy on January 13 2008 1:17 PM

Perhaps a few contributors to this site need to check out the implecations of the Emergency Measures Act, which has most likely been declared and in force for the flood area and flood plain. Differenr rules than every day life.

Posted by: kagee on January 13 2008 9:19 PM

The City says that the temp build up of River Rd will be a two way road that all vehicles will be able to use. But what they are building according to some logging operators is a bush logging road that only works when it is frozen and will be useless when it rains and/or warms up.

Posted by: He speaks on January 13 2008 10:38 PM

Sounds like $400,000. will likely do the first half a kilometer. It will likely cost over 1.5 million dollars by the time it is done.

And really, 500 gallons a minute. Lets be serious. This is like pissing into swimming pool to warm up the water. 20 degrees water will only melt a opening about 10 feet in diameter.

Get the excavators, start bailing out the ice.

Posted by: He speaks on January 13 2008 10:40 PM

Posted by: thereasonableman on January 14 2008 3:48 AM

I cannot fathom what they were thinking when they decided to raise that road ???

Posted by: pisspulper on January 14 2008 5:51 AM

Albeit some people don't quite understand thermodynamic principles, the hot water plan is somewhat feasible. Bear in mind when you make your backyard hockey rinks that you are not using 20 degree water @ 500 GPM. It requires only water temperature above the temperature of the ice and ambient air temp to thaw the ice. In saying that, if the distribution is divided over 3 areas @ 165 GPM, I don't foresee much benefit considering the massive amount of ice to deal with. You'd have to start at the end of the flow and require significant monitoring and movement of the pipes and hoses. This might though expedite matters used in conjunction with Heidi's Amphibex. It perhaps may be beneficial to have the hot water system in place for future use and get a head start to keep this from happening again. The line should be surface mounted and insulated to allow for repairs negating the cost to excavate and fill a trench. Canfor most likely uses a mini-heater to steam heat raw water, or a heat exchanger using condensate to heat raw water, provided there are no tube ruptures the water would be Eco-Friendly. There is a cost to Canfor to provide this water, it costs money to produce heat. Who's paying for this? The drilling concept in conjuction with the Amphibex and hot water would surely speed up the job, but seems like drilling on a potential moving ice flow seems dangerous. Good posts from the Opinion 250 readers, maybe the City should consult with them more often as seems there are more concerned and capable people out there than in their ass softening lounge chairs. What a farce is correct, waited too long and accomplished too little dealing with this matter. I hope the PG voters will remember this come election time. Fortunately, they aren't mismanaging a real catastrophic disaster.

PissPulper The 3rd Pond Physics

Posted by: metalman on January 14 2008 9:35 AM

I sure hope those ice breakers are flat bottomed. Those two rivers are not very deep in the areas they will be needed most.
metalman.

Posted by: pisspulper on January 14 2008 10:31 AM

For only a few dollars more, the Amphibex can do the dredging, with a little help from Little Tugger and Big Bargie. Apparently Amphi can multitask and walk like a Spider, I might be wrong so correct if warranted.

Posted by: pisspulper on January 14 2008 10:43 AM

I stand corrected. Amphibex can kind of walk and has a dredging option. It is flat bottomed. Heidi scored big with this find. Goggle Amphibex and watch video, quite impressive.