Amphibex Owner Says Best Memory ... A Visit To Cedars School

Monday, February 04, 2008 03:59 AM

Prince George, B.C - Paul Laplante of Eco Technologies says he is still thankful for Heidi 1555, for her efforts in finding his company in New Brunswick and for Opinion250 in its efforts to get in touch with him and the Provincial Emergency Program to get the ball rolling.

Now back in New Brunswick he is proud of the team’s accomplishments in Prince George "I was very happy, I was happy we made a good job of what we came for. "

Laplante says he wishes he could have been in the city one week earlier when the weather was much warmer, " I think we could have made a path right through the whole jam." In the cold he said it was tough to get the 1^st kilometer of ice broken up because "There were a lot of islands “.

"Those engineers and Jim Whyte from the Province were very surprised at the work we could do with that little machine" says Laplante, "We said when we come, that we would have a 99% chance of doing a good job and we did. Everyone you talk to and there were some guys who didn’t think it would work, were surprised at the work this machine can do".

Asked about the cost for the machine ($300,000) for the work and a further $75,000 for other expenses Laplante makes no apologies "This thing costs lot of money for maintenance and we do a good job."

Laplante says Eco Technologies is now working on a new design for a new machine that would be bigger and would have heavier equipment on board that would handle larger ice flows. Asked about the Province buying a machine he said there is training to be done first "They need to come to work with us to learn how to do this work and also how to run that machine, and then they could look at their own machine."

Laplante says the highlight of his trip was a visit to Cedars Christian School. He said the school kids asked lots of questions "We had a very good time talking to those people from that school. That’s the part I will remember most." He also wanted to once again thank Heidi 1555, who he and his crew took for dinner one nighht. "She had a chance to get pictures with the crew and to meet them all, she did a good job finding us."

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Posted on Monday, February 04, 2008 03:59 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: metalman on February 4 2008 7:52 AM

Our Heidi, a celebrity.
Can a Rolls and a mink coat be far behind?

Posted by: Harbinger on February 4 2008 12:12 PM

I think the real best memory that the owner of that machine will have of us is when he presents our cheque to his bank teller back east for deposit. Would be for me.

Posted by: heidi1555 on February 4 2008 3:20 PM

The only Rolls i'll ever see in this life time are the .50 cent ones that used to be in my piggy bank before I had kids. I'd be the one running around saving the mink from being killed ;) (no joke and I can totally picture it! lol)

I hope when they do cash their cheque at the bank that they have a huge smile on their faces and stand proud. They are experts at what they do and deserve every penny of it. Great people, all of them!

:)

Posted by: The_grandinquisitor on February 4 2008 5:55 PM

Of course they took her out to dinner. Call it a birddog fee for steering the huge paycheque to them.
Truth is, anyone could have "found" the amphibex" on the net and from her posting it was a simple thing to do on google. All that was needed was the timing and it was her that was the lucky one. For god's sakes people, she didn't design or build the contraption and only time will tell if it's work really served to alleviate the ice problem in time to try this warm water solution....
Hilarious you PG'ers are...depicting her as some kind of Messiah watching the amphibex at work...

Posted by: flowerchild on February 4 2008 6:56 PM

Yup. It is always easy after the fact to have the idea. Two Engineering Ice experts, whose bill I�ll bet is more then Eco ever gets just for packing a brief case, some local engineers and of course for good measurement someone who said, it was,Oh, so easy to find Eco. Those comments with just a hint of vested interest.
No experts when we really needed them, none to be found, well except grandinqisitor long after the fact appear to say , I knew it all te time.

Posted by: Harbinger on February 4 2008 7:15 PM

heidi should've got herself one of them finders fees.

Posted by: paladin on February 4 2008 7:18 PM

Sounds like someone is needing a little positive recognition like we gave to heidi. Its ok grandwhatever you'll get yours in good time. Meantime, good job all of you who have good things to say once in awhile.

Posted by: Palopu on February 4 2008 8:07 PM

I can give credit to Heidi for finding the machine on the Internet etc;, however the bottom line is, is that all this machine did was widen a channel on the North Side of the Nechako sent some ice to the mouth of the Fraser where it jammed (and still is) then reloaded on a truck took off one day early at a cost of $42,000.00 to taxpayers, deposited a cheque for $375,000.00 in his bank account and **Bobs your Uncle** Assume he worked nine 12 hour shifts, he would make approx $35000.00 per hour, somewhat more than an ice expert, I would say.

Same thing with pumping water into the river. Has anyone noticed that the City quit pumping water into the river long before Canfor got its pumps in the water. The City water froze right up to the spout and it was obvious that it was doing no good. The same thing is happening with the pulp mill water 7 million gallons per day into the river and we still have no indication of a channel being cleared.

Northwood Pulp, Intercon Pulp, and Prince George Pulp have been releasing warm water into the Fraser River for 40 years and rarely if ever has there been a channel opened during a cold winter beyond the Simon Fraser Bridge. This should give you some indication of whether or not the project had a chance of being a success.

Time to wake up and smell the roses. There is more to life than self fulfilling prophesys and self aggrandizement

Posted by: bird on February 4 2008 9:39 PM

I liked seeing he'd remember his good visit with the teachers and students at Cedars School. Nice chance to share information. good going all..

Posted by: palpoo on February 4 2008 10:10 PM

Palpou- you seem to just not get it. Simply put, have you ever thought as to what would have happened without the Amphidex? It is clear that it opened a channel, yet you are unwilling to admit it! Was the ice not creating a dam before? Has the river level not dropped by at least 4ft since it opened the channel?
Oh ya, I forgot, nature opened the channel, at -30 I am sure!
"Time to wake up and smell the roses." Take a look. It worked!

Posted by: pulpworker on February 5 2008 9:39 AM

For as far as it got, yes it worked. I watched the river level drop. Still pumping water into the river, doubt its having any effect. No matter how much info Pal gets he's not going to change his mind.

Posted by: Palopu on February 5 2008 3:01 PM

You got that right pulpworker. There was already a channel under the ice and water was flowing freely on the North Side where the Amphidex was working, and on the South side through Cottonwood Park. In fact one of the problems facing the Amphidex was pushing against the current while it broke the ice.

I suspect the jam was further up the river, it certainly was not where the Amphy was working. We still have an open channel for miles west of the John Hart Bridge, in an area where the Amphy never ventured.

However some people just beleive whatever they read in the paper, which is not a good source for fact finding, but makes for good politicking, and fiction.