sistative
Parliament Jldgess

Victoria, B. C.

Liorary.

S01 Beltevit!

Ov sat

Train

wreck

Residents of Kings-

gate near Creston were
evacuated Thursday and
again Friday following o

train derailment... A2

New NEC
exhibit

The National Exhibi-
tion Centre is featuring
an exhibition of the
examination and treat-
ment of paintings

The winning number in Saturday's Lotto 6-49
draw were 19, 22, 24, 36, 38 and 41. The bonus

number was 33.

The $500,000 winning number in Friday's

Provincial lottery draw is 4145076.

KJSS
tops

Kinnaird Junior sec-
ondory captured the
girls’ team title at the
East-West Kootenoy

country running
ips

V>,

yall

CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1986

2 Sections (A

TRAIN RIPS
UP_ TRACK

By CasNews Staff

A CP Rail freight train derailed
late Wednesday night near South
Slocan, blocking the rail line for
about 20 hours.

Jane Mudry, CP Rail
relations officer, said four cars of a
90-car freight train were westbound
when they went off the track about
10:30 p.m. No one was injured in the
mishap

Mudry said rail crews cleared the
line about 6:15 p.m. Thursday, but
are still cleaning up the wreckage

The cars were carrying zine in
gots. One eyewitness said three of
the freight cars were
damaged” and the side of one of the
flatbed cars loaded with zinc was
ripped off, spilling the ingots down
the rail bank

About 30 metres of track was torn
up in the accident, and some rail ties
dangled several metres in the air,
the eyewitness said

media

“severely

TRAIN DERAILS . . . CP Rail crews (top photo) clean
up wreckage from Wednesday's train derailment

wreckage

near South Slocan in an effort to reopen track. Bot

tom photo shows twisted rails and ties from

Deal saves city $100,000

By CasNews Staff

Celgar Pulp Co. has agreed to buy its
natural gas from Inland Natural Gas
Co. Ltd., a move that will save the City
of Castlegar $100,000.

The agreement was disclosed Sat
urday, the first day of deregulation of
B.C.’s natural gas industry

Prior to deregulation Inland was the
sole supplier of natural gas in Castlegar
and paid the city three per cent of its
revenue it collected from natural gas
sales within municipal boundaries

The payments called franchise
fees totalled $157,000 in 1985.

But under the agreement signed last
year between the federal government

and the B.C Alberta and Saskat

chewan governments natural gas pro
ducers now can sell directly to users,
bypassing Inland Natural Gas, and thus
eliminating the franchise fees Inland
pays the city

But with Saturday's announcement
that Celgar Pulp Co. will buy its gas
from Inland, the city will keep its
franchise fee

“That takes a wrinkle out
forehead,”
Saturday

Moore pointed out that while the
franchise fees wouldn't have been
eliminated until 1988, it was a “major
problem nonetheless.”

Ald. Albert Calderbank, chairman of
council's finance and administration

of my
Mayor Audrey Moore said

committee, also said Saturday he’s
relieved Inland will be supplying the
pulp mill

But Calderbank also said he doesn't
like deregulation
major industrial users to buy directly
from producers without paying muni
cipal franchise fees

“The franchise fees should be paid by
whoever takes the contract out.” he
said. “As far as I'm concerned, I don't
like the system.”

Moore told council earlier this week
that Castlegar is just one of 42
municipalities which receive franchise

rules permitting

fees.
Trail stands to lose as much as
$400,000 because Cominco, a major

industrial user of natural gas. ill be
able to buy directly from the producer
and not from Inland Natural Gas

Calderbank suggested at the council
meeting that the city protest the new
regulations to Energy Minister Jack
Davis and Municipal Affairs Minister
Rita Johnston

He confirmed Saturday that a letter
laying out council's concerns about the
has been sent to

new regulations

Victoria

“It hits the municipalities with a real
walloping kick in the pants.” Calder
bank has told council. “The municipali
ties are obviously going to feel the
short end of this.”

Council

oO Oppose
WKPL sale

By RON NORMAN
Editor

Castlegar council will oppose the sale
of West Kootenay Power and Light Co.
to U.S.-based UtiliCorp United Ine. at
public hearings scheduled to begin
Monday in Trail.

Council set out its position at a
meeting earlier this week, where its
firm stand against the sale came at the
insistence of Ald. Len Embree.

“The reason we wanted the public
hearings is there is concern that sale is
taking place outside the country,”
Embree said.

He said council i¢ on record as
opposed to the sale and said there
shouldn't be any question about its
position.

“We've got to be either opposed to
the-sale or in favor of the sale,” Embree
said.

He suggested West Kootenay Power
should at least remain in Canadian
hands and if possible under local
control.

“The only way we can air those
concerns is to oppose the sale of West
Kootenay Power to UtiliCorp,” he said.

Ald. Bob Pakula seconded Embree's
proposal, and Ald. Albert Calderbank
added: “I didn’t think there was any
doubt about it (council's position).”

Couneil is one of nine groups that has
notified the Commission it plans to
intervene in the hearings

Also appearing as interveners are:
the Electric Consumers’ Association, a
user group opposed to the sale; the
Regional District of Kootenay Boun.
dary, which also plans to oppose the
sale; Cominco, Inland Natural Gas;
B.C. Hydro; Regional District of
Central Kootenay; a group of Okana-
gan municipalities that buy power
wholesale and then sell it to their
residents; B.C. Public Advocacy Cen
tre, which represents groups such as
the B.C. branch of the Consumers’
Association of Canada; and the Sierra
Club of Canada.

Other municipalities, groups and
individuals have expressed interest in
appearing at the hearings, which move
to Penticton next week.

Meanwhile, West Kootenay Power
also plans to make a submission on
behalf of the sale. In its submission
West Kootenay Power says it is “not
aware of any way in which the
acquisition of the company by Utili
Corp would detrimentally affect West
Kootenay or the users of the service.
The submission adds that under the
share purchase agreement with Com
ineo Ltd., UtiliCorp has “covenanted
that the financing of the purchase price
will not cause any increase in rates to
customers or any reduction in the level
of service provided by West Koot

UtiliCorp bel
rates could drop

VANCOUVER (CP) The pro.
posed sale of West Kootenay Power
and Light to UtiliCorp United Ine.
would have no short-term impact on
rates the United
States buyer believes West Koote

electricity but
nay rates could drop over the long
term

UtiliCorp says in a submission to
the B Utilities Commission,
which begins public hearings into
the proposed sale on Monday in
Trail, that under its purchase
agreement with Cominco the buyer
will not allow its financing of the
$80-million deal to be reflected in
customer rates

The Kansas City-based corpor

ation says its financing will not re
sult increases, service re
ductions, increases in indebtedness
by West Kootenay ot any dis
position of West Kootenay assets

In the short term, we expect that
the purchase would have no impact
on West Kootenay customer rates.
the submission says. “In the longer
run, we believe that customer rates
would be lower as a result of this
sale.

UtiliCorp says that, unlike Co
minco, it is willing to place “the full
faith and credit” of its own corp
oration behind any debt issuances of
West Kootenay

UtiliCorp also says sit has ex
perience in utility debt financing
which should assist West Kootenay
to obtain lower-cost capital than

in rate

ieves

would otherwise be possible. “Hav
ing said that, rate increases may of
course be necessary in the future in
connection with the costs of future
generation or other items, but such
costs will be necessary for West
Kootenay regardless of who owns
it,” UtiliCorp says.
UtiliCorp also says it
proved quality of service over the
long run but it has no plans of
diverting West Kootenay power to
its U.S. utilities. Responding to the

sees im

question of why UtiliCorp has of
fered to pay Cominco 1.7 times the
book value of the utility's common
equity, the company says current
market conditions called for a pur
chase price “significantly” above
book value “for an investment of the
quality offered by West Kootenay.”

UtiliCorp also says current West
Kootenay management and em
ployees will be retained and “day
to-day operations and decision mak
ing would be left entirely to West
Kootenay Power.”

The two Cominco representatives
on West Kootenay's board of di
rectors will be replaced with two
UtiliCorp representatives. Two
other director positions will be filled
by Canadians in the West Kootenay
service area, meaning seven of the
nine board members will be Can
adian residents of the service area.
UtiliCorp also says West Koote
nay employees will be offered a
stock purchase plan