Vol- 47, No: 36 CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1989 WEATHERCAST Cloudy tonight with clear periods lows 2-4. Thursdoy sunny with < intervals, highs 22-24 Chance of precipitation 10 per cent tonight and Thursday 2 Sections (A & B) er a The Orange Crusher from Alberta (above) prepares to lay waste to parked station wagons during Sunday's monster truck bash at Hidden Creek Ranch near Salmo. The day's events also featured mud racing. At left, an unlucky ps wipes ovt his all-terrain vehicle in the mud bog. asttews photos by Doug Harvey Celgar fined for fiber spill McLaren, Minis By CHERYL CALDERBANK Celgar Pulp Co. accidentally spilled some pulp fiber into the Columbia River Tuesday when a water line ruptured The spill occurred just over a week after the company was convicted in Castlegar provincial court for acciden tally spilling approximately 39,000 kilograms of fiber into the Columbia River Jan. 17 and failing to report the spill to the provincial Waste Management Branch Vic Morandini, Celgar’s technical manager, said Tuesday's spill reported to the Waste Management Branch. The mill was shut down for two to three hours when the water line ruptured The company paid a voluntary fine of $100 relating to the January in cident on was tn Jim the provincial vironment y's regional manager for the Kootenays, said Celgar, by paying the fine, didn’t have to make a court appearance McLaren said the *‘slap on the wrist isa warning to get everyone's attention that we mean business “If they don’t clean uf they will be treated more seriously, said: **They find court the neat ume Morandini said the spill in January their act may themsels occurred because of shutdown of the mill caused when a major air line in the pulping group was an emergency broken. He explained that when an aif line is broken, control of various in struments and control valves is lost “Normally Morandini said, but he admitted that the mill was negligent in reporting the we report. them, $100 January spill said the total effluent that went into the river was less than on anormal day, except it contained more fiber McLaren noted that a large quantity of fiber spills have occurred over the 29-year life of the pulp mill We have been after them to do a Morandini better job and to prevent that,”’ he aid. ‘They’ ve got todo better The fiber can settle at the bottom of the river and cause a sludge blanket to has an effect on what organisms can grow and provide food form, which for the fish, McLaren said. Ivall adds to the load on the river, he said Mel cerned not only that the spill wasn’t reported but also with the attitude of aren said the ministry is con the people at the mill We want people to prevent them and certainly if they occur, we want to be notified,” he said AKBM wants ” forest inquiry By SIMON BIRCH Editor Elected representatives from cities, areas in the East and West Kootenays have added their towns and rural voices toa province-wide chorus calling lor a public inquiry into forestry practicesin British Columbia Meeting last weekend in Grant! Forks at the 1989 Association of Kootenay Boundary Municipalities conven tion, mayors, aldermen and rural directors supported a resolution from the Regional District of Central Kootenay which calls for the provincial government to full public inquiry With broad terms of reterence to ascer convene a tain the full impact of forest privatization on the people and economy of British Columbia Castlegar Mayor Audrey convention, said the support unanimous Moore, a delegate 10 the for the resolution was “1 think all the people living in the Kootenays and all the municipalities which are members of the AKBM cer tainly have a vested interest in how forests are managed,"’ Moore said our The resotution also calls for the government to retrain from issuing any more tree farm licences until the inquiry is completed and the results reported to the public and the B.C Forest Service | ___Forests Minister Dave Parker announced in late 198 torests’’ and calls the move to increase the number of tree a@ grave threat future curity, environmental quality, and standard of living Ihe AKBM resolution will be forwarded to thg Union ol B.C tarm licences to our economic Municipalities corivention in Penticton Sept. 20, 21 conyenuio: ed a resolution from the City'ot N. legates also pa discussions with the tederal and provincial governments and B.€. Hydro-to en sure that an unspecified portion of downstream benefits trom the Columbia River Treaty first accrue to the citizens of the Kootenays “to ensure the future economic growth n calling t nd development of the area Moore said the d some dissention gates passed the resolution™‘with becausé of inaccuracies in the language ol the resolution. Moore said a clause in the resolution which states Columbia River Treaty documents confirm that down: stream power benefits should accrue to Kootenay residents is wrong Nelson Mayor Gerald Rotering noted ina news release that negotiations between the provincial government and American officials are already underway and that it is just eight years until the downstream bengfits come back’ to British Columbia This is a major economic value to B.C., but that the government intended (0 increase the amount of timber harvested under tree far per the province's annual allowable cut trom the present 29 per licences to 6 cent of cent However, Parker and hi rrently re evaluating that policy after a series throughout the province demonstrated widespread op of eight public meeting position to the proposal. The AKBM resoluuion public tates that there has beer B.C."s involvement in the decision to privatize “value is created and has been paid for largely.in Our region, and we are saying as mayors, aldermen and rural district representatives that some of that benefit belongs here,” Rotering said Under the Columbia River Treaty, B.C: gets half the power generated by American dams because of reservoir storage north of the border. The province sold the power tor 30 years for alump sum as the Duncan, Keenleyside and Mica Creek dams came onstream continued on page A3 Zinc sludge leaks into Columbia River MeLaren said zine is one of the least By CLAUDETTESANDECKI Staff Writer An investigation into a spill of 80 t 90 cubic metres of zine sludge from the Cominco smelter into the Columbia River is continuing today cial Environment Ministry's regional waste manager Jim McLaren said. The investigation includes checking the provin records trom Cominco’s 24-hour river monitoring station and is being con ducted by Carl Johnson, head of the Waste Management Branch's ir dustrial sector, McLaren said The of the could lead to a fine of $100 or $200, he results investigation said, or formal charges that Cominco violated thé company’s Waste permit, the provincial act regulating management or the federal Fisheries Act If convicted, a judge could tine the company up to $50,000 for the spill McLaren said However, if the investigation deems the spill an “act of God” or if the defense of *‘due diligence’’ can be sub- stantiated, no action will be taken against the company, he said The spill began around 11 p.1 Friday and went unchecked for (wo hours due to an operator's misunder standing of monitor readings and the difficulty a supervisor had in finding the source of the leak, Cominco public relations officer Richard Fish said waste The leak was coming trom a split pipe on the roof of the plant; Fish said The pipe froze and split during the win ter and split had been isolated somehow turned back on, he said the by section valves which were “(The spill) should never have hap pened,” table to the company, Fish said. “It is not accep and Cominco. is taking steps to prevent another spill, he said A similar zinc spill occurred in December, he said The provements to the looking at monitoring system and is providing more training tor employees, he said The union representing the produc tion and maintenance workers at ie plantwants to see better spill control, said Ron McDougall, safety chairman for United Steelworkers of America Local 480. he union considers the accident a combination of minor operator udgment error and = miscom munication, McDougall said The plant is so big the project depar iment was able t@ putin a new sewer without the plant foreman knowing about-it, resulting in the supervisor takthg longer to find the spill, he said He added that the union wants to know why it was not informed of the spill until Monday morning. Waste management of ticials were told Satur day morning, he said Fish said the lost about $18,000 in the spill that contained ap- proximately 11 tonnes of zinc company dangerous metals in drinking water but management total impact the waste investigation will consider the of the spil Fish said that past ex perience, I don't expect to see damage to the river or the wildlife” based on from the INSIDE _ Corky to run page A2 Lottery numbers The winning numbers drawn Tuesday in The Pick lottery were 17, 18, 20, 25, 27, 29, 48 and 49. La Hue tosses hatin ring By CasNews Staff There are now a pair of hats in the ring following Robson resident Den: nis La Hue’s announcement he will seek the Area J seat on the Regional District of Central Kootenay board in a byelection expected sometime next month La Hue, a 34-year-old firefighter at the Castlegar Airport, joins Robson resident Ken Wyllie in the race fot Martin Vanderpol’s seat on the board. Vanderpol announced last month he will resign May 31 to accept a teaching position in Indonesia this September. La Hue, with experience on a num ber of community associations and commissions, said it is important for A J residents to elect someone who will represent all the people regardless ot personal bias. “The most important issue is we have a director that will represent people no matter what his or her own continued on poge A2 fellow DENNIS LA HUE +++ Seeks Area J seat Input sough By CHERYL CALDERBANK, [he provincial government is seeking public input intorthe future management of the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy — a height of land located betwgen the East and West Kootenays A series of all-day open houses is being held in communities within the region. An open house will be held trom 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at the Chahko-Mika Mall in Nelson and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the mall on Satur day. An open house will also be held from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Langham Centre in Kaslo. The presentations, based on displays and an audio Visual show, are designed to allow viewers to learn more about the conservancy and to express opinions about the issues. Parks Ministry staff will be on hand to listen to and exchange ideas Open house presentations have already been held in Invermere and Cranbrook. An open house will also be held at the Robson Media Centre in Vancouver and ministry staff will also meet with the Outdoor Recreation Council, the blanket organizatiorfor all the outdoor groups, says Gord McAdams, visitor services coordinator for the Ministry of Parks’ West Kootenay District ton Purcell B.C. Parks is seeking input to prepare a master plan, which will guide management and development of the consefvancy inv the next decade An bight-page newsletter is being sent to many Kootenay residents as well as those farther afield who may want to become involved in expressing their views B.C. F help ministry staff incorporate the wishes of the public The master plan will deal with all aspects of conser arks has also prepared questionnaires which will vancy management, such as whether ognot to develop facilifies and trails or what recreational Services should operate in the area After all information has been gathered, everyone who registered at the open houses or sent in a question naire will receive a newsletter survey. B.C. Parks will then prepare a draft master plan for further public review McAdams said early feedback indicates ‘people want the Conservancy to be kept ‘‘fairly remote: However, he pointed out that the ministry doesn’ Lwant eporting the results of the to influence the feedback The preparing of a master plan for the Conservancy was a recommendation by a wilderness advisory com continued gn page AS One-woman show page A6 Flames lead