I would like to add more detail to Dr. LeRose’s letter to the editor on May16 which was well said.
In the early 90’s Teck Trail was a failed business so they went to the then NDP government for financial assistance.
If my memory is correct the BC government purchased the dam at Brilliant and excess power producing rights at the Waneta Dam which became the Waneta expansion project for around $150 million give or take.
With this money Teck built the Kivcet furnace to replace the failed QSL. They had previously sold WKP&L to pay for ($120 million) the QSL furnace that never worked.
This bailout along with a much reduced work force (800-1000) layoffs in one day set the tone to make Trail Operations viable.
Part of the business case made to the government for aid was a circle drawn on a map with the point on Trail and every town within that 200-mile radius was going to be affected if Trail Ops shutdown thus the aid and here we are.
Teck has generously donated $25 million to BC Children’s Hospital, $2.5 million to St.Paul’s and $12.5 million to the Vancouver Aquarium to name a few, all good stuff to say the least.
The irony of all this is the fact that the Mayor of Vancouver Gregor Robertson is vehemently opposed to resource development. He is anti-pipeline and anti-coal train and is doing everything he can to stop both, keep in mind that Teck has oil sands holdings and may use the very pipeline he and his buddy Andrew Weaver are vowing to stop.
Contrast that with us in Trail where a large chunk of that donated money was made, we willingly put up with truck traffic, noise, media bashing and smoke off the Kivcet baghouse because we earn our living there along with a whole bunch of other people in a 200-mile radius and someone once said that smelter belongs to us.
It’s your dam Mr. Norman Keevil, I guess you can do what ever you want with it.
Bryan DeFerro
Trail
