December 16, 1994 inside the news @ Keeping tabs on winter chores: 17 @ Weekly Real Estate section: 45-68 @ Xmas Catendar........ 37 a Classified..... seated DE , a ‘Crossword... sesssnnessesee Soe B Entortai: PRENANT se 24 io B Fashion. ccc 23 . A inside Stories...............17 & North Skore Alert....12 a Sunshine Girl..............22 =] Vv Listing. cocccuconn26 @ Honda Accord adds _ optional V6 engine: 43 | B Listings for new and used cars: 35 Weather Saturday: rain. High 8°C, low 3°C. 68 pages NEW HOUSING View loss, traffic concerns raised at public hearing into the proposed development of new seniors complex. Classifieds 986-6222 rf cannon COR ~~ BW FOUR CORNERS Queensbury residents successfully campaign to rezone two properties to single-family housing. CanadianOxy Chemicals Ltd. North Vancouver Plant : seen NEWS photo Mike Wakefield THE NORTH Vancouver District Fire Department responded to a leak of chlorine at the CanadianOxy plant.on the waterfront Wednesday morning. The leak marked the second accident at the plant in six months and led to warnings for residents to stay inside their homes with windows and doors closed. Second CanadianOxy leak in six months THE SECOND chlorine leak in six months occurred at North Vancouver’s CanadianOxy plant Wednesday. It resulted in warnings from the company for local residents to stay indoors and sparked calls from some to move the plant. By lan Noble News Reporter The leak at the North Vancouver waterfront plant occurred at 9:30 a.m. and was stopped at 11:05 the same morning, said plant manager of transportation and logis- tics Terry Litchfield. He said a small hole in a pressure vessel, known as a pre-boiler, was the source of the leak, which flowed at up to a gallon (4.5 litres) a minute. But Litchfield said Wednesday that accurate assess- ments of the amount of chlorine leaked and the cause of the hole were not yet available. CanadianOxy produces caustic soda and chlorine for B.C.’s pulp mills. Residents and businesses near the 100 Amherst Ave. plant. were warned of the leak through the Conununity Alert Network, an automatic dialing service that sends messages to cach fisted phone number in the area, Ross Peterson, the coordinator of the North and West Vancouver Emergency Program, said chlorine can be deadly even at low concentrations. Peterson, who had a cold, did not smell any chlorine at the site of the leak, although North Vancouver District Fire Services depuly fire chief Bruce Ramsay said he detected a very slight odor of chlorine at the plant site. Ramsay said chlorine liguid vaporizes into gas by a factor of 470 to 1. The leak has given added fuel to those who say the plant should not be located at 100 Amherst Ave. on the North Vancouver District waterfront. North Vancouver resident Ross Muirhead, a vocal opponent of the plant, said the small leak shows the potential for much Jarger leaks or spills. That, he said, could be disastrous. He points to the derailment of a raif car carrying chlorine in Mississauga, Ontario, that led to the evacua- tion of 250,000 residents in the early 1980s. He added if a similar accident oceurred in North Vancouver the evacuation of the area would slow tu at craw] due to traffic tie-ups on the bridges. He said if CanadianOxy was really serious about tak- ing safety precautions, the company would provide community members with gas niasks. CanadianOxy, Muirhead said, is “net telling the See Plant safety page 3 SEYMOUR BLVD. RIVERSIDE DA. IBS SEYMOUR RIVER RD. —_——- SECOND NARAOWS fe t RIDGE rt