December 27, 1991

44 pages

RTH AND WEST VANC

nee

Classifieds 986-6222

Environmentalists want Howe
Sound crackdown on offenders

HOWE SOUND-ares residents were angry Monday fol-
lowing a gas leak at the new Howe Sound Pulp and Paper

Lid. mill in Port Mellon.

And at least one environmental
group has called on the new NDP
government (0 crack down on
polluting pulp mills

Ray Robb, acting head of the
industrial section of the B.C en-
vironment ministry waste
management branch, said that
while the that leaked was
hauscous, it posed no health

cof at

ible gas called methyt

pton. This happens from

me at the mill,” J

Robb. ‘Depending on the diree-

tion of the wind, it (odor) will be

picked up b residents in
Gibsons and Langdale.

He added that methyl merchap-
ton, which Robb described as a
“sinelly zg is a compound put
into natural gases to detect a gas
leak.

“t's much more smellier than it

hazardous. The mill found that
it came from a seal tank. The
water level in the seal tank had
dropped so the water did not trap
the gas,"' said Robb.

He added that an indicator on
the seal tank had been plugged
and that it had indicated ‘tan OK
level of water’? when, in fact. the
water level was an inadequate
amount to trap the

Robb said his office is still in-
vestigating the gas leak.

But Gibsons resident Liz Mitten
Ryan said mill president Bill
Hughes had told her husband
Kevin that a safety valve had
malfunctioned.

“Apparently, it was installed
the wrong way. It smetled like a
natural gas leak. It Ss very
bad," said Mitten Ryan. ‘We
have a dog who is an outdoors
dog and she wouldn’t go out-
side."*

She added that she has told her
husband that she no longer wants
to live in the area because of
pollution-related problems coming
from both the Howe Sound Pulp
and Paper mill and Western
Pulp’s Woodfibre pulp mill in

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

Squamish.

Miten Ryan said Howe Sound
Pulp and Paper refused to tell her
exactly what had caused the 2
leak.

Hughes could not be reached
for comment to press time Tus.
day.

Another area resident, Peter

described the gas leak odor

“H's a very bad ame, it's a
i cidity thing that floats
said Ochs,

Environmental Watch founder
Terry Jacks said) he received 12
telephone calls Monday from res:
idents angry about the gas leak.
He added that one of the people
who called owas a) pulp mill
employee.

“Thowas just terrible. [te was just
putrid said Jack “Howe
Sound Pulp and Paper have settl
ing ponds and the toxic sludge at
the bottom of thase ponds burns,
They're not putting those toxin
into the water anymore, they're
now putting it into the air.

dded thet until pulp) milis
stop using chlorine dioxide ‘we're
in big trouble."*

Jacks also called en the provin-
cial government to crack down on
polluting pulp mills. He added
that he met with Premier Mike
Harcourt and Environment
Minister John Cashore before the
NDP was elected and that they
both said they would bring in
tougher environmental laws.

hey said they would do cer-
tain things and we now have to
keep up the pressure on them to
make sure they follow through,”
said Jacks.

In November, Howe Sound
Pulp and Paper turned out the
first chlorine-free softwood kraft
pulp ever produced in Canada in a
week-long test at its Port Mellon
mill.

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~ Now or never

FOUR-YEAR-OLD Fiona warily prepares to take her first run down the hill as
she learns to ski in Grouse Mountain’s Ski-Wee program. Local mountains
have been open for several weeks and on the weekend the skiing was great

with sunny skies.

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