@ — Friday, January 3, 1997 — North Shore News

The orth Sore fos is peblished by Werth
Shave Froo Press Ltd, Publisher Peter Speck,
from 1139 Leusdale Avease

PETER SPECK
Publisher
985-2131 (101)

Smeijl of money

OWE Sound Pulp ano Paper

Ltd. is again asking the B.C.

Ministry of the Environment
for a relaxation in the rules governing
how much sulphur dioxide and nitrogen
oxide it can spew into the regional envi-
ronment.

Over recent years the company has
spent lots of money modernizing the
facility to allow for an increased produc-
tion of pulp. The effort has made it one
of the environmentally cleanest opera-
tions of its kind.

Howe Sound Pulp and Paper Ltd.
has reduced emissions of sulphur diox-

ide by 85% since 1989. The release of
nitrogen oxide is down by 37% since
1994.

And yet it’s still a dirty business.

The mill hasn’t been able to live up to
its permit since the carly 1990s. It’s been
on the provincial government's cnviron-
mental non-compliance report two
times, most recently in 1995 for exceed-
ing permit limits for nitrogen oxide and
sulphur dioxide emissions.

The mill operators want to up the
amount of sulphur dioxide emissions by
300%. They'd also like to increase nitro-
gen oxide emissions. Sulphur dioxide is
the stuff that gives us life-snuffing acid

THIS TRUINPET WAS ONC OF FiVE-YeaR- OLD sinms many
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS FROM HiS PARENTS...

Ms iS THe Saihe TRUMPET aFTeR He

QUTSIDE His PARENTS BEDROD

A wise man (name of Fielding Hall)
once said that a bad harvest is worse
than‘a despotic King.

True. So here-
abouts Christmas
1996 will be
remembered not
for the fies and
human failures of
government —
briefly driven from
our consciousness
— burt for the
weather.

This was the icy Christmas on the North
Shore that:

Stores ran out of milk.

Stores and garages ran out of rock salt.

Charitable enterprises and stores ran out of
Christmas trees the week before Christmas.
(The Lautenses, honoring the family motto
“Too Little Too Late,” were among those left
treeless and substituted a tiny potted evergreen
from their garden, committing the savings to
charity. Surprise: The children decorated the
poor stunted tree and never complained.)

At least one Blue Bus coutdn’t get up a hill
and passengers had to move back over the
wheels for traction.

Cold? It was so cold that in broad daylight a
Snowy. Owl roosted fearlessly in a tree at our
place ‘clutching what first looked like a shoelace

BepRoomn aT 6:17

Get used to new

... and in fact was the tail of an unfortunate rat.
And one stupid family (hint: Its motto is
“Too Little Too Late”) spent the season worry-
ing that the pipes at their cottage, which they
swore they’d make a closing-up visit te in the

autumn and, as usual, didn’t, would freeze.

But what more would you expect of a family
that keeps a 33-year-old convertible, top down,
licensed and ready to roll for that dry, sunny
winter day that never comes?

@-¢ 6

After that brief seasonal respite, back to West
Vancouver politics. (Sorry I can’t cover the wo
North Vancouvers as well; Bet councils there
really yearn for the benefit of my keen, analyti-
cal mind and pleasant reporting.)

Seriously, this year rich, complacent West
Van is going to feel the unaccustomed. pain of
the budgetary scalpel.

Expect it, West Vancouverites. The remorse-
less downloading by senior governments is
finally hitting home — yours and mine.

Staff doesn’t like it. Rumors are that after
two meetings over the provisional budget,
which council sets by year-end and may be
reported by the time this appears, some dis-
gruntlied department heads are muttering about
seeking employment elsewhere.

The new council is shaping up as a lot
tougher-than the previous one.

Council faces a $2.8 million budget turn-
around from last year — translatable into a tax
rise of 5-8%. os

rain. Nitrogen oxide is part of the ambi-
cenit soup we urbanites call smog. Much
of the made-in-B.C. variety comes from -
cars and pulp mills.

This mill is located just 22 kilometres
(13.7 miles) from Horseshoe Bay on -
Howe Sound. Its not that far and
thanks to the regional weather patterns,

it’s in the air we inhale on the North | *

Shore. -

This process of upgrades, increased
production, and yo-yo permitted levels
of what mess officially can be dumped”
into our shared biosphere is familiar.and‘~
persistent. Breathe deeply, it’s the smvel

. I ger a kick out of scientific
thar tne pro-log- -the watershed group
games out with. The excepts from.
‘the “final summary. 7
sed management ihe lepe
ent agencies: at.
s speak. don’t hold any wate ras

shy some groups. want to’
watershed other than the. fact. tha

impeove sor
If we want ties
the: watershed

The nzw council, is juding three rookies:;
and a new mayor, mi fatand
municipal costs to_mi

There were heated exchanges
in-camera budget mectings, notably arisi
from newcomers Victor Duran and Bill

Coun. Allan Williams too.
A close council-watcher’s | ¢
the greenhorns, barely familiar with‘
of the washrooms, were guilty ¢ of bei
gusting, rude «.: and: Pompous” to
department heads. * ;
But a more sober second opinion
is the new reality. Get'used to
For years senior staff have bee
submit scenarios showing what th
they had to trim their budgets by
But they’ve never had to do that. The cast
has been found. ;
“Discretionary spending” is under huge 4
pressure. Frills will go. Citizens, are you pre- > —
ared to sacrifice the lovely hanging flower.
Boxes i in Dundarave — that sort of very. West
Vancouver thing — to hold back taxes? we

. — The North Shore News believes strongly i
freedom of speech and the right of all sides ina
debate to be heard. The columnists published i
the News present differing points of view, but:
those views are not necesiarely those of. th ie

per itself