FAMILY FUN AT HOOKER CHEMICALS

By BILL BELL

Hooker Chemical
opened its con-
troversial North
Vancouver plant to the
public with an ex-
pensive ‘*‘Good
Neighbor” Open House
last Saturday. The day

was designed to
convince Maplewood
residents and North

Van District Council
that Hooker operates a
safe industry — it didn’t
exactly work.

Despite Hooker’s massive
cleanup effort, paint job,

tour guides, brochures,
media presentations, large
tents housing free food,

souvenirs (baseball caps and
hardhats), displays, and four
piece band, both the
district's Mayor Don Bell
and Alderman Ernie Crist
reserved judgement on the
plant's overall safety.
However. both politicians
expressed admiration with
the way Hooker’ had
“cleaned its act up,” at least
the surface appearance.
“They've put a tremen-
dous effort into making this
place look better,” said Crist
following a tour of the plant.
“But it still leaves us with a
major question. What do we
do with a chemical plant that
could trap 18,000 people uf
an accident occurs?” Crist

QUALITY

asked.

Mayor Bell called
Hooker’s improvements “a
good first step”. Mayor Bell
told the North Shore News
he wanted to wait for the
Community Hazards Task
Force’s report, due in
October, before making any
judgement on the plant's
overall safety to the com-
munity.

LONG OVERDUE

Mayor Bell did praise
Hooker’s change in attitude
towards community
relations, calling the open
house a “good idea, and long
overdue.”

Still, Sheila Gordon,
Community Hazards Task
Force vice-chairman, was
not impressed, saying the
changes were ‘mostly
cosmetic.”

“All they have done is
painted everything and
planted a lot of trees which
will die from the = air
pollution in a couple of
months,” Gordon said.

“They really haven't
changed anything else, the
entire thing ts just PR with
no substance.”

And while the politicians,
task force members, media
and public were being
treated to a tour of the plant
in a festive atmosphere, at
least nine people were
demonstrating outside
Hooker's gates.

The protestors want the
plant) moved to another
location, away from

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inhabited areas. However, at
an earlier press conference,
Canadian Occidental
Petroleum (Hooker
Chemical) President Bob
MacAlister said relocation
has been ruled out on
economic grounds.

“We don’t think it is
practical to relocate this
facility, but we are willing to
discuss the problems of
relocation with the task
force,” MacAlister said.

In the meantime, Hooker
is going ahead with a
modernization

program
which includes dock
upgrading.

MacAlister said the

concern of the residents was
unjustified. He pointed to
the plant’s safety record
during its 23 year history.

“This is a safe plant, there
have been no really serious
injuries in its 23 years of
operation,” MacAlister said.

Hooker also recently
invested in an emergency
response vehicle specially
designed to deal with
chemical spills. According
to officials this vehicle is the
first of its kind in North
America.

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A3-Wednesday, September 17, 1980 -North Shore News

“GOOD NEIGHBOR
DAY” was what Hooker
Chemicals called their
Saturday open house,
but these North Shore
residents weren't
exactly happy about a
neighbor which they say
endangers them.
Barbara Stewart (right)
and Bill Vagg turned out
to picket and hand out
pamphlets to visitors.
(Bill Bell photo)

Chlorine outing fails to convince

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