4 ~ Wednesday, June 9, 1999 - North Shore News Furry Creek developer fears dirty water From page 1 Companies would pay ship- ping or tipping fees to Copper Beach, contracting to deposit their soil at the Bntannia land- fill. Gregory Campbell, vice- president of Hazco Environmental Services Ltd. said there is not enough metal contaminated soils business in the province to make the Britannia Beach site viable. Copper Beach expects to raise enough money to finance the treatment plant. The plant's annual costs will run upwards of $800,000. “The 150,000 in annual tonnage is an extremely high estimate. If you're relving on 150,000 tonnes there's a big ptoblem,” Campbell said. “The available tonnage is probably less than half — a quarter of what they're think- ing it is.” Campbell runs the largest contaminated landfill business in B.C. He said Copper Beach’s proposal is reliant on a tipping tee of S78 to S82 per tonne (including — shipping costs). Currently the going market rate is $65 per tonne, With 3 second landfill site in the Lower Mainland the com- petition will likely drive prices down, Lower prices may lead Copper Beach’s revenue pro- jections ta nosedive. This Campbell said would result in the Britannia landfill site falling short in the revenue needed to finance the waste treatment plant. If Copper Beach can’t get enough business to run the landfill site profitably, then who will step in and pay to run the treatment plant needed to clean up a nearby mine? Toxic metals such as copper and zine have been flowing through =the underground mine shafts at the old Britannia Mine site located 20 kilometres north of Lions Bay and dumping into Britannia Creek and Howe Sound for Our North Vancouver office has moved inside Lynn Valley Center next to the liquor store. Our new hours are Mon. - Fri. 9am - 9pm / Sat. 9am - 6pm Sun. 12pm - 5pm. Thickness: 1” to 4”, Width: 27” to 54”, MINE effluent flows into Howe Sound. A proposal by a company would see the preblem addressed. years. The eftluent or acid rock drainage has been flowing into the ocean since the mine shut down in 1974, This acid rack drainage has been killing much of the young salmon that come down = from the Squamish River. Residents and experts fear the provincial government would have to pick up the fis- cal costs if the project fails. Ray Robb, assistant region- al waste manager for the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks said it is not in his ministry's purview to delve too deeply into the via- bility of Copper Beach’s busi- ness plan. Government agencies like the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Energy and Mines are keen to go ahead with the plan because it would clean up an environmental mess that has festered for decades. On the other hand, they are being criticized for fast-tracking the project, par- ticularly after the /eoTron PRINTS 115em., 100% Cotton, Reg. to $12. 9am. sares0% UDGET jBUY 1, GET 2 FREE Environment, Lands and Parks minister, Cathy McGregor, decided not to conduct: an environmental review of the project. A review is optional and ar the discretion of her ministry. Alan Young, — executive director of the Environmental Mining Council, is concerned thar fissures in the Jane Pit A mutual funds consul- tant from West Van is among a diverse group of 11 individuals nomi- nated for an Ethics in Action Award. John Linthwaite will vie for the honour Thursday, June 10, at an awards banquet at Hotel Vancouver, Among nominees in the category for ongoing social responsibility (individ- ual) are: a hair salon owner, a cycling advocate, a gallery director, demolition specialist, director of a hemp co-opera- Gve and a marketing consul- tant. The awards recognize lead- ership in corporate social responsibility. Linthwaite was nominated for his work with Ethical Funds Inc., the company he founded in 1992 atter purchas- ing VanCity’s Ethical Growth Fund and taking it national. Today it is the second fargest ethical fund in the world. Linthwaite, 65, retired as pres- area Where the landtill would be built will open up inthe event of an earthquake. Soil might find its way into the sur rounding Furry Creek water shed Young, said. Similar concerns by envi ronmentalists and Frank Bauman, a Squamish gcotech nical engineer opposed to the project have been expressed — especially on the cybiect of carthgtskes and soil stability. David Rittberg, project director for) Tanac Land Development at Furry Creek is also concerned about the water quality if the metal-coatami- nated sail works its way into Furry Creek, 6,000 metres to the south of the landdill. “The water containment issue iS paramount to_ us,” Rittberg said. “The ministries in their mad dash to approve this project are not looking at the business plan.” Teal Hall, regional director for the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said his geotechnical engineers are looking inte the avalanche issue with worker- safety in’ mind. Earthquakes, however, are nota factor Hall or ethi JOHN LINTHWAITE ident fast July but remains with the company as a consultant. Ethical Funds employs seven basic principals in its ongoing review of the ethical conduct of companies in which it invests. These include stan- dards that govern employee relations, employment equity and environmental responsibil- ity. Linthwiite said that work- ing to ensure the integrity of the funds is “an ongoing chal- said. Said Hall regarding the Walanche danger, “PE don’t think our engineers see tat as a prabable occurrence. We are salisticd that it is relatively sta- be because we don't want the land} to break through into the underground work- ings.” The jandtil with not be operating dunny the tour win- ter months, minimizing the danger of stow avalanches. Of all the ministries responsible for approving the regulations invalved: in the project, Hall's: Energy and Mines has looked most closely at the fiscal soundness of Copper Beach's plan. “When we approve the development of a new copper mine we can't predict into the future whac the price of copper will be over the long term,” Hail said. “Our mandate and directive is to minimize the government's exposure to any poteraal liability,” Hall said. fhe provincial ministries mwolved will decide this sum- mer whether or not Copper Beach can proceed with the project. lenge, and one that’s extreme ly interesting because the world changes from day to dav.” Monitoring corporate social responsibility, or CSR, has helped Ethical Funds intlu- ence changes in the industry. For example, “we invest in the banks. And if we have a con- cern, generally speaking, ‘the CEO will write back to us if we raise a question with them. Five years ago, that just didn’t happen. They would ignore us. Now they don't,” he said. Also nominated for an award, in the category of socially responsible decision- making (business), is Westcoast Energy Ine. for the Westcoast: Energy Children’s Centre at Lonsdale elementary. The resource centre, operated by Family Services of the North Shore, opened in February. The Ethics in Action Awards were created in 1994 by VanCity and the Workplace Ministry Society. — Layne Christensen Road improvements on Main Street _ June 14 - July 30, 1999 | ‘In order to keep disruption to a minimum, work will take place from 8:00 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. he District of North Vancouver will soon begin road improvement work on Main | THREAD || = ALL SLABS 72” tong 5 Reg. $10.99ea. to $53, Bea. WHERE AVAILABLE. You may experience minor. delays during this period. Please obey all traffic signs and flagpersons. Your patience is appreciated. Street from Lynn Creek Bridge Any combination of , ’ to Mountain Highway. : Sig nature & Metties thread. if equal o or lesser value. All fabric sale ticketed Si 49m. & $2.4 4am. Construction will begin on June 14th and continue for approximately 6 weeks. Roadway improvements will include watermain upgrades and repaving. te NORTH VANCOUVER, 710 West 14th. St,080-0951 . ntown Vancouver, Sth. Floor, the Bay, 689-2115 . Burnaby. 72 3 Giley ve. Pere itlam, 2773 Barnet Hwy, oes Rigs: 22188 Loud heed Hay 4 yy 4263-0067 = c . rey, BOGG-1 reel . eutey 18 19956 Willowbrook Or., B33 4805 ¢ Abboteford , 32838 Ventura Ave. 859-3396 For more information contact Bill Henry (Paving) or Bob Huffman (Watermain) at 990-3830.