THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2013
Pipe firms could need $1 billion on hand for clean-up: feds
Peter JAMES Citizen staff pjames@pgcitizen.ca
Days after environmental assessment hearings into the proposed Northern Gateway project wrapped up, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver announced a suite of new pipeline safety measures.
Speaking at a news conference in Vancouver, Oliver said this fall the federal government will put forward legislation to enshrine the polluter-pay concept into law and require all companies operating major oil pipelines to have at least $1 billion available to pay for clean up costs in the event of a spill. In the past, the National Energy Board has required companies to show financial capability on a case-by-case basis, but the new rules establish a minimum amount.
The federal government has ultimate jurisdiction over inter-provincial pipelines, but it’s not clear if the new rules will help Northern Gateway gain support provincially. Premier Christy Clark has said her government doesn’t support the Alberta-to-Kitimat project as it is currently conceived because it fails
OLIVER
to meet its five conditions surrounding environmental protection, First Nations consultation and economic benefits.
“British Columbia supports actions to increase pipeline safety and oversight,” the provincial environment ministry wrote in an email to the Citizen after Oliver’s announcement on Wednesday. “B.C. has five bottom-line requirements that must
be met before it can support any new oil pipeline project. The federal government’s new measures support our call for best practices.” Due to the start of the new provincial legislative session in Victoria on Wednesday, Oliver was unable to meet with his provincial counterparts on this trip to B.C., but said future meetings are planned.
“We’re very much aware of the conditions which Premier [Christy] Clark put on her approval of the Northern Gateway and we will continue those discussions,” Oliver said. “We’ve had a very good relationship in the past and I’m certain it will continue.”
Forest Ethics Advocacy campaign organizer Sven Biggs said his organization believes Wednesday’s announcement doesn’t bring Northern Gateway any closer to meeting the province’s conditions.
“[Northern Gateway’s] friends in Ottawa and Calgary are working hard to find a way to mollify Christy Clark and get the province onside with their proposal,” Biggs said.
— see ACCIDENT, page 3
Testimony derails Triplett trial
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnieben@pgcitizen.ca
The case against John Triplett has gone back to square one after B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ken Ball declared a mistrial Wednesday and dismissed the jury.
The move came after a key witness gave unexpected testimony earlier in the day that Ball decided had compromised Triplett’s right to a fair trial to the point where an instruction to the jury to ignore the statement would not be enough.
“What has happened today is something which, despite my considerable confidence in your ability to follow instructions I give you, I have decided that on balance I will have to declare a mistrial,” Ball told the jury when they re-entered the court room a few hours later after the judge heard submissions from Crown prosecution and defence counsel on the matter.
The 12-person jury, down from 13 at the start after one juror was dismissed due to health reasons, had sat through 19 days of testimony, some of it emotional and tear-filled.
A mistrial means a new trial will have to be held if the charges against Triplett are to be pursued, with witnesses giving testimony once more in front of a new jury, unless the accused opts for trial by judge alone.
Whether a new trial will be held and if so, when it will begin, and will it be in Prince George, is still to be determined.
Triplett was facing 11 counts in the case, nine of which are of a sexual nature as well as one count of assault and one count of extortion. It is alleged the offences took place between 1979 and 1984 with three students when he taught and coached basketball at D.P. Todd secondary school.
As he has throughout the trial, Triplett expressed no emotion when the mistrial was announced.
Police fear possible charity scam
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
Materials used to collect donations on behalf of a well-known charity have gone missing and a fraud artist could be using them to dupe unsuspecting people into donating their money to the wrong cause.
The items - collection boxes, donation forms and pledge sheets for CIBC Run for the Cure - were stolen from a trailer parked over Wednesday night outside the Signature Sandman, Prince George RCMP confirmed.
The trailer was also holding an all-terrain vehicle that has since been delivered to Northern Acreage Supply Ltd. and will be the draw prize for those who make a donation while at the business, located at 4870 Continental Way in the BCR industrial site.
The vehicle has been decked out in pink to promote the Run for the Cure, said Northern Acreage president Alan Goode, whose first step was to call police and then local media to alert the public when he learned the items had been stolen.
“We just don’t want people to put the money where it really doesn’t belong,” Goode said.
Local Run for the Cure spokeswoman Renee McCloskey said those leery of donating to a canvasser can also contribute to the cause by going to the Canadian Breast Cancer foundation website.
Those who are approached by someone purporting to be a Run for the Cure canvasser but seems suspicious is asked to contact Prince George RCMP, Cpl. Craig Douglass said.
The Run for the Cure is set for Oct. 6 at the Civic Centre, starting at 9:30 a.m.
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