Special Features - June 18, 2014

Northwest 2014Connection

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BC HYDRO'S Northwest Transmission Line

ALTAGAS' Forrest Kerr Run of River Project

IMPERIAL METALS' Red Chris Mine

Z2 NW CONNECTIONS June 2014

344 KM OF NEW ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

BC Hydro would like to thank the people of northwest B.C. for their support of the Northwest Transmission Line project.

The Northwest Transmission Line will provide clean power to new industrial developments in northwestern B.C., benefitting our entire province.

To learn more visit bchydro.com/ntl.

A14

-088

June 2014 NW CONNECTIONS Z3

DOINGBUSINESS INTHE NORTH?BUSINESS INTHE NORTH?

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TABLE OF CONTENTS ….

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THE TERRACE STANDARD acknowledges the coop-eration and assistance of � e Smithers Interior News of Smithers, BC, the Province of BC’s Ministry of Energy and Mines, the Province of BC, Valard Construction, PR Associates, the Tahltan Nation Development Corpora-tion, the Kitselas First Nation, the Kitsumkalum First Nation, the Nisga’a Lisims Government, BC Hydro, Im-perial Metals and AltaGas in the publication of this sup-plement. It is being distributed in Houston, Smithers, the Hazeltons, the Nass Valley, Stewart and Terrace.

Pillars for growthTERRACE AND area residents had barely settled down from the buzz created when the Vancou-ver Canucks met the New York Islanders in the NHL exhibition Hockeyville game played at the Sportsplex on Sept. 14, 2009, when email inboxes began to � ll up two days later with a crucial an-nouncement.

From the federal government, the announce-ment con� rmed it was putting $130 million from its Green Infrastructure Fund into BC Hydro’s Northwest Transmission Line.

It was suf� cient to kick start a project long sought after by regional governments and resource companies – a major power line running north of the Skeena Substation south of Terrace to provide reliable and affordable power to an area which had been relying on diesel power before.

Long time residents of the northwest will recall that the 2009 announcement revived the project which had stalled in the fall of 2007.

That was when NovaGold, which was to use power from the line for its Galore Creek copper and gold mine, put the latter on hold when its mine construction costs rose.

But with the federal commitment in hand and, soon, a new � nancing partner on the scene, Cal-gary-based AltaGas, the line was back in business.

AltaGas acquired the plans for three run-of-

river power projects along the Iskut River and with a sales contract to BC Hydro, needed the line to transmit the power into the provincial grid.

The largest of the three, Forrest Kerr, is the � rst to be completed by AltaGas.

Add in Imperial Metals, which wanted to want-ed a connection to the provincial grid for its Red Chris copper mine, and BC Hydro had a customer base in place.

If the Northwest Transmission Line and asso-ciated works helped revive the northwestern B.C. economy, it also introduced a new business model to the region.

BC Hydro made direct contract and other � nan-cial arrangements with the First Nations and the Nisga’a Nation to participate in the economic ben-e� ts arising from the transmission line’s construc-tion as it passed through traditional First Nations territory and Nisga’a lands.

With construction of all three major projects well on their way to completion, the combined investment value of the Northwest Transmission Line, the Forrest Kerr run-of-river project and the Red Chris mine belonging to Imperial Metals is ap-proximately $2.3 billion.

The result is reliable infrastructure on which to base the next steps of northwestern BC’s economic future.

A message from Christy Clark, Premier of BC ...Pages 4

A message from BC mines minister Bill Bennett . Page 6

BC Hydro is proud of its legacy ........................... Page 8

Terrace to bene� t from development ................. Page 9

Digging in for social licence .............................. Page 12

Corporation builds connections ....................... Page 14

The goal is a stable jobs climate ........................ Page 15

You name it, he’s been there .............................. Page 16

Transmission line revived economy .................. Page 18

Mine to use transmission line power ................ Page 20

Company to generate clean power .................. Page 22

He now owns his own truck ............................... Page 24

Line adds to stability ......................................... Page 24

Power line work opens doors ............................ Page 26

Power line deal a � rst for Kitselas ..................... Page 26

Cover photo: Josh Massey, Terrace, BC


Power line secures region’s futureBy CHRISTY CLARK

Resource de-velopment is the backbone of British Co-

lumbia’s economy and the key to our future prosperity.

Mining has made a huge comeback in B.C. and the North-west Transmission Line (NTL) will ensure this important industry con-tinues to grow and sup-port families across our province by opening up world-class mineral deposits and enabling the development of new mines in B.C.’s north-west.

NTL is a province-building exercise that will open up northwest B.C. to up to $15 billion in mining investment, creating up to 10,000 jobs and generating $300 million in annual tax revenues. The NTL will ensure that re-source companies look-ing to invest can do so with confidence, know-ing they will connect to a reliable power system with cost-effective elec-tricity.

NTL will support in-vestments like Imperial Metals’ Red Chris mine – one of the largest cop-per gold deposits in the world – which will employ 350 people, in-cluding many First Na-tions, in high-paying, family supporting jobs.

Red Chris will con-nect to the NTL via the Iskut Extension. The Iskut Extension is a 93 kilometre transmission line that ties Red Chris Mine into the NTL and ensures the mine is pow-ered by clean, reliable electricity. The exten-

sion also supports a grid connection for the com-munity of Iskut, which currently relies on ex-pensive diesel. Red Chris will have long-term benefits for the re-gion as it is expected to have a production rate of 30,000 tonnes per

day over a projected life of 28 years.

British Columbia is known around the world for having clean, renewable and reliable energy that citizens and industry can depend on. Innovative invest-ments, like the AltaGas

Forrest Kerr Project, a 195 megawatt run-of-river hydroelectric fa-cility with the capacity to power about 70,000 homes are the type of mega-projects that will hook into the NTL and power northwest BC moving forward. In

fact, Forrest Kerr is now the largest single intake run-of-river project in British Columbia. The Forrest Kerr Project employed 400 people during construction and is a model for First Na-tions partnerships as AltaGas worked closely with the Tahltan First Nation.

From the time BC Hydro was created more than 50 years ago, British Columbia has built some of the most ambitious power proj-ects in the world and the NTL is no differ-ent. The opportunity to develop projects of this magnitude is often once in a generation and just as generations of Brit-ish Columbians have benefited from historic investments like the W.A.C. Bennett and Mica dams, I know our children and grandchil-dren will benefit from the investments we’re making today to support and grow our resource industries and provide jobs and opportunities.

Christy Clark is the Premier of British Co-lumbia.

GOVERNMENT OF BC PHOTO

PREMIER CHRISTY Clark during a tour of the Rio Tinto Alcan smelter modernization project in Kitimat.


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Clean energy drives economy forwardBy BILL BENNETT

Access to af-f o r d a b l e , reliable and clean energy

is critical to attracting investment and capital-izing on the potential of our natural resources in British Columbia. BC Hydro is investing $1.7 billion per year in our electricity system to make sure we have power where and when it’s needed to support economic growth.

The Northwest, with its world class mineral deposits, has unparal-leled economic poten-tial that will be realized with the completion of the Northwest Trans-mission Line (NTL). The 287 kilovolt, 340 kilometre line runs from the Skeena Substation in Terrace to Bob Quinn Lake and will open up the Northwest to as much as $15 billion in mining investment – creating up to 10,000 jobs and generating $300 million in annual tax revenues.

This fall, Red Chris, the first mine to connect to the NTL, will open.

Red Chris is one of the top 10 copper gold de-posits in the world and it will provide high-paying, family-support-ing jobs for decades. When it opens this fall, the $540 million project will employ 350 people, including many First Nations. The jobs and opportunities support-ed by this world-class mineral deposit would not have been possible without the reliable and affordable supply of clean electricity pro-vided by the NTL.

Red Chris is only the beginning. More than one-quarter of the 19 major mine proposals currently active in the environmental assess-ment process are lo-cated in the Northwest and in 2012, over 40% of exploration spend-ing in British Columbia occurred in the region. This year, a decision is expected on the envi-ronmental assessment for the KSM project – one of the largest unde-veloped gold projects in the world - representing a potential investment of over $5 billion and over 1,000 long-term

jobs. In addition to new

mines, the NTL also supports clean energy, such as the $725 mil-lion Forest Kerr proj-ect – one of the largest infrastructure develop-ments in the Northwest

and the largest single intake run-of-river proj-ect in British Columbia. Forest Kerr will redirect a portion of the flow of the Iskut River through a tunnel to an under-ground powerhouse containing turbines to

generate electricity. This clean supply of electricity will provide the affordable and reli-able power to support economic growth and resource development in British Columbia’s northwest.

Whether it’s mining or clean energy, strong relationships with First Nations are absolutely essential. That’s why British Columbia be-came the first province to share direct revenue generated from new

mines and clean en-ergy projects with First Nations and it’s why AltaGas worked hard to complete a compre-hensive Impact Ben-efit Agreement with the Tahltan Nation for the Forest Kerr project.

Today, the mining sector supports over 30,000 jobs with an average salary of over $120,000 and is the largest private sector employer of First Na-tions in British Colum-bia.

The clean energy in-dustry is also critical to our economic develop-ment – employing 2700 people, including 690 First Nations, in many remote communities across the province.

The NTL and the access it provides to af-fordable, reliable and clean energy will en-sure that these critical industries continue to grow and provide well-paying jobs for fami-lies and communities in British Columbia for generations to come.

Provincial energy and mines minister Bill Bennett is also the MLA for Kootenay East.

GOVERNMENT OF BC PHOTO

ENERGY AND mines minister Bill Bennett, right, speaks with Red Chris mine construction workers during a tour of the site in the summer of 2013.


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With our expanding operations and our workforceapproaching 1000, Imperial Metals continues to bea strong contributor to northern BC’s economy imperialmetals.com

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TerraceStandard Ad_final_Imperial Metals 14-04-21 8:54 AM Page 1

After more than eight years of plan-ning and construction, BC Hydro’s Northwest Transmission Line is about to be energized – unleashing the econom-ic potential of a region previously off the grid.

The following re-marks were submitted by Greg Reimer, B.C. Hydro’s Executive Vice- President of Transmis-sion and Distribution.

“The B.C. govern-ment started dis-cussions with us in 2006 about the

need to provide elec-tricity to future mining projects,” said Reimer.

“At that time, the province’s electric-ity grid went only as far north as Meziadin Junction. Yet there were scores of poten-tial mines further north, with companies like Imperial Metals look-ing for a reliable source of clean power before committing to construc-tion.”

An industry study provided reasons for optimism.

Line creates an economic legacy

PHOTO COURTESY BC HYDRO PHOTO

AN ASSEMBLY crew at work on one of the Northwest Transmission Line’s towers.Cont’d Page 10


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By DAVE PERNAROWSKI

Terrace is in the midst of an eco-nomic boom as a result of all the

major developments occur-ring in the region.

The catalyst for this new activity in our region is the construction of B.C. Hydro’s Northwest Trans-mission Line (NTL).

More than $60 billion in projects and investments in mining, energy, oil & gas, bio-energy, and forestry op-erations are already in pro-duction or planned for the area and the transmission line will soon be online to provide a steady supply of clean power to these proj-ects and future industrial developments.

The Northwest Trans-mission Line will continue to play an important role in the economic development of this region.

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west Transmission Line, has opened up the north to a di-versified economy, new jobs and a prosperous future.

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Dave Pernarowski is the Mayor of Terrace.

Terrace to do wellfrom development


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The study showed that the Northwest Transmission Line could facilitate up to 10,000 jobs from new mines and other indus-trial developments and generate $300 million in annual tax revenues.

“Now, with the Northwest Transmis-sion Line coming into service, these projects can advance, benefiting northwest B.C. and our entire province,” Re-imer said.

Indeed, the Iskut ex-tension to the project will enable Imperial Metals to open the Red Chris copper and gold mine 80 kilometres south of Dease Lake later this year.

Overcoming challenging

terrainExtending the trans-

mission grid halfway to the Yukon has been no small feat. Stretch-ing more than 340 kilo-meters from Terrace to Bob Quinn Lake – the

longest line added to the electricity system in close to 20 years – the Northwest Transmis-sion Line crosses moun-tain passes and massive rivers.

It also traverses Nisga’a Nation treaty settlement lands and the traditional territories of eight First Nations.

“It was extremely important to build strong relationships with Nisga’a Nation and the First Nations,” Reimer said.

“We needed to un-derstand the impacts this project would have on their lands and work with them to find solu-tions and to promote economic opportuni-ties.”

In addition, there were fish-bearing streams, wetlands and endangered species habitat to be crossed. “You can’t build a ma-jor infrastructure proj-ect without impacts,” Reimer said.

“Early in the plan-ning process, we recog-

nized that entering the B.C. environmental as-sessment process would help clarify what those impacts would be and identify ways to mini-mize them.” The North-west Transmission Line received its Environ-mental Assessment Cer-tificate in 2011.

Industry also needed to make its commit-ment. “There had to be a guaranteed anchor tenant contributing to the capital costs, so we could protect ratepay-ers,” Reimer said.

This came as a $180-million contri-bution from AltaGas, seeking a way to inter-connect its Forrest-Kerr green hydro project.

As well, the federal Green Infrastructure Program committed $130 million towards the project’s capital costs.

A new tariff will en-sure that the remaining capital costs are recov-ered from future users of the Northwest Trans-mission Line.

Building anengineering

marvelThose travelling

north of the Skeena sub-station have witnessed an engineering marvel. Since 2012, close to 450

kilometres of access roads were built from scratch or reclaimed from overgrown forest-ry roads. Close to 1,100 steel towers, averaging 27 metres in height and with a combined weight of more than 10,000 tonnes, were erected.

In many cases, this work was completed by helicopter, with huge structures suspended in the sky as if they weighed no more than a toothpick. With a new substation now built at Bob Quinn Lake, expansions made to Skeena Substation near Terrace, and 2,100 ki-lometres of lines strung into place, the North-west Transmission Line is ready to go.

BC Hydro is proud of the social legacy the project will leave. “The BC Hydro project team realized that build-ing a strong economy requires empowering the local workforce,” Reimer said. “They worked with Nisga’a Nation, First Nations and local education institutions to set up ‘bootcamps’ training aboriginal participants in a variety of skills – from chainsaw safety to fire suppression to occupational first aid. More than 300 people participated, and most

found jobs or went on to further their education.”

As well, BC Hydro sponsored a Labour Market Partnerships program through fund-ing from the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training.

The steering com-mittee – comprising representatives from in-dustry, the community, First Nations and local governments – identi-fied the types of jobs required versus the abil-ity of local labour to fill those jobs.

Projects have since targeted improving job readiness, promoting trades training and at-tracting skilled workers to northwest B.C.

“Building the North-west Transmission Line has been a huge effort and its success has re-sulted directly from the strong support of local communities, First Na-tions and Nisga’a Na-tion, and the hard work of our contractors and the project team,” Re-imer said.

From Page 8

BC Hydro proud of social legacy

BC HYDRO PHOTO

BC HYDRO vice president Greg Reimer.


Digging deep for social licence

STAFF PHOTO

ROBERT SIMPSON, president of PR Associates, with Dave Pernarowski, the account manager at the Vancouver public relations � rm’s new Terrace of� ce.

Robert Simp-son is mov-ing past the popular “so-

cial licence” term used in business and political circles nowadays.

If social licence is broadly de� ned as a company receiving ap-proval to operate in an area from the people who live in that area, Simpson, the president and founder of the pub-lic relations � rm PR As-sociates, looks deeper.

“Now it’s shared values. If companies aren’t willing to adapt and show they have the same values as the com-munity, it’s not going to go well.”

Simpson, the presi-dent and founder of the public relations � rm PR Associates, cred-its Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School with developing the concept of shared values.

It’s something PR Associates works with every day in connect-ing various industrial clients with communi-ties in which they are

either located or where they have development proposals in the works.

Be it social licence or shared values, a mu-tually bene� cial con-nection between a com-pany and a community is of equal importance to success as the pros-pect of employment or the detailed engineer-ing and design that goes into a project.

“You just can’t oper-ate in B.C. without it,” said Simpson of root-ing a company within a community. “Shared values is simply good business.”

That’s particularly the case when compa-nies deal with First Na-tions, says Simpson.

“Rights and title are a given when business sits at the table.”

In the northwest, PR Associates has been in-volved with several as-pects of B.C. Hydro’s Northwest Transmis-sion Line.

With the Tahltan Central Council as a cli-ent, PR Associates un-dertook the campaign to provide information on

the economic bene� ts from the line’s construc-tion as it passed through Tahltan territory.

The bene� ts were negotiated with the pro-vincial crown corpora-tion and were subject to a vote among Tahltan to approve or reject the package.

The council also sought approval for a broader connection with the provincial govern-ment, that of looking at opportunities and ben-e� ts for industry which would follow once the transmission line was completed.

More than 1,700 Tahltans registered to vote and more than 770 eligible voters 18 years or older did vote, a 45 per cent participa-tion rate, comparable to municipal elections. Of those who voted, 82 per cent cast their ballots in favour of the agree-ment.

PR Associates also undertook the informa-tion distribution cam-paign for another vote among the Tahltan, this time for approval of

an economic bene� ts package arising from the three run-of-river projects being built by AltaGas in Tahltan ter-ritory. This time more than 560 Tahltan of the

1,900 Tahltan who reg-istered and 71 per cent voted in favour.

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ing its way through the environmental review needed to develop the KSM project near Stew-art and Avanti, the com-pany that wants to open a molybdenum mine at

Kitsault.The company re-

cently opened a Terrace of� ce and has hired Ter-race mayor Dave Per-narowski as its regional accounts manager.

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BILL ADSIT from the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation.

HE used to knock on their doors. And now

they knock on his.The turn around in

making business con-nections is the biggest change Bill Adsit has seen in the years he’s been involved with the Tahltan Nation Devel-opment Corporation, the business arm of the Tahltan Nation.

Adsit stepped down from the presidency of the corporation last year after 10 years but has now returned as a vice president of business development.

The corporation’s specialty is crafting joint venture agree-ments with companies doing business on Tahl-tan traditional territory.

The joint ventures take the form of a blend of Tahltan people and the specific skill set of the company.

There are nearly 30 such joint ventures now in place, covering everything from camp services to drilling to air support.

“Fifteen, 20 years down the road we see a

lot more monetary ben-efits to the Tahltan Na-tion,” said Adsit. “Our long term goal is to re-ally diversify into more full-time employment.”

The list of projects within Tahltan terri-tory either completed or about to be completed includes B.C. Hydro’s Northwest Transmis-sion Line, the largest of the three run-of-river projects being built by AltaGas and the Red Chris copper mine be-longing to Imperial Metals.

“Now with joint ven-tures people can see what we are doing,” said Adsit.

“Nearly everybody who wants a job, has a job. It may not be zero, but it is close to zero,” said Adsit on unem-ployment within the Tahltan territory.

“You are going to see more aboriginal businesses. The money will stay in the area. We’re really pushing education,” he added.

“I can see it happen-ing here in the aborigi-nal community – to get something going where we can all work togeth-

er.”Adsit was appointed

to the BC Hydro board of directors last Decem-ber.

“I am honoured to be named to the board of

BC Hydro and look for-ward to working with my fellow directors to oversee the implemen-tation of BC Hydro’s long-term vision of ‘Reliable Power at Low

Cost for Generations,’” said Adsit at the time of his appointment.

“I see this appoint-ment as a tremendous opportunity to continue to strengthen and de-

velop business rela-tionships while jointly providing responsible stewardship to one of our province’s most im-portant resources.”

In his capacity as di-

rector, Adsit also serves on various standing committees of the pro-vincial crown corpora-tion. His appointment continues until the end of 2014.


WITH ANNU-AL revenues in the $30 million range,

assets of close to $90 mil-lion and, depending upon levels of activity, as many as 400 people employed direct-ly or indirectly, the Tahltan Nation Development Corpo-ration has established itself as an economic force in the northwestern region of B.C.

Founded in 1985, head-quartered in Dease Lake and owned by the Tahltan Na-tion, it acts as the economic development arm of the Tahltan with a clear goal, explains newly-installed president Garry Merkel.

“If there’s activity in the Tahltan traditional territory, then the Tahltan should ben-efit,” Merkel says.

That position also rein-forces Tahltan occupation, use and jurisdiction within its traditional territory, Merkel continues.

“Going into business was a natural fit for us. You could call it the modern way of defending our territory by expressing it on the business side,” he said.

Through joint ventures

established with companies such as Bear Creek Con-tracting and Bandstra Trans-portation, the development corporation provides em-ployees for everything from camp catering to first aid services to heavy equipment operating.

Employment through the development corporation comes either directly from the corporation or through the joint ventures.

“It really depends upon what the situation is, wheth-er it is ourselves or through a partner,” said Merkel.

The scope and size of

economic development within the northwest and within Tahltan traditional territory has dramatically increased employment in the past several years.

The list of projects in which the development cor-poration has played a role over the years takes in every major mine development from Eskay Creek several decades ago to NovaGold’s Galore Creek project in the past decade to the nearly-completed Red Chris cop-per mine owned by Imperial Metals.

It’s also been a key play-er in the three run-of-river power projects along the Iskut River belonging to Al-taGas.

The corporation was also heavily involved in the line clearing and associ-ated work connected to BC Hydro’s Northwest Trans-mission Line.

“We’re in a position where there is a positive employment climate,” said Merkel.

“There’s not may places in Canada where you can say that [about aboriginal communities].”

Stable jobs climategoal of corporation

Garry Merkel

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You name it, he’s been thereAT 25 years of

age, heavy e q u i p m e n t operator Kel-

so Marion has worked on nearly every major industrial project within Tahltan traditional terri-tory in the northwestern corner of the province over the past seven years.

Beginning at 18, Marion, who grew up in Dease Lake and who now lives in Terrace, drove a road packer at NovaGold’s Galore Creek copper and gold project before massive cost overruns halted that project.

Since then his work list has included the Forrest Kerr run-of-river project, the largest of the three being built using Iskut River water by Calgary-based Alta-Gas, and the Red Chris copper mine being built by Imperial Metals of Vancouver.

Both will tie into the Northwest Transmis-sion Line.

Lately he’s been working on the power line that extends north

of where BC Hydro’s Northwest Transmis-sion Line stops at the

Bob Quinn substation on Hwy37 North. This extension is to connect

the Red Chris mine owned by Imperial Met-als to the substation.

“It’s what I always wanted to do,” says Marion of working as a

heavy equipment opera-tor.

“My Dad’s done it.

Our whole family has done it,” he said.

STAFF PHOTO

KELSO MARION is a heavy duty equipment operator employed by the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation on large industrial projects within Tahltan traditional territory.

Cont’d Page 17

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From Page 16

Camp life goes withthe job in the north

Marion began his heavy equipment operator career by running a packer which packs down a road surface, and a rock truck.

“As you gain experience, you move up to an excavator and a grader where I am now, the two top machines. At 23, I was running an excavator at AltaGas,” says Marion of the Forrest Kerr run-of-river project now being finished by the Calgary-based energy company.

It’s not the easiest of work but Marion says he enjoys the challenge.

He took an opera-tor’s course in Dease Lake through Northern Lights College involving two weeks of theory in a classroom and two weeks of hands on train-ing.

Northern Lights College calls northeastern B.C. home but it also has centres in At-lin, in the far northwestern portion of the province, and Dease Lake.

One change Marion has seen over the years is an in-creased emphasis on health

and safety. “We have regular safety meetings. It’s nice to see they’re watching out for the workers,” he said.

That follows a general in-crease on safety and health issues on larger industrial projects.

Life on a northwestern industrial project – most are in remote locations – means living in camp two weeks at a time with 12-hour shifts be-ginning at 6 a.m. followed by two weeks out.

Unlike camps of past years, a modern day indus-trial camp contains all of the amenities one would find at home.

“You have your own room where you can go at the end of the day and shut the door. There’s cable TV, internet, Wifi,” said Marion.

The food at the camp he’s staying at now, called Willow Ridge, is probably the best he’s experienced.

“After working all day it’s nice to come back to good food, a fixed bed. It’s a home away from home.”

Marion works with a reg-

ular crew and is one of sever-al hundred Tahltan employed at projects within Tahltan territory through the Tahltan Nation Development Corpo-ration (TNDC), which is the business arm of the Tahltan nation.

“I have lots of relatives with TNDC. When you get back to camp, the whole ta-ble’s full of people you grew up with,” he says.

The scope and pace of work in the region keeps Marion and others closer to home, something that hasn’t always been the case.

When the work in the ter-ritory was more seasonal, Marion would drive hours for winter employment as a labourer in the Fort Nelson area.

“Now the work here is year-round and that’s nice,” he said.

Marion’s advice for young people interested in an industrial career is sim-ple: “Go get your operating certificate. Get your Class 3 and work hard. I try to better myself every year.”


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Transmission line revived economy

BC HYDRO PHOTO

HELICOPTER CREW delicately maneuvers conductor line into place at one of the taller transmission towers.

For the past several years it would have been a rare

day if someone out and about had not spotted at least one of the scores of powder-blue Valard Construction pickups travelling along Hwy16 or Hwy37 North.

At peak construc-tion of B.C. Hydro’s Northwest Transmis-sion Line in 2013, its prime contractor had close to 500 company employees and those working for subcontrac-tors based from Terrace and Kitsumkalum in the south to Bob Quinn on Hwy37 North in the north.

The result is a 287kV transmission line running 344 ki-lometre north of B.C. Hydro’s Skeena Substa-tion south of Terrace to a newly-finished substa-tion at Bob Quinn.

Connecting to that substation is a line to feed in power from three AltaGas run-of-river projects to the west and a line running north to provide power to the Red Chris copper

mine owned by Impe-rial Metals.

Valard president Adam Budzinski said the line was built through some of the most challenging geo-graphic conditions in the country.

“The project team regularly encounters heavy snows, avalanch-es, swollen rivers and icy gulches,” he said of construction. “As well, [the] transmission path crossed or was near sensitive environmental areas and five major riv-ers, including the Skee-na River, the Bell River, and the Nisga’a Memo-rial Lava Bed Provincial Park. Also, Valard had to take extra precau-tions not to disturb the region’s wildlife and fish, including grizzly bears, birds of prey, and schools of spawning salmon.”

In all, 1,092 steel towers were installed and 2,100 kilometres of conductor wire strung.

Because of the geog-raphy and despite build-ing 200 kilometes of new access road, Valard relied on a heavy-lift

helicopter to transport towers to their founda-tion locations.

“The towers had to

be pre-constructed and airlifted to their foun-dation sites by helicop-ters. As well, at certain

points the line spans in excess of 1,000 me-tres so helicopters also played a crucial role

in stringing conductor wire,” said Budzinski.

The transmission line arrived at exactly

the right time for a re-gion hit hard by a de-clining forest industry.Cont’d Page 19


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From Page 18

Transmission line revived economy

At a cost estimated between $726 million and $736 million with approximately $100 million of that going to First Nations for line clearing work, the proj-ect helped revive the re-gional economy.

Valard’s business plan as proposed to BC Hydro called for hir-ing 50 per cent of its workforce locally, said Budzinski.

“At peak construc-tion, Valard employed up to 345 local workers. This included employ-ing 165 local aborigi-nal workers, includ-ing members of local First Nations bands Metlakatla, Kitsum-kalum, Kitselas and Lax Kw’alaams, Gitxsan, and Tahltan, and the Nisga’a Lisims Nation,” he said.

Workers hired from the region have since had the opportunity to work on Valard projects elsewhere.

The length of the line and the work in-volved meant Valard ei-ther constructed or pur-chased five work camps along the route.

The most southern one, at Kitsumkalum, is on land leased from the Kitsumkalum First Nation.

It was engineered so that when the portable accommodation build-ings are removed, the electrical and other ser-vices that were installed will remain to be used again.

Although complex, the Northwest Trans-mission Line is com-parable to other larger projects undertaken by Valard which has its headquarters in Edmon-ton.

The company built a 180-kilometre, 500 kilovolt double-circuit transmission line for the Ontario government’s Hydro One, finishing it in May 2012, seven

months head of sched-ule.

In total, the Bruce to Milton Transmis-sion Project called for 720 steel lattice towers and 4,700 kilometres of conductor wire.

Although Valard will be done with the North-west Transmission Line, it will continue to have a small office in Terrace.

“Northwest B.C. will be the economic gen-erator for the province over the next 10 to 15 years,” said Budzinski.

“Valard will contin-ue to support and bid on projects in the region, building on the experi-ences of and expertise of NTL and other capi-tal projects in B.C., and on the partnerships we established with local businesses, municipali-ties, the region’s First Nations and the Nisga’a Lisims Nation, and in-dustry partners like BC Hydro.”

BC HYDRO PHOTO

HEAVY LIFT helicopter lowers a body segment of a transmission line into place. Remote loca-tions made the use of helicopters mandatory to get the job done.


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Mine to use transmission line powerImperial Metals’

Red Chris Mine is nearing comple-tion.

The copper-gold mine is located about 80 kilometres south of Dease Lake, in the tra-ditional territory of the Tahltan people.

Red Chris’ mine reserve is 301 million tonnes of .36 tonnes per gram of copper and .27 tonnes per gram of gold.

At a rate of 30,000 tonnes per day of ore, the life of the mine is expected to be about 28 years, said Steve Rob-ertson, vice president of corporate development for Imperial Metals.

That reserve is just the tip of the iceberg, Robertson said of the copper and gold re-sources that are in the area. “The resource that we have there is giant in comparison to the re-serve we have,” he said. “There’s a lot of miner-alization we’ve identi-� ed that’s not in the re-serve. We haven’t come anywhere close to fully exploring this area.”

The construction of the mine is on schedule

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people have been in-volved in the building of the mine and another 300 have been working on the power line all

winter. Throughout the proj-

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ority on the Red Chris project, Robertson said.

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Tahltan Nation, to de-velop an Impact and Bene� ts Agreement (IBA).

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

A MASSIVE vehicle dwarfs workers at the Red Chris mine site. It and others will be used to haul ore.

Cont’d Page 21


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From Page 20

Mine is to emphasize local labourTo date, there have

been 11 community meetings between the two parties to try to find a mutually beneficial way to move forward.

The IBA will include financial benefits, jobs, training and education opportunities and com-munity support.

“It’s a very all-en-compassing agreement that will take a look at the relationship be-tween the company and the community for the long term,” Robertson said. “We’ll make ev-ery effort, to not only employ as many Tahl-tan as we can at the project, but we’re also going to make sure we try to supply them with the opportunities to train and get the educa-tion that would be ben-eficial to help them get in the door and then to advance in the mining operation as well. We’ll really be relying on them as the core of our workforce for the life of the mine.”

The mine will be commissioned in Au-

gust and commercial production will happen before the end of the year.

Once Red Chris is up and running, there will be about 270 full-time employees. Robertson said he thinks most po-

sitions can be filled by B.C. residents.

“I don’t think we’ll have to go out of prov-ince to fill the jobs,” he said. “We’re going to have a British Colum-bian workforce. We’ll hire as many Tahltan as

possible and the local communities will sup-ply a lot of the work-force that’s required.

“The more local your workforce is, the better off you are.”

Positions that need to be filled include:

electricians, heavy-duty mechanics, welders, millwrights, assayers, surveyors, geologists, truck drivers, excavator operators, shovel and bulldozer operators and administrative staff – reception, payroll and

accounting clerks. “We pretty much

need one of everything at this point,” Robert-son said. Red Chris will have an official grand opening ceremony once the mine gets to the commercial production

stage, likely in October or November.

“We’re very proud of our crews and the work they’ve done. Mine con-struction is not an easy task—very complex, very difficult. They’ve done an admirable job.”

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

WORKERS IN the final stages of installation of mill components in the main process building at the Red Chris mine.


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AERIAL PHOTO shows the intake for the Forrest Kerr run-of-river power project owned by AltaGas.

IT COULD rightly be called the quiet-est megaproject in northwestern B.C.

history – $1 billion be-ing spent to develop three run-of-river power generating facilities us-ing water from the Iskut River and its tributaries.

The quiet aspect may be due to the remote lo-cation of the projects, away from more popu-lated centres.

But the location, off of Hwy37 North in Tahltan traditional terri-tory, has been the scene of four years of con-struction activity em-ploying upwards of 350 people at a time, notes Dan Woznow, a vice president of Calgary-based AltaGas, the proj-ect’s owner.

The largest of three – Forrest Kerr, now at the completion stage – will generate 195 megawatts of power, enough for 70,000 homes, he says.

“We’re calling it one of the largest projects of its kind in North Amer-ica,” said Woznow of Forrest Kerr valued at $725 million.

Volcano Creek at 16 megawatts is due for completion late this year and McClymont Creek at 66 megawatts

is to be finished by the middle of 2015, round-ing out the $1 billion AltaGas investment.

All three will be

connected via a trans-mission line to BC Hydro’s nearby Bob Quinn Substation and then, thanks to the pro-

vincial crown corpora-tion’s Northwest Trans-mission Line, power will flow into the pro-vincial grid.

A set of Forrest Kerr project statistics as-sembled by Woznow provides an idea of the size of just that facility:

* The carving out of an underground power-house containing nine turbines.Cont’d Page 23


www.valard.com

Power projects need people powerSetting 1,100 steel towers and stringing 2,100 km of electrical conductor – just par for the course for Canada’s largest power line workforce.

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From Page 22

Power deal goodfor sixty years

* At 30 metres high, the power-house is the height-equivalent of a nine-story building.

* At 158 metres long, the power-house is approximately the length of one-and-a-half football fields.

* One million cubic metres of ma-terial was excavated. * 50,000 cubic metres of concrete was poured.

“The only option we had was to go underground because of the con-figuration of the land,” explained Woznow of the design required so that water went through the turbines with enough force to generate elec-tricity. Contracts were let to 170 sup-pliers and 79 of those are from the re-gion, says Woznow. “And I’m happy to say that 78 per cent of the expendi-tures have been within the Canadian supply chain.”

In terms of local hire, depending upon construction activity, 18-30 per cent of the workers were Tahltan, Woznow said, noting AltaGas has worked hard to build and maintain a relationship with the Tahltan, includ-ing contracts related to construction, scholarships for students, mentoring Tahltan for jobs with AltaGas, rev-enue sharing and even the potential for the Tahltan to take on an equity position.

Earnings for AltaGas, once all

three projects are finished and pro-ducing power, and before relevant expenses such as taxes are paid, are estimated at $100 million a year.

The power sales contract AltaGas has with BC Hydro is for 60 years and its water licences are for 40 years, meaning they will have to be renewed.

AltaGas is the third owner of the Iskut project concepts, but the first to advance construction, buying them in 2008 from a subsidiary of NovaGold, the company which owns half of the Galore Creek copper and gold devel-opment project nearby.

NovaGold in turn had purchased the projects from Coast Mountain Hydro Corporation which is credited with laying out the groundwork for what is now under construction.

Woznow said acquiring the Is-kut power projects in 2008 fit with the company’s decision to diversify. “Renewables are one of the three pil-lars of the company’s business,” said Woznow of a division within AltaGas which contains facilities generating power using water, wind and biomass.

AltaGas also has another pres-ence in the region through its owner-ship of natural gas distributor Pacific Northern Gas. Through that, it hopes to play a role in exporting liquefied natural gas and other liquids.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

WORKERS WATCH one of the nine large turbines located in the underground powerhouse for the AltaGas Forrest Kerr project is being maneuvered.


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STEVEN DOOLAN Jr. from Gingolx in the Nass Valley now has his own trucking company.

He now ownsa trucking outfitThe right-of-

way clear-ing for B.C. H y d r o ’ s

Northwest Transmis-sion Line was an op-portunity for Gingolx-based entrepreneur Steven Doolan Jr. to start his own company called Doolan Trucking.

The business sprang out of BC Hydro’s need to salvage wood along the right-of-way as it passed through Nisga’a lands.

Doolan had been in the trucking business for several years, and the large logging operation allowed him to do work near to home, driving to Nass Camp to pick up loads of lumber and truck them to locations in the Nass and Terrace.

“I didn’t have to stay in camp. I stayed in home here and went right up to camp. Just went from Nass Camp to those areas to drop the wood,” said Doolan.

Originally Doolan had been a fisherman like his father, who had helped him buy his first boat, but the fishing economy was strug-gling in the 1990s so he changed industries.

“I owned two gill netters and when the fishing got slow I sold both the boats and started working con-struction. Did my Class One and started driving truck for Greenville.”

For the Nisga’a people of the Nass Valley economic de-

velopment means more than mere money.

To Nisga’a Lisims Government chair Kev-in Mckay, responsible resource development also plays a vital role in keeping the culture

thriving. “When you improve the quality of life of the citizens, it has an overall positive effect on all aspects of their lives,” said Mckay.

“We are very fortu-nate that we still have a very strong culture, and the language is still in-tact.”

Mckay credits BC

Hydro’s Northwest Transmission Line for catalysing job creation and training programs in the Nass, as well as paving the way for fu-ture business negotia-tions over development that is the goal of the Nisga’a treaty ratified back in 2000.

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Power line addsto area stability

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His experience in the trucking industry since then paved the way for him starting his own busi-ness in October 2013.

“I started my own company and finally got my first load on Sept. 30,” he said, adding that he has an agreement with Nisga’a Lisims Forestry and Alcan Forest Products.

“I started Oct. 2 and I went right up until January hauling for the transmission line and all the wood is done from there so far. I would have to say there were 300 loads easily I took out of there,” he said.

While Doolan said finding work wasn’t a prob-lem for him before the transmission line, he is hopeful that jobs will continue to flow from it and offer local opportunities to his people.

“I do see the job market improving,” he said.He said one opportunity he sees is in First Aid. “A lot of the locals here have their Level 3 and I

was trying to guide them into purchasing their own First Aid units, and they could make a little more money and add on to it as they go. I see that as a good opportunity for our people.”

FILE PHOTO

■ Food’s up!GOOD FOOD is mandatory at work camps and, in this photo from 2012 taken at the Valard camp at Kitsumkalum, one of five camps set up along the Northwest Transmission Line route, Edna Green from Terrace and Jaimee Beaupre from Nelson helped make sure the cuisine was up to par.

“May 11 [was] the 14th an-niversary of the final agreement and everyone will recall that our then- president Dr. Joseph Gos-nell proclaimed proudly on that day that the Nisga’a nation is open for business,” said Mckay.

The Nisga’a treaty out-lines a framework for working with the Canadian government for programs such as training, said McKay, and this initiative came to fruition with programs through Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and the Nisga’a’s own recently cre-ated training arm called NEST (Nisga’a Employment, Skills and Training).

According to McKay, the

Northwest Transmission Line has been a driver of these programs, and the mining projects that it will power up offer a continu-ing presence of major employers looking for local workers.

“We always knew that it was going to provide access to other opportunities to not only us but the whole region,” said McKay of the line, adding that the ne-gotiations with BC Hydro was “exactly what the Nisga’a Final Agreement was designed to do.”

“We now have, under our trea-ty negotiation for the delivery of employment and skills, training for programs offered primarily by the federal government,” he continued. “Through that office

we are able to coordinate these training opportunities and em-ployment opportunities to con-nect with interested individuals.”

McKay also said that work and training associated with the Northwest Transmission Line is visible in rising employment rates.

“Prior to the northwest trans-mission line, the statistics were pretty concerning in terms of employment opportunities,” said McKay. “But more to the point, how many of the able-bodied employable people were out there looking for jobs and train-ing. Obviously the Northwest Transmission Line has had a pos-itive impact on those numbers.”

From Page 24

Line stimulates jobs

From Page 24

Trucking work grows


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Working on the North-west Transmission Line (NTL) let Kerby Good of Kitsumkalum

use the skills he’d learned in forestry and opened up many more jobs for him.

He worked for Cypress Forest Consultants, doing the layout stage for the line which runs north of Ter-race to a new sub station at Bob Quinn on Hwy 37 North.

That work involved sorting out how much room is needed for the line and how many trees need to be cleared to make way for it.

Because the line running from tower to tower doesn’t swing much in the wind in certain points, less needs to be cleared than in places where the wires hang lower and will swing more in the wind. It means the right-of-way isn’t in a straight line but is

wider in some places and narrower in others with the widths alternating de-pending upon terrain.

Of the five sections of the lay out work along the 344 kilometre route, Good worked on the first, third and fourth ones. He worked on the line from 2010 to 2012. Good afterward worked for Jock’s Excavating doing right-of-way clearing and road con-struction. With major construction on the line now finished, Kerby is falling clearing on other jobs.

Good says potential projects such as the Pacific Trails Pipeline to feed a liquefied natural gas plant at Kitimat will provide more work.

“It was definitely a foot in the door doing transmission line work,” Good said, adding he moved back from Cal-gary, Alberta for the job.

“It was a transition and opened up a lot of opportunities for me,” he said.

Power line workopens more doors

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

FALLER KERBY Good was more than busy working on clearing the right-of-way for BC Hydro’s Northwest Transmission Line. Other large projects now beckon.

Power linedeal a firstfor KitselasFor the Kitselas First Nation, work attribut-

ed to BC Hydro’s Northwest Transmission Line (NTL) wasn’t as much compared to other projects.

But it was the first project in terms of direct con-tract awards and benefits, says Kitselas chief coun-cillor Joe Bevan.

And while details of the benefit agreement, which included clearing right of way, with BC Hydro remain confidential, Bevan confirmed the results.

“Kitselas Forests Products delivered the work on time, on budget, and employed a number of Kit-selas members,” said Bevan.

The Kitselas First Nation was among the first First Nations along the Northwest Transmission Line route to sign an impact benefits agreement with BC Hydro.

That took place in November 2010 and other First Nations as well as the Nisga’a Nation signed their agreements in subsequent years.

Bevan said the Kitselas First Nation takes a policy-based approach to projects and proponents who wish to utilize Kitselas traditional territory for their projects.

“We look at each project from two perspectives – one, is this a good land use decision? Does it have the potential to do harm to the Kitselas traditional territory and Kitselas’ interests and how will any of these impacts be avoided or mitigated? Secondly, does it have the potential to deliver benefits to the community that offset these impacts? Only after these questions are answered will Kitselas deter-mine whether a particular project can be support-ed,” he said.

Taking that approach has meant they’ve had a largely positive experience dealing with industry, he said. “They kind of know where you’re coming from,” Bevan said of potential proponents, noting that the policy is something of a living document which is reviewed as necessary. “We’ve thrown a structure to it, we have a stewardship policy that needs to be adhered to, we also have an economic development policy that we’ve developed and that has to be followed as well.

“You have to engage with the First Nations, and when you put a structure to that engagement, it works – we’ve proven that to ourselves,” he said.

The Kitselas are also involved in the Pacific Trails Pipeline and at the Skeena Industrial Devel-opment Park.


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2. If we can match the surrounding green to the green in the logo, that would be fantastic. I think that’s the way it was before Haley and I had a misunderstanding about text vs block colours.

Special Features - June 18, 2014

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