Article by By Malcolm Baxter in the Kitimat Northern Sentinel: Court orders do-over on Alcan-BC Hydro power purchase agreement

Excerpt: "The re-opening of the BCUC hearing on the power deal was ordered last week by the BC Court of Appeal as it found in favour of appellant the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council.

"However, it won’t be the terms of the EPA that will be on the table.

"Rather, the court ordered the re-opening 'for the sole purpose of hearing evidence and argument on whether a duty to consult and, if necessary accommodate the appellant exists and, if so, whether the duty has been met in respect of the filing of the 2007 EPA.'”

The history of Alcan and the city of Kitimat it spawned has been, to put it mildly, spotted. The idea behind the original massive environmental disaster was to allow Alcan to reverse rivers, build lakes, install pipes and generators, construct dams, and run roughshod over the rights of First Nations in order to supply electricity to its new aluminum smelter and the “vicinity of the works” (if they had any left over after their aluminum smelting needs were met). The original agreement as enshrined in legislation was for an aluminum smelter, not a power company.

Over the years, in cahoots with the provincial government, Alcan did in fact become a power company - a big one - and its interest in smelting faded as the power dollars rolled in.

When I was part of the large group fighting Kemano II back in the 90s Alcan promised that this power was going to fuel a new smelter as well as the one in Kitimat … or was it two new smelters? Or perhaps four? It was difficult to keep count. As the struggle continued I was under considerable pressure from Kitimat and elsewhere to butt out - that Alcan was their buddy and would always keep its workers and their families close to their warm heart. The City Council of Terrace, which would have supplied much of the labour and equipment for Kemano II, passed a resolution declaring Terrace to be a “Rafe Mair free zone.”

One morning I interviewed Bill Rich, an Alcan VP who was quarterbacking Kemano II, and I got this usually taciturn executive to pound his fist on the table and say “you don’t seem to understand that Alcan is not in the Aluminum business … it’s in the power business!” In anger, veritas!

Article by Konrad Yakabuski in the Globe and Mail: Rio wasn't the only loser in Alcan deal

 Excerpt: "Alcan says 'it remains committed' to the expansion of its Kitimat smelter and will 'honour all the obligations' of an agreement with the Quebec government that grandfather the company's vast and lucrative hydro operations in the province in exchange for jobs and investment. We just don't know when we'll ever see the money.

"'Whenever anyone says 'we commit' it doesn't mean 'we've spent,'' notes one long-time Alcan observer in British Columbia."

The real story:  The people of Kitimat have been engaged in a bitter eight year fight to save their jobs. BC's northeast smelter town was drained of jobs and now sees the world's richest mining company leaving BC's economy high and dry while taking endless billions of dollars to their Wall Street home. BC's provincial government is engaged in what Naomi Klein's recent book, The Shock Doctrine, describes perfectly; how populations lose when corporation take power and are allowed to escape community responsibilities. Alcan is in two Canadian provinces, Quebec and BC. The Quebec government protects its economy and people by holding Alcan to contracts that employ 6000 people. BC's government has done the exact opposite.

Watch the movie "Thirst" and introduce yourself to the newest corporation being allied in the attack against the people of BC , the owners of water and waterpower in BC.

see The Globe and Mail Report on Business

See the article entitled Norsk Readies Alcan Bid in the May 28 Globe and Mail. Now that Norsk Hydro is preparing a bid to take over Alcan, the possibility is raised that among the huge number of BC rivers finding their way into private ownership, the Nechako River might actually wind up being largely owned by another country. Norway controls 45% of Norsk Hydro.

Excerpts: "Any takeover of Alcan might endanger the company’s agreements with Quebec that give it favorable rates for electricity, a major cost of producing aluminum...

"The Canadian company also has similar, and sometimes controversial, power deals with British Columbia."

First of all I would like to thank the District of Kitimat and Save the Northwest for inviting me as a private individual to come and speak about the power sales agreement which was just rejected by the British Columbia Utilities Commission.

My name is Richard McLaren.

Some of you may know me, and some of you may not. Some of you may even have worked for me at Alcan or at least worked alongside me there.

Not many will know my full background with Alcan, but it started in Alcan's underground fluorspar mines in Newfoundland. When Alcan closed those mines in 1977, Alcan moved families from there to Kitimat to work in the smelter.