First biodiesel plant will be in foothills
Federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl announced the ecoAgriculture Biofuels Capital initiative at a press conference at the site of the new Western Biodiesel Inc. facility near High River on Monday morning.
photo by John Barlow |
By John Barlow
Editor
Alberta’s first biofuels production facility will be in the foothills and it is expected to be operational by the end of 2007.
On Monday morning federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl announced the launch of the ecoAgriculture Biofuels Capital initiative (ecoABC) at the site of the new biofuels facility that is under construction in the Abild’s Industrial Park on Highway 2A just north of High River.
Also on hand at Monday’s announcement were representatives from Western Biodiesel Inc, (WBI) the developers of the new biodiesel facility.
“We are hoping to lead the industry,” said Dean Cockshutt, president and CEO of Western Biodiesel Inc. “This has been fantastic. It has taken two years to get here. We have done this with our own resources and our own commitment. That is why we are determined to make this a success.”
Strahl said he was also confident the biofuel facility near High River will be a success.
“The potential for this facility it a great one,” said Strahl. “Biofuels are a win for the producers, a win for the environment, a win for rural communities and a win for Canadians.”
Strahl said the ecoABC program is proof the Canadian government is committed to improving the environment and helping stimulate the agriculture industry and rural communities.
The ecoABC program is a $200 million initiative that will increase renewable fuel capacity by helping agriculture producers construct or expand transportation biofuel production facilities.
The federal government has committed to ensuring all gasoline contain an average of five per cent renewable fuel content by 2010 and diesel and heating oil contain an average of two per cent by 2012.
“The ecoAgriculture Biofuels Capital initiative is a significant boost for farmer participation in biofuels production,” said Strahl. “This is the first program to give farmers capital assistance to construct or expand biofuels facilities. With this initiative, we expect a potential increase in renewable fuel capacity of 1 billion litres.”
Strahl said investing in science and innovation will be key to expanding the biofuel industry.
“We want this business to thrive,” he said. “We want to do what we can to ensure this opportunity does not pass us by.”
Students feel Okotoks schools still safe
By Dave Dormer
Staff Reporter
Students at Foothills Composite High School feel their school is safe despite the school shootings in Virginia.
photo by Dave Dormer
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With the recent deadly shooting spree at Virginia Tech still fresh in their minds, Foothills School Division student safety was a topic of discussion at last week’s regular meeting.
Trustee Laurie Copland raised the issue after having a discussion the night before with her own two sons about the shooting rampage, which left 33 dead on the eastern U.S. university campus — one of the largest mass killings in the country’s history.
“I’m fairly open with my sons,” she said. “There isn’t a lot we don’t discuss.”
Copland added her sons told her they feel safe at their school, but she wondered if there was more administrators can do.
Critical Response Committee chair Corrane Johnson informed the board that apart from policy already in place to deal with violent incidents if they occur and there isn’t a whole lot more the district can do.
“We have ample processes in place,” she said. “We have a responsive plan that is very proactive as far as identifying students who are having difficulty and offering them appropriate support.”
Students also practice how to handle themselves during violent incidents three times a year, much like a fire drill.
The emergency response policy was put into play last week after the RCMP received a complaint from a parent that their daughter had overheard rumours someone was planning a shooting at Foothills Composite High School on Friday. Working with the school, police placed a marked cruiser and uniformed officer at both the Composite and Holy Trinity Academy during the day and no incidents were reported.
Surprisingly, Johnson said the district does not keep track of the number of violent incidents in schools.
“The way we look at this is we don’t want to count the incidents that get to a certain level. We want to be able to be responding to things before children get into a reactive mode.”
Despite that, Johnson described the number of incidents as “very low.”
Grade 12 Composite students Landon John Ference and Justin Jennings said they heard about the rumours of a possible shooting, but still feel safe at the school.
“I feel pretty safe,” said Jennings. “There’s a lot of kids I suspect would do it, but I don’t know if they actually would.”
Ference wasn’t taking any chances last week, however, and decided to skip his first few classes on Friday, “just in case.”
“We’re as safe as we can be without having bars on the windows.”
Jennings did arrive on time, though, and said he felt as safe then as any other day.
“I got here in the morning and didn’t see any cops or anything.”
Both felt growing up in a smaller community like Okotoks as compared to a large city like Calgary, meant they’re less likely to
experience that type of violence.
“This one’s safe,” said Jennings, pointing to the Composite. “We don’t have cops at our school like all the ones in Calgary. We don’t need all that.”
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Smoking bylaw
given first reading
By Andrea Barber
Staff Reporter
Okotoks’ anti-smoking bylaw passed first reading at Monday’s town council meeting.
The contrversial Non-Smoking Bylaw was drafted by the Municipal Solicitor and presented to council on Monday night. After passing first reading the next step in making Okotoks non-smoking includes two open houses in late May and a non-statutory public hearing for June 4.
According to council the purpose of this bylaw is to prohibit smoking in enclosed public places such as restaurants, bars and other like establishments.
This bylaw can be enforced by bylaw officers and police officers.
The fine structure includes a minimum fine of $50 for the first offence, $100 fine in the case of a second offence within a 24-month period and a $200 fine in the case of a third or subsequent offence within a 24-month period. The maximum fine is $10,000, but the Municipal Solicitor has stated that in the court of law the judge will usually give out the minimum fine possible. For the purposes of this bylaw, smoking includes, cigarettes, pipes and cigars.
Okotoks Coun. Laurie Cherkowski voiced a few concerns about the draft bylaw.
“I came here today prepared to support this bylaw, but I am also a firm believer in the freedom of choice of consumers and in free enterprise,” she said. “I believe a business should have the right to chose if they want to be non-smoking. I think we should put it in (the bylaw) and see what the people say at the hearings.”
Although her concerns were voiced, council voted unanimously to carry the motion. Council has not chosen a date for the bylaw to come into affect.
As the bylaw stands it won’t affect private clubs.
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In this issue...
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Fututre Leaders
Community honours
Leaders of Tomorrow
• See News
Going Big
Big Rock Singers ready for spring concert
• See entertainment
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