The Lax Kw'alaams band is one of the 6 parties bidding on the former Skeena Cellulose pulp mill site on Watson Island, British Columbia.

The Skeena Cellulose pulp mill closed in 2001.

The closed pulp mill had been purchased by Sun Wave Forest Products, a Chinese company. They didn't reopen the mill, or find any other use for the site. They failed to pay their property taxes so the mill property reverted back to the City of Prince Rupert.

Prince Rupert has put the mill on the auction block and wants a minimum of $13 million.

Now that 6 bids have been received, city officials will review the bids and will announce the successful bidder in the new year.

Lax Kw'alaams is not interested in running the pulp mill. Instead, the band sees an opportunity for an intermodal shipping location because the mill site has infrastructure for both rail and cargo ships.

“Prince Rupert is three days closer each way by ship to Asia than is Los Angeles. For some of those larger vessels, that's several hundred thousand dollars for each voyage,” said Wilf Vacheresse from North American Indian Charter of Shipping and Trade Inc., the minority partner of the Lax Kw'alaams bid.

“The trick will be can Prince Rupert meet the capacity for future demand. We think it can,” he said.

At this time, the pulp mill is not considered viable enough to revive. In addition to the intermodal possibilities, the site does have a 50 megawatt power plant and a waste disposal plant.

Vacheresse said there may be a chance to reconnect the power plant to the grid. And the waste disposal plant has the capacity to service a city three times the size of Prince Rupert.

The cooperation of the province of British Columbia is said to be key to any successful development of the mill site due to the environmental clean-up that has yet to be completed.

The province agreed in 2003 to do the work because of Skeena Cellulose's bankruptcy and at the time estimated it would cost approximately $30 million.

Source:
Lax Kw'alaams band bids on former pulp mill site (Terrace Standard)