For those opposed to the Woodfibre LNG plant proposed for Howe Sound, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna’s granting the liquefaction plant and export facility its federal environmental assessment on Friday was profoundly disappointing.
“The community by and large has stood up against this project from overflowing attendance at council meetings, town halls and rallies to over 8,000 signatures on the Howe Sound Declaration, to direct actions, to our local, provincial and federal leaders – the Sea to Sky has said ‘no’ repeatedly,” said Melyssa Hudson, spokeswoman for the anti-LNG group My Sea to Sky.
Hudson said the decision has caused members of her group to question how seriously the new federal Liberal government is taking commitments it made in Paris at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference.
“They committed to reducing emissions to 16 megatonnes per year by 2050, however, with Woodfibre LNG and Petronas projects alone we will be increasing our emissions 13 megatonnes per year,” she said. “Their actions just don't add up. How can we trust that they will show us leadership that transitions us into a cleaner economy?”
Hudson also said the granting of the certificate points to deficiencies in the approval processes of the federal Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency as well as the provincial Environmental Assessment Office.
“Both provincial and federal [offices] are not set up to protect the environment because, despite the science and copious unknown variables, they issue rubber-stamp approvals based on many assumptions,” she said. “That is by no means a rigorous process to protect human and environmental health. It stands on the side of industry.”
Representatives from the Pembina Institute, an environmental research organization, echoed the sentiments of My Sea to Sky.
“If built, the overall impact of the project will be larger than necessary because of untapped opportunities to reduce emissions from the associated upstream gas,” Josha MacNab, B.C. director at the Pembina Institute, said in a news release.
“For these opportunities to be fully tapped, gaps in the policy framework need to be closed and existing policies need to be strengthened. This approval represents a missed opportunity to address these shortcomings in B.C.’s climate policy.”
Chief Ian Campbell spoke for the Squamish Nation chiefs and council, who have conditionally supported the Woodfibre LNG proposal.
“This is an interesting development indeed,” Campbell said on Monday by email from his vacation in Peru.
“It important to underline two points here: The Squamish Nation conditionally approved the WFLNG proposal this past October, and we are still negotiating with FortisBC in order to ensure that Squamish Nation land and marine habitats are totally protected and safe from any new pipeline and compressor station activities. If not, the deal will simply not proceed.”
A U.S. company, KBR, announced Monday it was awarded a multi-phased contract for engineering and design of the Woodfibre LNG project. The amount of the contract was not specified.
For My Sea to Sky, the fight is not over, according to Hudson.
“We march on until Woodfibre is gone. It's as simple as that,” she said.
Member of Parliament Pam Goldsmith Jones was unable to comment on Monday due to a budget media lockdown.
