It is almost the end of the line for input on the FortisBC pipeline proposed to feed the planned Woodfibre LNG export facility.
The Advisory Working Group considering the Eagle Mountain-Woodfibre Gas Pipeline Project has until June 14 to submit final comments, according to the District of Squamish’s Rod MacLeod, a member of the group.
MacLeod appeared before council’s community development committee Tuesday to ask councillors for final thoughts to be added to the working group’s submission to the EAO. The Advisory Working Group is made up of representatives of key stakeholders potentially impacted by the pipeline including the District of Squamish, the City of Coquitlam, First Nations, regional governments and various government ministries.
At the request of FortisBC on May 31, the provincial Environmental Assessment Office granted an extension in the time allowed for the Advisory Working Group to consider FortisBC’s changes to the pipeline proposal.
“We’ve made some really significant changes to the project based on the feedback we have received,” FortisBC spokesperson Trevor Boudreau told The Squamish Chief. “Moving the compressor station out of town, making some adjustments to the pipeline route and how the compressor station is going to work – it won’t be compressing gas to Woodfibre, it is actually supporting the existing system, which services 110,000 people in Squamish, Whistler, Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast – and obviously revised route underneath the estuary and looking at the tunnel.”
The gas for Woodfibre LNG would be compressed at Eagle Mountain in Coquitlam and the Mount Mulligan compressor station would be needed because of the extra load Woodfibre LNG would require on the system.
The Squamish Nation and other community members expressed disapproval early on for a compressor station option in the Squamish Business Park because of the proximity to residents and did not want any disturbance in the Squamish Estuary Wildlife Management Area.
This spring, Fortis withdrew the option of locating the compressor station in the industrial park, choosing instead Mount Mulligan, 1.8 kilometres east of Valleycliffe.
Councillor Susan Chapelle, usually a vocal supporter of the Woodfibre LNG proposal, said she was not impressed with the addition of a tunnel under the Squamish Estuary in the new plan and wanted that dissatisfaction added to the Advisory Group submission.
“It is a difference of horizontal drilling versus a tunnel,” she said. “The tunnel is still in wetlands and estuary lands even though it is not in the Wildlife Management Area, and it is still under the river.”
She and other councillors also pointed out the Mount Mulligan compressor station will be the gas-driven, which is less desirable than the electricity-driven compressor station originally planned.
“It does raise a lot more newer issues,” agreed Councillor Jason Blackman-Wulff. “The fact that it is in proximity to all of our drinking water supply and it is industrializing an area that up until now has only been logged.... I am not totally convinced that is a good site, from the district’s perspective.”
Gary Buxton, general manager with the district, said staff struggles to see how the new location could be a risk to groundwater.
“It is natural gas. The pipeline is already there. It is gaseous, the risk of contamination of groundwater – we can’t figure out how that occurs,” he said.
“The risk is infinitesimally larger than the current industrial use, logging.”
Councillors voiced other concerns they wanted added to the submission including potential noise levels of the Mount Mulligan compressor station and how FortisBC will work with the district’s Squamish Fire Rescue. Councillor Karen Elliott asked that the submission say that there is not consensus in the community, or on council that the Mount Mulligan location is the best option for the placement of the station.
Representatives from anti-LNG group My Sea to Sky told The Squamish Chief they were not pleased with the updates to the application submitted by Fortis, specifically the Mount Mulligan compressor station.
“The local community still has many concerns, in particular around health and safety, and this gives our District of Squamish the opportunity to get them addressed,” said My Sea to Sky co-founder Delena Angrignon.
Members feel the Environmental Assessment Office did not adequately respond to procedures for emergencies such as fires and explosions, according to Angrignon.
“Accidents happen,” she said. The potential greenhouse gas emissions from the compressor station are still an issue for the group as well, Angrignon said. “We don’t agree with FortisBC that their contribution is small as it’s about cumulative impacts; 29,000 tonnes may not sound like much but when you add to the Woodfibre project of 142,000 tonnes, it has a significant impact for Squamish. The fine particles emitted are known to affect both the lungs and heart, which are linked to increased risk of respiratory symptoms.”
The Squamish Chief contacted Squamish Nation for a comment and was told FortisBC and the Nation are still in negotiations.
MacLeod will compile input from council members and comments from the working group. After June 14, the EAO will prepare a report with recommendations to provincial ministers, who will make a final decision on granting an environmental certificate.
