FortisBC is looking at moving its proposed natural gas compressor station away from residential housing; a good move according to one Squamish official.
The gas distribution company is in negotiations with a private landowner to purchase 12 acres off Industrial Way -– property that is commonly known as the former BC Rail lands. If a sale goes through, the land could house a compressor station for a natural gas pipeline that would serve the proposed Woodfibre liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.
“We did feel that it is a better location because of the pipeline route,” Fortis spokesperson Carol Greaves said.
Fortis currently owns land at the corner of Queens Way and Pioneer Way. However, after consultation with Squamish residents the company decided to look for alternative options, Greaves said. Some members of the public raised concerns regarding possible noise emitted by the station. The property under negotiation doesn’t border any residential neighborhoods, she noted, its on the southern corner of the rail yards.
“We are doing a study right now that is measuring the ambient noise,” Greaves said.
Typically a compressor station requires five acres. The proposed station slated for Squamish will run off electricity and not gas. This equates to a quieter system, Greaves said.
Fortis’s Eagle Mountain compressor, which operates on gas, emits 62 decimals – equaling the same noise level as conversations in a restaurant, she noted.
“We will have a buffer around the site, either a cement wall or a tree buffer,” Greaves said.
Coun. Susan Chapelle said she’s happy Fortis officials are eying a new location for the proposed station.
“That would be a better location for them,” she said, noting it’s further afield from residential neighbourhoods. “It’s zoned industrial.”
Chapelle wants to see Fortis’s noise studies.
