Officials put the brakes on FortisBC’s application to drill test sites in the Squamish estuary by using the only legal loop in council’s toolkit – deferring the matter.
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, the energy provider’s development permits for temporary geotechnical boreholes reached the District of Squamish council’s table. Data from the 10-inch boreholes, each approximately two telephone poles deep, would examine the ground’s stability. FortisBC wants to determine whether it can adopt a trenchless building technique to put in place a 24-inch diameter natural gas pipeline that would serve the proposed Woodfibre liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.
But what originally arrived at the municipal office as an application for six test sites had been halved. Three of the boreholes are mapped out within the provincial Skwelwil’em Wildlife Management Area on the west side of the Squamish River.
Fortis has not yet received authorization from Victoria for those sites, the district’s environmental coordinator Caroline Ashekian told council. Provincial officials are seeking more information from Fortis regarding the proposed pipeline’s diagonal alignment through the estuary and possible alternative pathways, Ashekian said.
In an effort toward continued efficiency, district staff suggested Fortis de-couple the sites, allowing for those outside of the wildlife management area to move forward, district planner Sarah McJannet said.
Information from the test sites is required for Fortis’s environmental certificate application for the larger project, she noted. With weather limitations on the boreholes, staff didn’t want to delay the process, McJannet said.
The move raised eyebrows on council. Coun. Patricia Heintzman said she would rather review the project as one rather than two, noting they feed into one another. The provincial government might ask Fortis for a new alignment of the proposed pipeline, which may require different placement of the boreholes, she added.
“I want to have all the information in front of us,” Heintzman said.
Coun. Ron Sander agreed. In order for any project to be successful, good scientific information is required, he said. However, Sander questioned municipal staff’s logic in halving the development permit application.
“It seems bizarre to me that the province is the one holding this back,” he said.
With the development permit before it, council faced a sticky dilemma. At an earlier committee of the whole meeting, Heintzman and Mayor Rob Kirkham had inquired as to whether council could include a time clause with the approval. They wanted to know whether officials could hinge rubber-stamping the permit on Woodfibre’s success.
If the development permit’s requirements are met and align with the Official Community Plan, council does not have discretionary power to deny the permit or attach conditions, McJannet said.
Heintzman instead motioned to defer Fortis’s development permit until the province gave the other test sites the go-ahead. Council carried the motion unanimously.
While Coun. Doug Race supported the deferral, he noted officials were being hypocritical of municipal staff. Staff have been told to step up customer service and streamline processes.
“Some councillors have been critical of [past] deals that have happened,” Race said, noting officials were upset with the slow process.
“If this didn’t concern a LNG practice I am rather concerned we wouldn’t be having this discussion.”
