Woodfibre LNG did not follow proper protocol after a spill of around 3,000 litres of wash water and leachate occurred at the site, according to Squamish Mayor Patricia Heintzman.
Woodfibre LNG sent out an email to council the day after the spill, but not to District of Squamish staff, she said.
“Any size of spill is something we worry about,” Heintzman said. “Woodfibre did not inform the district appropriately so we need to work on them, with their communications and their understanding of where jurisdictions are.”
The spill happened Sept. 8 during routine maintenance on the site’s industrial landfill, which contains historical wood waste from former pulp mill operations, said Jennifer Siddon, spokesperson for Woodfibre LNG, adding a pipe connected to the landfill was being flushed with water when it broke, spilling 3,000 litres of wash water and leachate. Leachate occurs when water gets into decay at a landfill and creates contaminated water, which is considered industrial waste.
Siddon said on Monday that she is aware of Heintzman’s concerns.
“Our primary focus last week was to first clean up the spill, make the necessary repairs, and report the spill to the designated regulators, which in this case are the BC Ministry of Environment and Emergency Management BC,” she said.
“As we are also committed to transparency. We reported the spill and our response to the public through as many channels as possible including email, our website and social media channels.”
She said the company will now prepare a list of district staff who want to be notified.
The district may not have needed to get involved, Heintzman said, but should have still been informed.
“If they are going to be good corporate citizens, they need to be communicating well with the city when things like this happen, no matter how small,” she said.
The spill was primarily contained in a containment sump and quickly cleaned up using a commercial vacuum truck that was onsite as part of the scheduled maintenance work, according to Siddon.
The spill was reported to the BC Ministry of Environment and Emergency Management BC for further investigation.
“Fortunately, the majority of what was spilled was water,” Siddon said in a news release sent out Friday. “But the spill does underscore the challenges of managing a 100-year-old industrial site.”
The spill happened on ground, and didn’t reach any main creeks or the water of Howe Sound, she added.
A sample of the spilled wash water and leachate has been collected for further analysis.
Woodfibre LNG is proposing to build a liquefied natural gas processing and export facility seven kilometres southwest of downtown Squamish, at the former Woodfibre Pulp Mill.
