FortisBC officials were in front of council’s committee of the whole Tuesday with more details on the new options for the company’s proposed Eagle Mountain–Woodfibre Gas Pipeline Project.
The Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) will host an open house about the changes Wednesday, Oct. 7 at the Sea to Sky Hotel from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The public and district can comment to the EAO on the new options until Oct. 15.
Since 2012, FortisBC has investigated ways it could feed natural gas to the Woodfibre LNG proposed liquefied natural gas export facility planned for Squamish.
Some of the biggest pipeline project design change options submitted to the EAO involve the compressor station.
In response to concerns about the original proposed Squamish Business Park station’s proximity to residents and conditions set by the Squamish Nation, the new proposed compressor station is relocated to 1.8 kilometres from the Valleycliffe neighbourhood.
The new station will be powered by gas while the original site was to be powered by hydro, and the new option substantially reduces the horsepower required, according to Gary Abbott FortisBC project manager.
“The original EA application, we had 16,600 horsepower at the Squamish station, this station has a maximum of 12,000 horsepower,” said Abbott. “And that is only required for two months of the year at peak periods, at the most. Most of the year it is going to be operating two units at probably 5,000 horsepower.”
The new option will not require an additional compressor station at Port Mellon.
The alternative also will only compress the natural gas at Squamish for the 10-inch pipe, not the 24 and 10-inch pipes as originally proposed.
“The 24-inch is just going to remain compressed from Coquitlam, not Squamish.”
The new site at the base of Mount Mulligan will be within the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District jurisdiction, whereas the original station was within the District of Squamish. Mayor Patricia Heintzman said she predicted a boundary expansion would put the station once again within the district.
Abbott said the revised options add up to a total reduction of about 11,000 tonnes of greenhouse gasses, which a company official says is the equivalent of taking about 2,300 cars off the road.
The original business park property was zoned for industrial, while the new site would need to be rezoned through the SLRD.
A work camp west of Squamish River is also newly proposed to house workers during construction of the compressor station and pipeline.
Copies of FortisBC’s application are available at the Squamish Public Library, the District Of Squamish Planning Department, the FortisBC’s Squamish Community Office or at fortisbc.com/egp.
