Environmental cleanup of the proposed site of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant beside Howe Sound is underway.
Last year, Western Forest Products announced an agreement to sell 212 acres of waterfront land — the former site of the Woodfibre pulp mill — to Woodfibre Natural Gas. But before any construction can take place, the former industrial site needs to be remediated. That work has been ongoing, Woodfibre Natural Gas vice president Byng Giraud said.
“The site remediation is still taking place,” he told the Squamish Chief.
The sale of the land comes with the condition that the property has retained a Certificate of Compliance, Giraud said. Dredging work has been completed, but more is being done to deal with contaminated soil, he noted.
At the same time, environmental consultants have visited the property to finish geotechnical work. They are collecting information for a baseline that will ultimately be included in an environmental assessment of the site and proposed LNG export facility, Giraud said.
Once the sale conditions are met, Woodfibre Natural Gas will inherit the property and Western Forest Products’ water licenses on two high-pressure water sources — Mill and Cedar creeks. The project’s proponents have stated they are committed to developing a LNG facility that runs on hydro-electric power rather than burning natural gas to generate electricity. However, they’re not considering either creek as a potential power source, Giraud said.
“It is not part of our project,’ he said. “There is not enough power there to run the plant.”
The project, which would see up to 2.1 million tonnes of LNG shipped from the Squamish facility beginning as early as 2017, is undergoing a blended federal-provincial environmental review. If it receives certification, the parent company, Singapore-based Pacific Oil and Gas, is slated to decide in the first half of 2015 whether to proceed with the project.
