All communities of Howe Sound are worried the Woodfibre LNG proposal will be steamrolled through. I am adding my comments from Gibsons and the Sunshine Coast perspective.
Like Bowen Island, our highway is BC Ferries – we live on the mainland with a highway not connected to Squamish and by default Vancouver. Setting aside tanker safety and climate change, I believe the greatest failure of this project is that it does not address how it would interrupt ferry service to and from Horseshoe Bay. This would affect not just commuters, but the tens of thousands of tourists who annually visit Bowen, the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island.
Last fall, the B.C. government floated the idea of moving all Vancouver Island traffic to Tsawwassen. LNG tanker safety regulations would mandate a BC Ferries reduction in Horseshoe Bay to make way for the LNG tanker traffic and balance Bowen and Langdale ferry passage safely in Howe Sound.
The politics are questionable. Why could the B.C. government not be bothered to have a public open house on the Woodfibre LNG project in our area?
The Resource Works “non-profit” delegation’s offer to help Squamish Council with their OCP is curious. I question that offer. Council, you may have your entire process hijacked by not just BC Liberal insiders but also federal Conservative insiders and industry puppetmasters.
Resource Works will impress with reams of data – primary speaker Stewart Muir (the executive director) concluded that the group is a neutral way forward. But Muir is the husband of B.C. Deputy Minister Athana Mentzelopoulos, a pal of the premier.
Involvement by a non-profit formed by the BC Council of Business and a who’s who of BC Liberal and federal Conservative insiders should give us pause. Is Resource Works as a fair broker for the Howe Sound Woodfibre LNG project? No.
Bonnie Nicol
Gibsons
Editor’s note: Stewart Muir told The Squamish Chief he is now separated from B.C. Deputy Minister Athana Mentzelopoulos.
