Last day for public comments on Woodfibre LNG proposal

Last day for public comments on Woodfibre LNG proposal

Share
Last day for public comments on Woodfibre LNG proposal

Rendering of proposed Woodfibre LNG project near Squamish, BC

Citizens have until Midnight Monday to submit their comments to the current phase of environmental assessment into the controversial Woodfibre LNG proposal, near Squamish.

The project and its Indonesian billionaire proponent Sukanto Tanoto have garnered intense scrutiny from citizen groups, First Nations and municipal governments up and down Howe Sound and the Sunshine Coast. The District of Squamish recently made headlines rejecting Fortis BC’s application to test drill in the Squamish estuary for a pipeline expansion to feed the proposed plant – this on top of multiple votes from local councils to ban LNG tankers in Howe Sound over safety concerns.

Local grassroots group My Sea to Sky is offering citizens a list of concerns to draw from in their comments to the BC Environmental Assessment Office – including multiple environmental issues, health, safety, and economic concerns.

One of the group’s concerns is the way in which the plant would draw water from Howe Sound for cooling purposes, before returning it at a higher temperature and containing chemicals:

[quote]Woodfibre LNG is proposing an outdated and damaging cooling method to help cool the LNG facility. They propose to extract 17,000 tonnes of seawater from Howe Sound, chlorinate it, heat it, and then spit it back out into the sound every hour of every day for the next 25 years. This method has been banned in California and several other places as it is very damaging to marine life such as juvenile salmon, herring, and plankton which are the building blocks for all other life in Howe Sound. [/quote]

Comments can be submitted online to the BC Environmental Assessment Office by midnight, Monday, March 23 by clicking here.

Share

About Damien Gillis

Damien Gillis is a Vancouver-based documentary filmmaker with a focus on environmental and social justice issues - especially relating to water, energy, and saving Canada's wild salmon - working with many environmental organizations in BC and around the world. He is the co-founder, along with Rafe Mair, of The Common Sense Canadian, and a board member of both the BC Environmental Network and the Haig-Brown Institute.

1 thought on “Last day for public comments on Woodfibre LNG proposal

  1. Time to turn the page and look to alternative, albeit less profitable, methods to process this resource. Pay attention to the experiences of others and be firm with our wishes. This is our land and our resource. Everything has a cost and this one is too high for the long term.

Comments are closed.