Woodfibre LNG officials have responded to the district of Squamish’s official comments to the Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) on the company’s proposed liquefied natural gas export facility.
The Woodfibre LNG response letter, sent June 11, addressed each of the district’s concerns submitted on April 30 in turn, but often referred the district back to the Environmental Assessment website or application.
For example, in response to the district request that the EAO provide more information on the seawater cooling systems and why alternative systems were not chosen, the response from Woodfibre LNG said to look at documents from the company on the cooling methods that were submitted on the EAO website, and to look at the company’s Environmental Application.
“Some of [the responses] don’t really address our concerns to the detail I think we were expecting,” Councillor Karen Elliott said at the June 16 council meeting when the Woodfibre LNG responses were tabled.
In regard to a district request that noise be monitored and mitigated, Woodfibre LNG said it would hire a contractor to perform underwater acoustic noise monitoring for pre-construction, construction and post construction.
The company committed to working with the district to complete a socio-economic assessment in response to the district’s concern over how the LNG facility would fit with Squamish’s new brand. Woodfibre LNG would hire someone to act as a housing resource for non-local workers, the letter states, in response to the district’s concern over the potential influx of workers.
Squamish resident Chris Pettingill told council that he had read through the company’s letter in full and didn’t think they understand the level of comprehension most people in Squamish have about the project or the complexity of their questions.
“Reading the letter, it seemed that they thought some of the public hadn’t read through the EA document and pointed to areas where they think [answers] had been covered,” he said. “I think the public has read through a lot of it and… so we are looking for a little more.”
The response from Woodfibre LNG to the district will be discussed at an open meeting of council in mid-July, according to district staff.
The Woodfibre LNG project application review working group will also have an opportunity to look over and comment on the draft report from the EAO to the Minister prior to the report being issued publicly, staff said.
