With pipes arriving and construction on the FortisBC Eagle Mountain-Woodfibre Gas Pipeline Project getting underway, folks at Fortis should inform the muni and council if any of them get a haircut.
On Oct. 17, at a regular business meting, council was told by District staff they had recently been informed of this week’s pipe delivery by a third party.
As they have at other meetings over the years, several council members expressed aggravation over a perceived lack of communication from the company about the pipeline project.
For its part, FortisBC spokesperson Jas Baweja told The Squamish Chief that Squamish Terminals were the first to inform the District about the pipe delivery about three weeks before it was set to happen.
Now, it is likely that for some on council, no amount of info will be enough as they are opposed to the project—full stop.
But FortisBC doesn’t help itself by having third-party folks tell the District about its project.
FortisBC staff met with the District on Oct. 11, just under two weeks before the pipe delivery, Baweja said.
“We realize we should have been the first to communicate with the District about this, and we’ve learned from this. We’re evaluating our communications approach and collaborating directly with the District of Squamish’s communications team moving forward,” he said.
While they could clearly do better, the public may also not be aware of what their staff are doing to keep the municipality informed.
They have a dedicated project community relations team that works in town. And Baweja said the company meets District staff weekly to discuss the project, and meets with Mayor Armand Hurford “regularly.”
“We’re constantly communicating with the District of Squamish through set, recurring meetings,” he said.
The company also informs the public of potential impacts, like the arrival of the pipes, through the media, advertising, its website, e-newsletter and social media.
And given the heated and loud opposition to this project—a history that includes the arson of the Woodfibre LNG office in 2016—it is understandable that specifics that don’t directly impact the public and are safety and security considerations be kept hush-hush.
It must be frustrating for folks with both FortisBC and Woodfibre LNG to be communicating every which way, and still be told you aren’t heard enough.
But in this town where there is a lot of concern and consternation over the project, the information provided should be so abundant and granular that it becomes TMI (Too Much Information).
This is likely different from how they operate in other communities, but here, where there’s been a never-ending loud opposition to the LNG project for almost a decade, it is necessary.
