The intent of this letter is to inform people of who, in fact, owns the major share of Woodfibre LNG, and of their track record.
In the recent Squamish Chief story about Woodfibre LNG and the lack of a tax agreement with the District, Woodfibre said that it “has been engaged in good faith discussions with the District of Squamish aimed at achieving a 10-year tax agreement.” [“District of Squamish releases future tax rate for Woodfibre LNG,” published April 25 in print.]
Let’s remember now that 70% of Woodfibre LNG is owned by Pacific Energy Corporation, which is in turn owned, and chaired by Sukanto Tanoto, of Royal Golden Eagle Group.
This was widely reported in all the major papers at the time and written about by My Sea to Sky, the Concerned Citizens of Bowen Island and others. But that was about nine years ago, and most people I speak to have no idea about who exactly we are subsidizing to do business with or their history.
In 2015, the National Observer wrote, “Some fear that this could lead the province to approve an LNG deal with Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto, whose massive tax evasion and rainforest destruction record across the Pacific has put his business reputation into serious question.”
Just two months ago, the Rainforest Action Network called on the RGE Group to cease doing business, primarily based on evidence of deforestation, saying, “Rainforest Action Network is calling on all actors that finance, do business with, source from, or associate with the Royal Golden Eagle Group to immediately suspend business or association with the RGE Group and investigate our findings.”
This information should be included in the discourse about Woodfibre LNG.
Julie Malcolm
Squamish
