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Group wants to call in feds for Woodfibre LNG review

FUTURE OF HOWE SOUND SOCIETY

The Future of Howe Sound Society (FHSS) is seeking local government support in an effort to convince Ottawa to conduct its own environmental assessment (EA) for the Woodfibre LNG project.

A letter from FHSS lawyer Anthony Leoni, addressed to federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq and copied to seven local governments in the region for endorsement, said the B.C. government’s response to a freedom of information request raises serious concerns about whether the province is complying with its agreement with Ottawa to lead a harmonized EA process.

Quoting statements in the media from Premier Christy Clark and two cabinet ministers about the Woodfibre project and LNG in general, the letter also argued that the provincial government’s public commitment to LNG development brings into question the fairness of the process.

“The public statements by the premier and ministers responsible for the EA process appear to indicate that the decision-makers may have predetermined the outcome of the process and have become advocates for the Woodfibre LNG project,” Leoni wrote.

In June, FHSS filed a freedom of information request to the province for any documents related to the shipping of LNG in Howe Sound, Salish Sea and Juan De Fuca Strait, including any report generated by Lloyd’s of London or another insurer on the risk of transporting LNG in B.C. waters.

All four ministries involved in the EA process responded that no such records were found, and the file was closed, Leoni said.

The absence of any documentation on marine shipping safety, and the inability of the public to obtain information on that aspect of the proposal, call into question the province’s compliance with its agreement with Ottawa, he said.

Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) planning staff did not support the FHSS argument, however, with senior planner David Rafael reporting on Oct. 16: “At this point in the pre-application stage there is no requirement for the proponent to submit any supporting information.”

But, while staff concluded the request was premature and recommended not endorsing the letter at this time, directors expressed a different view, saying concerns about the safety of tanker traffic in Howe Sound were not being adequately addressed under the EA process.

The matter was deferred until after the Oct. 17 Howe Sound Community Forum.

FHSS executive director Ruth Simons said the group was waiting to hear back from the seven local governments before sending the letter. As of Monday, only the Powell River Regional District had formally endorsed it.

“We feel our society is speaking for the broader community,” Simons said. “If communities don’t feel comfortable with the letter, we may not send it.”

In his report, Rafael noted staff from the federal government will participate in the harmonized EA process and the application will require separate ministerial approval at the federal level.

“There is still a federal process, but it’s all brought under one umbrella,” Rafael said. “That seems to be a pretty standard way that the federal government is doing things across Canada.”

Among the quotes from Clark cited in the FHSS letter was one that appeared in the Globe and Mail on May 6: “Woodfibre is a smaller investment, but it is going to be, we think, on line faster. So it will be sending its ships to Asia earlier. It could be one of the first liquefaction plants that sends ships to Asia from British Columbia.”

In the same interview, Clark said she was “determined we’re going to win this race” to develop LNG.

“We have invested a lot of time and a lot of political capital in this,” she was quoted. “We told people we were going to do this during the election. We ran on it, we got elected on it and we’re going to deliver on it.”