Local government officials from around Howe Sound met a second time Feb. 18 to discuss Woodfibre LNG, but it’s still not clear if an independent clearinghouse for information on the project will go ahead.
West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy and MP Pam Goldsmith-Jones (West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country) were also at the Squamish meeting, but nobody from the company or the provincial or federal agencies overseeing the project approvals attended.
Observers from My Sea to Sky, which had organized a protest outside a closed-door meeting last month, were on hand. The Future of Howe Sound Society also sent representatives.
At that meeting Byng Giraud, Woodfibre LNG’s vice-president of corporate affairs, said the company has created a web portal to offer updates and information on permits and authorizations as construction begins and the project progresses, which is one of the requirements of the provincial environmental assessment.
Ian Winn, Sunshine Coast Regional District director for West Howe Sound, has been advocating for an information site that’s independent of the company. Winn said participants at the Feb. 18 meeting questioned the validity of the information that the company would provide.
“Trust was once again raised as a significant concern,” Winn said. “Once the ‘trust’ door was open it was very apparent that the level of mistrust is not only with the company website but much broader. In addition to trust there are significant concerns with objectivity of the environmental assessment processes, concerns with the intentions and impartiality of the provincial government, and lack of confidence that an independent process can be established to provide monitoring and oversight for the life of the project.”
Winn said by the time the two-hour meeting wrapped up, there was general agreement about the need for continuing public engagement and communication now that the environmental assessment process has wrapped up.
One proposal on the table, he said, was creating a special committee with representation from local, provincial and federal elected officials that could take the first steps.
“Beyond that, the opportunities abound for an ongoing formal public advisory group to maintain public engagement for the life of the project,” he added. “To me the lack of an ongoing public advisory group is a clear oversight in the management of a project of this magnitude and lifespan, and it must be addressed. In my opinion this should be an ongoing requirement, but who would pay for it, and who will the public trust to provide it is yet to be determined.”
Pender Harbour director, and SCRD vice chair, Frank Mauro was also at the meeting. “I think that some good things came out of the meeting. We’ll see where they go from there,” he told the SCRD board on Feb. 23.
