Editor:
In a recent letter (“Woodfibre complies,” July 3) John French, Woodfibre LNG’s communications manager, said that the proposed Woodfibre LNG facility “absolutely complies in every way with the standards set out by SIGTTO.”
SIGTTO is the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators. It has safety standards, guidelines and requirements for LNG terminals and tankers.
In the Coast Reporter of June 12, Woodfibre LNG had announced it had joined SIGTTO. That puzzled me, and I sent an email to Andrew Clifton, general manager of SIGTTO, in London, England. The company fails six important SIGTTO safety standards, I wrote, describing them in detail. Why had Woodfibre LNG been accepted as an associate member?
Clifton responded immediately. Associate membership of SIGTTO is available to applicants intending to build a gas tanker or a terminal, he said. SIGTTO has no “regulatory remit” for membership. No questions asked and no investigation.
Your organization is well respected because of its safety requirements, I wrote back. The LNG industry indeed has a good safety record, and is well embraced worldwide, precisely because of these requirements. How will SIGTTO look if Woodfibre LNG has a serious accident as a result of not following SIGTTO’s requirements, while being a member of SIGTTO?
That was two weeks ago. I have not received an answer.
Margot Grant, Gibsons
