Bowen Island councillors Sue Ellen Fast, Melanie Mason and Maureen Nicholson joined members of other Howe Sound communities on the weekend as well a MP Pamela Goldsmith-Jones and MLA Jordan Sturdy to talk about community input on the Woodfibre LNG project, the environmental assessment process and the sharing of information.
Councillor Fast said that now that the project has been approved, communities want to be able to see information relating to how Woodfibre LNG is meeting the conditions of the BC Environmental Assessment process and the Squamish Nation environmental assessment process, and provide comment input and even oversight.
“We were also concerned that there were some questions that were posed to Woodfibre during Environmental Assessment working groups that the company did not seem obligated to answer,” says Fast. “I was glad, in this recent meeting, to hear our MP say that she would be representing our concerns about Howe Sound and the Federal environmental assessment process in Ottawa and our suggestions about what happens next.”
Fast says that MLA Jordan Sturdy is looking at the creation of a liason committee to oversee the flow of information to and from communities about the project and incidents that may occur.
“There was a spill at the Woodfibre site in September, and the company did follow the legislation and report the spill to the province but they left officials in Squamish in the dark,” says Fast. “This is an example of where greater communication is required. We would need to ensure that the working group process was run by some kind of independent organization, because lots of people said they would not trust the company to be in charge.”
Fast adds that MP Goldsmith-Jones will circulate a summary of the meeting recommendations. Meanwhile citizens are invited to submit comments on 3 proposed changes to the WoodFibre LNG project by March 11.
