Squamish council delays vote on floating accommodation for LNG workers

Article content

The District of Squamish has delayed a vote on mooring a floating hotel for workers at the Woodfibre LNG site.

On tuesday night, 68 speakers attended a “public input opportunity” at the Brennan Park Recreation Center, where they evaluated and commented on Woodfibre LNG. temporary use permit application for the float.

Article content

The temporary use permit is for three years at the site of the planned LNG plant. It is on the former wood fiber pulp and paper land on the western shore of Howe Sound, about seven kilometers south of Squamish.

Article content

The application includes a permit to operate a water plant, a food service permit and a wastewater holding tank permit. The floatel is a renovated cruise ship and has capacity for about 650 workers. She is currently moored in Nanaimo Harbor.

The Woodfibre LNG project has been approved by the federal and provincial governments and the Squamish Nation. However, it cannot proceed without workers and the District of Squamish has the power to reject the company’s application to use the floatel.

The LNG project was approved in 2015 and workers were expected to live in and around Squamish. But as the rental vacancy rate fell in Squamish, the floating hotel idea was suggested to reduce the impact on the community.

This led the project’s owner, Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto, to hire Bridgemans Services Group to convert a cruise ship into worker housing with capacity for 650 people.

Tanoto owns Singapore-based Royal Golden Eagle Group of Companies, owner of Pacific Energy Canada, which owns 70 per cent of the Woodfibre LNG project. The remaining 30 percent is owned by publicly traded Canadian company Enbridge.

Article content

Tracey Saxby, spokesperson for the anti-Woodfibre LNG group My Sea to Sky, said some of Tuesday’s speakers were contractors aligned with the project, while others spoke against the project.

Saxby said those opposed to the project and the floatel were concerned about the floatel’s waste management plan, worker safety and the human rights of young women exposed to workers either on the boat or in Squamish.

Squamish councilors will now assess the additional information and concerns they heard Tuesday night before voting on the permit application next Tuesday, April 30.

The Woodfibre LNG project will use electricity to convert natural gas supplied by Fortis BC into liquefied natural gas that will be exported by ship to foreign markets.

Preliminary work on the site began in November and full construction will begin once the floating hotel permit is received. The project is expected to be completed in 2027 and will have a useful life of 25 years.

[email protected]

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know – add VancouverSun.com and LaProvincia.com to your favorites and subscribe to our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: for just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The province.

Article content