The company looking to put an LNG export facility at the site of an old pulp mill on Howe Sound says it’s getting ready for environmental assessments.
Woodfibre Natural Gas Limited bought a mothballed pulp mill from Western Forest Products about a year ago, for $26-million. They’ve already got an export license.
The company’s Marian Ngo told the Sunshine Coast Regional District recently, their plan includes establishing a “green area” and as part of the purchase agreement they’ve set aside money for cleaning up the site to try to reverse damage done in the pulp mill days.
They plan to ship around 2.1 million tonnes of LNG a year over the 25 year lifespan of the plant. That means 3 or for ships a month passing along the east side of Howe Sound.
SCRD Directors say they still have a lot of concerns about safety, the increase in shipping traffic, and the environmental impact of expanding the Fortis gas pipeline that runs through the area. They’re hoping to be included in a “working group” that’s going to be set up as the environmental assessments continue.
Protests against an LNG storage facility project on the Sunshine Coast in the ’90s led to the project being abandoned, and the Woodfibre plan is raising many of the same concerns.
