Islanders deserve LNG input

In a public consultation process, one hardly expects to be told by the project proponent that their opinion doesn't matter. Yet that was the case recently on Texada Island./

By Sandy McCormick
Powell River Peak

In a public consultation process, one hardly expects to be told by the project proponent that their opinion doesn't matter. Yet that was the case recently on Texada Island.

Residents packed public meetings to hear speakers from WestPac LNG Corporation explain the Alberta company's proposal for a $2 billion LNG (liquefied natural gas) import terminal at the populated north end of the island.

Asked by one resident if WestPac would withdraw its application to build and operate the terminal if islanders were opposed, company president Mark Butler said he would not withdraw, but would leave the outcome to provincial and federal approving authorities.

Like other island residents attending Butler's presentations, I wanted information about the proposal. But regrettably, the facts imparted were tinged with the angst of knowing that whatever my opinion was about the plan, it didn't matter.

Initial information doesn't paint a rosy picture for islanders, who could lose both forestry jobs and ferry service as a result of the project.

As well as unloading highly explosive LNG, which would arrive from around the world in supertankers plying the Strait of Georgia, electrical power would also be generated at the site, known locally as Coho Point, an historical salmon habitat. To transmit the power to the grid, a right-of-way the width of a football field would be cleared the entire length of the 50-kilometre island, and transmission towers installed. This would remove a large chunk of land from the forestry sector and place further hardship on an already-struggling industry.

Because of the highly flammable nature of LNG, exclusionary zones around the loaded supertankers and the facility where they are being unloaded are required in other jurisdictions, where other vessels, and presumably people, cannot go. In Boston, Massachusetts, this exclusionary zone is three kilometres. When it was pointed out that Texada's only ferry terminal was less than three kilometres away, Butler said, "some adjustments to schedules" may have to be made. Texadans who rely on the ferry to get to school, health care and shopping were not happy at the prospect of the service being disrupted.

Ironically, it's the location, as much as the project itself that is upsetting to many people living on Texada. If the import terminal and electrical generating facility were proposed for the uninhabited south end of the island, where WestPac would have both a deeper port and closer access to power grids, the impact on the community's daily life would be significantly less.

While describing his presentation as the beginning of WestPac's public consultation process, Butler didn't open any doors to islanders to provide meaningful input into the process. In saying that only the approving authorities: BC's Environmental Assessment Office; the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans; and Transport Canada could influence the outcome, Butler seemed to egg on the community to bring concerns about negative impacts directly to those authorities, which local residents should do.

Since WestPac won't listen, this seems like the logical next step.

Sandy McCormick is a former Vancouver city councillor and school trustee living on Texada Island.

©The Powell River Peak 2007