For certain incidents on the Woodfibre LNG site, the company has no duty to inform the District of Squamish immediately, it was revealed at a council meeting on Tuesday night.
In the wake of the Sept. 8` spill of 3,000 litres of wash water and leachate on the Woodfibre site, representatives from the District of Squamish and Woodfibre LNG met to discuss communication protocol, according to district staff.
After the spill, Mayor Patricia Heintzman publicly criticized the company for not notifying the district until the day after the spill and at the same time as the general public was notified.
According to chief administrative officer Linda Glenday, Woodfibre has set out three levels of communication it will engage in with the district in the event of an accident on the site.
In the case of a localized incident, that the district has no jurisdiction over, such as the recent spill that fell under provincial jurisdiction, Woodfibre LNG has “no legal requirement to inform and are doing so as a courtesy and as good corporate citizens,” was the message from Woodfibre LNG Glenday relayed to council Tuesday night.
The company would inform the governing body, the Ministry of Environment, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Glenday said, “but wait to inform us until they understood the full scope of the incident and its impacts.”
According to Glenday, district staff “pushed back” with Woodfibre and said “we need to know more quickly than that.”
Several councillors also objected to this level of communication for any incident.
“Even if it is not required, we are still the governing body and people are going to come to us with questions or concerns,” said Coun. Karen Elliott. “And actually, it just makes them look like they are covering something up. I think it is in their best interest to inform us [immediately].
Coun. Doug Race, often a supporter of the Woodfibre LNG project, agreed with Elliott.
“It is not like there is a whole lot of work involved. It is like adding another email address to an email,” he said. “I would expect that with not only WLNG, but any other industrial users that we have.”
In a localized incident where the district is the authority, Woodfibre LNG would inform the district immediately, Glenday added. “We have set up now a list of contacts that are important to contact right away. I am one of them so I can let council know,” Glenday said. Woodfibre LNG would continue to work with the district as the incident unfolded to understand “the incident, the impact and what mitigations are required.”
When the Woodfibre LNG facility is built and operational should there be an incident with “potential safety or health impacts to district residents, they would immediately inform the district and work with us throughout to understand the impact to us, our staff, as well as what support they may need,” Glenday said.
Glenday said the expressed concerns of council will be taken back to Woodfibre LNG.
