By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: March. 16, 2013
Greenpeace Canada is raising concerns over an Indonesian tycoon’s plan to use the Woodfibre site for a small scale LNG facility.
Billionaire Sukanto Tanoto’s energy company, Pacific Oil & Gas, recently announced the purchase of Woodfibre pulp mill to operate a ‘small-scale’ LNG facility.
Environmental watchdog Greenpeace says the environmental record of Tanoto’s logging company, APRIL, is far from perfect.
Shane Moffatt, a Toronto-based forest campaigner for Greenpeace, said Tanoto’s company was a ‘leading driver of deforestation’.
“Recent government data shows 60 per cent of the fibre supply to his main pulp mill is actually rainforest wood,” he said.
Moffatt said in 2012, APRIL planned to feed its Sumatran pulp mill by trashing another 60,000 hectares of rainforest – an area nearly the size of Singapore.
“As long as his company operates, the future also looks bleak for the rare Sumatran tiger, an excellent swimmer well-adapted to the rainforest,” Moffatt added.
“I would really question what his track record means for his Canadian plans,” he told the Province.
Greenpeace also released a map which shows areas where the company has recently trashed thousands of hectares of peatland forests.
Tanoto, however, seems to have accepted and learned from his past mistakes.
In an undated interview published on his website, Tanoto said he is working with international NGOs and conservationists to protect the rainforest and prevent illegal logging.
“We’re also constantly trying to expand the number of tree species we use on our plantations to maintain bio-diversity,” Tantoto said.
Pacific Energy Corp has its head office in Jakarta.
In a statement, the officials said they are in the early stage of planning, analysis and community engagement.’
Tanoto is one of the richest Indonesian, according to the Forbes magazine, with a total net worth estimated at $2.8 billion.
heather gee says
Good for Green Peace! Of course, that research would have not taken place had it not been for Green Peace.
Harper’s Canada has ensured that our environmental laws are so lax now, only the short terms gains will be considered.
TCee says
How did it happen that a valuable piece of land, Woodfibre, get sold to an offshore company with no public information about the sale and no public discussion? This is yet another CNOOC- taking- over -Nexen example, whereby the government – whether provincial, Federal or municipal – sells off our resources to the highest bidders. But not just to any bidders – apparently to bidders who have demonstrated for years their disdain for the environment, the biodiversity that relies on that ecology, and the people who once made a living from that. Do you really think billionaire Sunato Tanoko and his oil company have suddenly converted to environmentalism and “seen the light”? Do you think he really cares, given that he made his fortune from destroying the environment>? He has been responsible, and his government cronies, for single-handedly destroying thousands and thousands of acres of rainforest and peatland forests. I worked in SE Asia, including Indonesia, for almost 30 years. For all intents and purposes, as an example, the vaunted Sumatran tiger which roamed then is now extinct – as are many other species. People who could live off the land and the bounty of the rainforest can no longer do so. He talks about planting trees – basically these amount to monocultures, which do not replicate the richness of the rainforests now destroyed, and do not bring back the biodiversity. He was not held to account in his own country, because the environmental and civil society movements are relatively weak and not able to combat the power of corrupt government and corporations. Will he be held to account here in OUR country, in Squamish, or will some here, those already in power or running for power, be blinded by the promise of (short-term) riches and ignore the (long-term) environment? It is good that GreenPeace Canada has started to raise some issues about the so-called “small scale” LNG plant, fracking, air and water quality, the future of the now- improving Howe Sound, the impact on other employment-generating clean sectors, etc. Let’s hope that other organizations, such as the Squamish Environment Society, AWARE, and local concerned citizens join forces and query, investigate, monitor this situation very, very closely, and hold our politicians accountable. This LNG plant could ultimately prove disastrous for Squamish’s future!
jon schubert says
@TCee. This land is private land. Not a public asset. It was sold by a corporation not the municipal, provincial or federal government. Should we go through a public process when you want to sell your condo? The public gets no say, and should get no say because it is not any of the publics business what someone does with their own property.
Nate Dolha says
Ahh, the sensationalism starts already… Here’s what we know: A company has an idea for a site. No one has seen plans or assessments…
There are many facets to a project like this, and TCee has touched on some of these; the upstream fracking – the impacts of extracting shale gas on the NE corner of our province, and the carbonate fracking in central Alberta.
The upstream gas processing – the removal of sulphur, heavy metals, water, and any impurities that would cause issues with the liquifaction process.
The amount of energy consumed within the supply chain – transmission (usually jet engine compressors), and then the liquifaction process at the local plant (electric, generated at site). Before the gas arrives at plant, it has been scrubbed, leaving essentially Methane, which is a nasty greenhouse gas, but non toxic to life.
As for risks at the plant, there are really 2 – Safety and emissions. For safety, there is a risk of fire, freezing, or asphyxiation through tanker incident or plant incident. The new tank designs (post 1970), and other regulations and modern systems mitigate these. As for emissions, it really depends on how the plant will generate the power needed to liquify the gas (it is mandated by the province that LNG plants produce their own power). If they burn gas, there is the uptick in emissions. If they use the existing run of river (provided it has the capacity), this portion becomes emissions free.
From Our perspective as a community, we need to weigh the above with the absolute need to increase our tax base to pay for an ever increasing list of amenities and services that the citizens demand, to fund the renewal of our infrastructure, and to bring skilled, high wage jobs to our community. If, by bringing these jobs into our community we reduce the number of commuters, then that needs to factor into the environmental side of the equation.
The future becomes stable and economically sustainable if we have a diversified economic base, and we can still develop our tourism and recreation industries, which are not mature enough to provide this kind of municipal tax revenue.
I’m glad we are thinking about the impacts Greenpeace has brought forward, they are an important piece, but not the whole story by any means. We need to approach this pragmatically through the use of facts, not sensationalism and doom…
Jason Bechard says
WELL SAID NATE! I know we don’t see eye to eye too often but you hit the nail on the head. This article says absolutely nothing about what is being planned there but already people are screaming “the sky is falling!”
Squamish needs a stable economy because if we keep going the way we are now, everyone will be communicating to work because there will simply be no job opportunities within the community. The district already is having to go after the home owners to get revenue to keep the district running at bare minimal. If we don’t have companies contributing to the tax base the home owners will have to pay more and more to cover operating costs just to keep the infrastructure running.
People in Squamish need to step back from the Environmental rhetoric and look at the project from the information once it is completed and available.
Too many people in squamish read half the book and make up their own endings, this needs to stop or Squamish will go into an economic downward spiral.
Jason Bechard says
“everyone will be COMMUTING, NOT COMMUNICATING, to work because there will simply be no job opportunities within the community” – Spell check doesn’t always work