Coun. Jenna Stoner questions EAO’s legal and moral authority over floatel decision

Councillor Jenna Stoner is raising doubts about the Environment Assessment Office’s (EAO) decision to override the District of Squamish process for the Temporary Use Permit application for Woodfibre LNG’s floatel. In an interview with CBC’s Stephen Quinn, she questioned the EAO’s decision, asking Woodfibre LNG to get its workers on the floatel by the end of the day today, June 21.

“Whether the EO actually had the ability to override the district, I think is still in question from a legal perspective, but also from a moral perspective. I’m not sure the role EAO should be playing, especially not their compliance and enforcement branch, which really should be focused on trying to hold proponents accountable to the criteria and the conditions that they have set out in their environmental impact assessment certificates,” she told Quinn in the radio interview.

She said the order from the Province wasn’t ‘exceptionally clear’ in terms of whether it was trying to override the District’s jurisdiction or not. She said the proponent, Woodfibre LNG, interpreted it that way and withdrew their application.

“However, from a council perspective, from my perspective, the order itself wasn’t super clear about the intent of the province. As of yesterday, again, we haven’t heard directly from the province or the EAO on this,” she said. “They are using the EAO as a justification to override our jurisdiction instead of holding the company accountable. So the company has been housing workers in a manner that is non-compliant and in violation for over six months. And so instead of creating a stop work order for Woodfibre LNG, they are suggesting that this is our fault, that we are withholding a permit.”

Stoner emphasized that the district had been working collaboratively with the province until this recent development, which has caused confusion. “We have jurisdiction over land use zoning and planning, and that’s what a Temporary Use Permit is for. As of Tuesday, we had a clear process within our jurisdiction, but at the last minute, the proponent withdrew their application, and now the province is saying they are trying to override us,” she stated.

She also claimed Woodfibre LNG had outstanding permits and said they did not hold the final approvals for Vancouver Coastal Health on ‘very important things’ like potable water and sewage holding tanks. “There are a number of outstanding issues. There is a number of regulations that apply to the floatel and I think it’s on the company to prove that they are meeting the requirements that are set out by the various levels,” she said.

She questioned the EAO’s motives and whose interests the agency was prioritizing. “The compliance and enforcement branch of the EAO should be holding the company accountable for violations, not using its power to override local authority. The province has other mechanisms to enforce its decisions if necessary.”