A year can make a world of difference, as the District of Squamish councillors have proven, after voting in favour of issuing Woodfibre LNG a temporary use permit (TUP) for not one but two floatels.
It was a roller coaster of a meeting on Tuesday night, which saw councillors request deferring their decision on the TUP until September to allow for a third-party assessment on Henriette Lake Dam, and even a suggestion to reduce the TUP length from three years to nine months.
But ultimately, councillors voted 5-2 in favour of supporting a two-year TUP for the WLNG floatels with some additional minor amendments.
A brief history
In 2024, Squamish council voted to reject a one-year temporary use permit for the first WLNG floatel.
However, after a BC Environmental Assessment Office (BCEAO) order was issued on June 17, 2024, which required the company to address its worker housing issues, WLNG moved the ship into place.
Floatel 1 has been moored at the WLNG site and occupied since June 21, 2024, without a TUP in place.
According to a report to council, since the first floatel, MV Isabelle X, became operational over a year ago, the District’s bylaw department has not received any formal complaints related to its use or operations.
“Additionally, no compliance or enforcement issues directly related to the floatel have been posted on the BCEAO website,” reads the council report.
On May 1, WLNG announced it was seeking to place a second floating workers’ accommodation at its site, which would accommodate 900 more tradespeople.
On July 8, the call was made by councillors at their regular meeting to bring TUP for both floatels back to a future council meeting for a decision, without a public hearing.
The roller coaster
The evening's meeting on July 29 kicked off with a request from Coun. Jenna Stoner to defer the decision on the TUP until September.
“While I do recognize that we are on time for our evening agenda. We did not actually complete our afternoon special business meeting. So this is our second special business meeting on the fifth Tuesday at the end of July. All the other items that are presented to us are time sensitive and urgent in nature, whereas I don't think that this one meets that criteria,” she said.
“So I would urge my council colleagues to allow us to advance the ongoing business that we have in our other meeting ... and we can defer this until September. I don't think that that has any particular challenge to the proponent as presented, because they're still waiting for a decision from the province, until at least November.”
While this request did garner support from councillors Chris Pettingill and Lauren Greenlaw, it was ultimately voted down 4-3.
Another attempt at delaying the decision over the TUP came in the motion from Coun. Pettingill, who moved that District staff complete a third-party assessment of the Henriette Lake Dam, “inclusive of, but not exclusive to, debris impacts FLNRO (Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations) consequence of failure to change.”
This saw support from Coun. Greenlaw was defeated 5-2, a move which Coun. Andrew Hamilton explained was due to a “level of trust” in District staff and their recommendations.
Eventually, the staff recommendation to authorize the TUP for three years for both floatels was moved by Coun. John French.
The motion included a $4 million security deposit from WLNG (increased from the $2 million originally proposed), and the daily charge amount for every day the floatel is in use after the permit has expired, increased from a total of $10,000 for both boats to $10,000 per vessel.
It would also see that WLNG could apply for one additional TUP extension for a length of three years.
Mayor Armand Hurford proposed an amendment to reduce the length of the original TUP from three years to two.
“I think that approving a three-year [TUP permit] now, would give four years of use … which I think is sort of rewarding the behaviour,” Hurford said.
He noted that shortening the TUP length to two years would see Floatel 1 in operation for a total of three years (including the one year it operated unpermitted), as well as two years for Floatel 2.
“[This] would align with the projected date and they would have the opportunity to apply for an extension, which would need to come back to the council of the day for consideration.”
The motion was carried unanimously.
Coun. Pettingill then proposed a second amendment to reduce the length of time for the initial TUP from the amended two years to nine months, which he said would ensure that WLNG stuck to the timeline of a 2027 completion date.
This, however, was knocked back 4-3 with councillors Eric Andersen, Hamilton, French and Hurford voting against the motion.
The last amendment proposed was by Coun. Stoner, who requested that a condition be added to the issuance of a TUP, that would require shore power to be sourced from BC Hydro for Floatel 2, a practice already ongoing for Floatel 1.
“That was a commitment that was made in order to secure their extension of their environmental assessment certificate in 2020, and they have a shiny website that specifically speaks to their pathway to net zero and being the world's first net zero LNG facility,” Stoner said.
“And I would suspect that if they can do it for Floatel 1, they can do it for Floatel 2.”
This was supported 5-2, with councillors French and Andersen voting against it.
Henriette Lake Dam
Henriette Lake Dam is upstream on Woodfibre Creek and there has been some concern the dam could not resist an earthquake and could possibly be breached and initiate a debris flow.
As part of the WLNG application for the TUP, the Henriette Lake Dam Breach and Consequence Classification Analysis was completed.
According to the report to council, “Henriette Lake Dam discharges into Howe Sound via Woodfibre Creek, near the southern boundary of the WLNG site.”
“In the event of a dam breach, questions have been raised regarding the potential risks to the floatels. Based on the information provided, Staff consider there to be minimal risk to the floatels in the event of a potential breach,” the report states.
While the report has been provided to District staff, it remains confidential from councillors and members of the public.
WLNG shared a memo to the District website, which revealed that “the maximum wave resulting from a breach of Henriette Lake Dam would not be significantly larger than the annual average wind-induced wave height (0.4 metres) and would be substantially smaller than the reported five-year wave height (2.6 m).”
“Model results indicate that the dam breach-induced wave within Howe Sound would be no larger than the annual average wave height at a location approximately 75 metres offshore from the mouth of Woodfibre Creek,” the memo reads.
Final councillor comments
While many councillors weren’t thrilled to support the TUP, they did acknowledge that it was the next step that needed to be taken to move the floatel issue along.
In favour
“While I would have liked to see a shorter timeframe for the temporary use permit, I think we are where we are, and it's late,” Coun. Stoner said at approximately 9.30 p.m. (three and a half hours after the meeting began)
“In order to move this along, and given where we are at, I think that this is sufficient. It provides some level of security from a bonding perspective, which is something that we raised the first time around.
“It ensures that there's no diesel generators and no fossil fuels used for Floatel 2, which is a commitment that we have long expressed to both the EAO and the proponent as an expectation of this file, and it does address the issues of housing workers for the growth of this project outside of the bounds of our community.”
She did note that issuing the TUP would not address issues raised by council previously around securing “long-term housing” out of the project, but acknowledged it “does do part of the job.”
Coun. Andersen said that it was time to move forward and build a good working relationship with WLNG.
“We need to look forward beyond a diesel generator issue to what we can accomplish together … like marine planning collaboration, waterfront facilities planning, employee housing, local industrial space here in Squamish, and how to bring a fair share of federal and provincial tax revenues from this project back to Squamish,” he said.
“All of this depends on a good working relationship. … What we need to build is goodwill so that we can get on, move forward to those other, more important issues that we need to solve together with this applicant.”
Hurford said he was glad to see the TUP timeframe reduced to two years, with the option of extending to an additional three years.
“Although in the last year, we've seen Floatel 1 exist in an un-permitted state. The impact of having the folks that are on the floatel, in the community, is not something I'm interested in entertaining,” he said.
“So I think this legitimizes the use of Floatel 1, and it also doesn't reward the un-permitted use by saying 'Congratulations, you've earned an extra year of a temporary use permit.’”
Opposed
Coun. Pettingill said he was “infuriated” by the government “finding comfort in silos” instead of looking at the whole forest and was missing the “pine needle infestation” of WLNG.
“If we allow ourselves to be pushed into silos and ignore the things that are just slightly out of view, we end up with the bad outcome,” he said.
“By enabling this TUP, we are saying, proponents can roll into town, spend $200 million-plus on temporary housing in the middle of a housing crisis when we need permanent housing.
“We might have to wait a couple of years to get it, because the proponents are using it in the interim. But then there's a lasting legacy that actually has a really meaningful impact on the housing challenges we're having.”
Pettingill acknowledged the fear locals may have over the province overruling their decision if they were to go against the TUP for a second time.
“I know there's a fear [that] the province might just override us … let's let the province live with that. Our community needs to see us fighting for them and doing everything we can. They don't expect us to win every fight, but they expect us to come out swinging for them,” he said.
“Right now, we are just rolling over and saying, 'Hey, the proponent wants to waste $200 million on temporary housing. You know what, we'll just let them do it because we're afraid of what the province may do.' But let the province own their own bad decisions. We don't have to.”
Coun. Greenlaw, who has long spoken out against the project, said that the timing of the TUP decision felt like an “intentional” move by the WLNG.
“Approving this permit, given the contentiousness of this project in our community, in the evening of a fifth Tuesday in the middle of summer, when the majority of our community is paying little to no attention to what we are doing, on a day we shouldn't even generally be having a meeting, could be construed by some as an intentional lack of transparency at the behest of the proponent,” she said.
“[This] will not help in cultivating trust with the public, which we know is waning.”
Councillors voted 5-2 in favour of issuing WLNG a TUP for both floatels, with councillors Pettingill and Greenlaw opposed.
According to District staff, the TUP will be issued from the date of approval, July 29, for two years, expiring on the same date in 2027.
For its part, My Sea to Sky, which has fought the Woodfibre project for more than a decade, criticised the decision in a news release following the meeting.
"Woodfibre LNG has been operating its first floating workcamp without a permit from the District of Squamish for over a year, and now it has circumvented being out of compliance by bundling two vessels into one permit,” said My Sea to Sky’s Tracey Saxby, who was at the meeting Tuesday night.
“A second floatel further increases the scope of this project for which Woodfibre LNG is offering a $300,000 community benefit. As the project grows, benefits to the community dwindle. Instead of building permanent housing for its workers, Woodfibre LNG has opted for a temporary solution, choosing to spend $200 million on cruise ships, which bypass investing into the community, and leave no lasting legacy for Squamish,” she added.
“LNG puts British Columbians, especially frontline communities, on the losing end.”
'Floatel model is the right solution'
A spokesperson for Woodfibre LNG told The Squamish Chief that the company appreciates the time and effort that council and District staff have dedicated to reviewing the application.
“We are currently reviewing the approved permit and its associated amendments to fully understand their implications for the project,” said spokesperson Andrew Stout.
“We continue to believe that the floatel model is the right solution for workforce accommodation—one that was developed through meaningful engagement with the District, Squamish Nation, and other community partners,” he added. “Since arriving in Squamish, the MV Isabelle X has provided secure and well-managed accommodation for hundreds of workers while minimizing pressure on local housing and infrastructure.
We remain committed to respectful collaboration with all partners and stakeholders. This is an important project that will help bring Canada’s energy products to global markets as soon as possible. As we move forward, our focus remains on ensuring the Woodfibre LNG project delivers lasting benefits for the community—including local job creation, business opportunities, and long-term tax revenues to support community services.”
~With files from Jennifer Thuncher/The Squamish Chief
*Please note that this story has been updated since it was first published to include comment from Woodfibre LNG.
