Stop Woodfibre LNG's 5-year extension

URGENT! Please send a personalized letter to help us stop Woodfibre LNG from getting a five-year extension on its Environmental Assessment certificate.

Woodfibre LNG's current Environmental Assessment (EA) Certificate expires on 26th October 2020. To keep the existing EA certificate they need to begin construction before it expires, and that's not gonna happen as the market for LNG has crashed and Woodfibre LNG hasn't even made a Final Investment Decision yet.

Woodfibre LNG is using COVID-19 as an excuse to get a five-year extension on its Environmental Assessment (EA) Certificate. Other excuses include the bankruptcy of one of their construction companies, and delays due to the three amendments to their EA certificate (all of which they could have avoided if they'd listened to the general public in the first place).

This is an opportunity to #StopWoodfibreLNG for good.

We need your voices to help amplify our message. Please take a moment to send a letter to the Ministers and Associate Deputy Minister Scott Bailey, asking them not to approve a 5-year extension for Woodfibre LNG's EA certificate. This decision will happen any day now.

You can send a letter using the sample text provided, but please take a moment to personalize it - personal letters are much more powerful.

Local governments around Howe Sound have expressed their continued opposition to Woodfibre LNG, or called for conditions to be added to any extension to hold Woodfibre LNG accountable for their greenhouse gas emissions.

This is a critical moment. Please send a letter now.

Key talking points:

This is an opportunity to right past wrongs and make a different decision today.

Do you live in Howe Sound? If so, tell them you are a resident and share your concerns about Woodfibre LNG.

Why Woodfibre LNG should NOT be granted an extension to their Environmental Assessment Certificate:

The purpose of the review process is to assess Woodfibre LNG's rationale for requesting an extension to their Environmental Assessment Certificate, and to identify new information that has come to light since the certificate was granted that could change the conclusions reached in the original environmental assessment. This could include: new scientific or technical information; government policy changes; legal/regulatory expectations; physical changes to the airshed, watershed, or equivalent; previously unknown or undetected effects; and new information regarding Indigenous interests.

READ OUR LETTER HERE

For example:

• There is no update on timelines for a Final Investment Decision, and no mention of actual construction plans in Woodfibre LNG’s extension application. Woodfibre LNG’s past FID in November 2016 does not appear to have been genuine which calls into question the credibility of the proponent.
• The price of LNG in Asia collapsed long before COVID-19 due to a glut in supply and unusually warm winters that have reduced demand. Before Woodfibre LNG is granted an extension to their EAC, they should be able to demonstrate a solid business case for their project, confirm project financing, and make a Final Investment Decision.
• Renewable energy is outcompeting BC LNG: the cost of producing and shipping BC’s LNG to China is estimated at US$8 per MMBTU. Installing renewable energy is estimated at US$4 per MMBTU.
• To use the current COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for delay is unconscionable and opportunistic. The delays encountered to date are instead due to poor judgement and poor management over the last five years.
• Since the EAC was granted in October 2015, new scientific research has emerged that we believe would change the conclusions reached in the original environmental assessment. For example:
  • 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warning that we must immediately reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in order to limit warming to 1.5 °Celsius to avoid worsening the long-lasting and irreversible impacts of climate change.
  • Committed emissions from existing energy infrastructure jeopardize the 1.5°C climate target. This means that we cannot build new fossil fuel infrastructure if we want to achieve climate targets.
  • Declaration of a “climate emergency” by 11,258 scientists, with recommendations to: replace fossil fuels with low-carbon renewables; leave remaining stocks of fossil fuels in the ground; support poorer nations in transitioning away from fossil fuels; eliminate fossil fuel subsidies; and increase carbon pricing.
  • Woodfibre LNG will increase local GHG emissions by 142,100 tonnes of CO2-equivalent every year. This does not include upstream emissions from fracking, emissions from shipping, regasification, or the emissions when the LNG is burned at the final point of combustion. These are local emissions only.
• Policy changes that have occurred since October 2015 that would affect the BC EAO’s decision include:
  • Local governments around Howe Sound have expressed their continued opposition to Woodfibre LNG, or called for conditions to be added to hold Woodfibre LNG accountable for their greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Declaration of a climate emergency by 475 communities across Canada.
  • Declaration of a climate emergency by the Federal government in 2019.
  • Clean BC and the newly legislated targets of 40% below 2007 levels by 2030; 60% by 2040; and 80% by 2050.
  • 2019 Climate Change Accountability Act
  • 2019 Changes to the Fisheries Act.
• Woodfibre LNG has failed to meaningfully engage with Howe Sound communities and incorporate their feedback into project design and development. Citizens feel that their concerns have been ignored, disregarded, and dismissed. This is reflected in the need for two amendments, both of which could have been avoided if the proponent had listened to initial community feedback provided in 2014 and pro-actively adjusted their project design, or planned to build legacy housing for construction workers prior to applying for an Environmental Assessment Certificate.
• This is a highly contentious project, and more than 20,000 people have signed a declaration in opposition to Woodfibre LNG and its associated pipelines and tankers.
• If Woodfibre LNG receives an extension to their environmental assessment certificate, it commits Howe Sound to forty years of fossil fuel exports, with impacts to human health, our safety, our environment, our communities, and our climate.

References:

Keane, D (2020) David Keane, Woodfibre LNG to Michael Shepard, BC Environmental Assessment Office, 24th March 2020. Letter re: Extension to Woodfibre LNG Limited’s Environmental Assessment Certificate (#E15-02). 8 pp.

BC EAO (2020) Certificate Extension Policy, Version 1.0. Published 24th April 2020. 9 pp.

Saxby T and Finn E (2020) My Sea to Sky to District of Squamish re: Proposed 5-year extension to Woodfibre LNG’s environmental assessment certificate (#E15-02). Letter 8th May 2020.

Bluegold Research (2020) Regional LNG Prices (Monthly Average). Website accessed 2020-05-03.

IPCC (2018) Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. 630 pp.

Ripple WJ et al. (2019) World scientists’ warning of a climate emergency. BioScience, biz088.

IEA (2019) The Role of Gas in Today’s Energy Transitions

IEA (2020) World Energy Outlook 2019