What is your response to the concerns regarding the proposed cooling system? “The once-through seawater cooling system proposed by Woodfibre LNG is unacceptable. They want to suck up 17,000 tonnes of seawater from Howe Sound every hour, chlorinate it, heat it, and then spit it back out into the sound. This method has been banned in California and several other places as it is very damaging to marine life such as juvenile salmon, herring, and plankton which are the building blocks for all other life in Howe Sound. They want to dump 17,000 tonnes of hot, chlorinated sea water every single hour which is equivalent to 7 Olympic-sized 50-meter swimming pools. This will likely reverse the recent revival of marine life in Howe Sound.”

Hi BAUM,

Thank you for your question.

As a result of our environmental agreement with Squamish Nation, the Woodfibre LNG Project will use air cooling – and not seawater cooling – to cool our liquefaction plant.

The Squamish Nation selected air cooling in October 2016, and the BC Environmental Assessment Office approved of the change to the Woodfibre LNG Project on July 12, 2017.

Sincerely,

The Woodfibre LNG Team