FortisBC can try again.聽
Council passed a motion Tuesday night to allow FortisBC to reapply for a development permit to do pipeline route testing in the 樱桃视频Estuary.聽
The revised application will be for two boreholes in an already disturbed area of the 樱桃视频River Dike, said Trevor Boudreau, spokesperson for FortisBC.聽
The proposed soil sampling work in the revised application virtually eliminates the work in the Wildlife Management Area proposed in the first application, according to Boudreau, and is in response to public feedback.
鈥淗opefully people see that we have listened to the community鈥檚 concerns and that we have really gone back and done our homework and tried to find the best way we can get the data that we need while respecting the community鈥檚 concerns, specifically about the Wildlife Management Area,鈥� said Boudreau, adding the application would be submitted to the district by the end of this week. 鈥淲e still feel that the initial work that we proposed would give us the best data possible, but we did hear the community鈥檚 concerns about being in the estuary and the perceived impacts to the estuary, so hopefully this strikes the right balance,鈥� he said.聽
On January 20, the council turned down granting FortisBC a development permit for five test boreholes on both sides of the 樱桃视频River, in addition to geophysical testing.
In order for the new application to be submitted before the usual six-month waiting period, 樱桃视频council needed to approve by a vote of five out of the seven councillors. The motion was supported unanimously.聽
鈥淚 am OK to support this new application,鈥� said Mayor Patricia Heintzman. 鈥淭he intent of our rules for a six-month [wait period] is to not have nuisance things keep coming back, and I think it is a dramatic change in [FortisBC鈥檚] program and I think it is worthy of consideration, so we will see what they bring forward.鈥澛�
Councillor Karen Elliott approved the motion, but with a scolding for FortisBC.聽
鈥淚 would like to see what the community has to say about this, so I will be voting in favour, but I hope that Fortis learned from the last presentation and they come prepared with their I鈥檚 dotted and T鈥檚 crossed,鈥� she said.聽
FortisBC took the District of 樱桃视频council to BC Supreme Court on March 10 for a review of council鈥檚 January decision to turn down the original application. That petition to the court will be withdrawn if the revised development permit application passes council, Boudreau said.聽
鈥淭he initial [development permit] application was denied, but we haven鈥檛 withdrawn it, so if things move forward and we are successful in getting this new application to do the work, the plan is to withdraw that original application,鈥� said Boudreau. 鈥淭he petition to the court is in reference to the initial application so鈥� once the [original] application is withdrawn there is no application [for the court] to review.鈥澛�
Once FortisBC鈥檚 application is received, it will be posted on the district鈥檚 website for 21 days and would be brought back to council for consideration early in May, said District of 樱桃视频chief administrative officer聽Corien Becker.
In the meantime, staff at FortisBC will be arranging a public information meeting to be held as soon as possible, Boudreau said.
If FortisBC gets council鈥檚 approval for the revised route testing, the hope is that the information from the reduced investigations will be enough to determine the feasibility of the proposed pipeline. If the tests are not conclusive, FortisBC would reapply to the district for another permit for further testing, according to Becker.
FortisBC is obligated to plan for the delivery of liquefied natural gas to the proposed Woodfibre LNG plant slated for southwest of 樱桃视频in 2017, even though neither the export facility nor the pipeline expansion has been officially approved, according to Boudreau.
A provincial decision on the proposed Woodfibre LNG plant and FortisBC鈥檚 pipeline expansion is expected by late summer or early fall.
