A proposed floating hotel to house hundreds of construction workers from the Woodfibre LNG project near Squamish is being reconsidered after it was rejected by the local municipal council.Earlier this week councillors narrowly voted to reconsider the application at its June 4 council meeting after previously rejecting it in April.The company is applying for a temporary use permit (TUP) to house 650 construction workers on a refitted cruise ship about seven kilometres from the downtown core..The project itself is to be located on native land adjacent the municipality. But local residents have cited unfounded safety issues and concerns over social disorder when in fact many are opposed to the project itself because they’re simply against fossil fuel development.Last spring the council denied a porta-potty licence on the grounds that natural gas emissions — presumably the human kind — were just as bad as coal.More recently, a group called Justice for Girls is concerned the ‘floatel’ will create a licentious ‘boomtown’ social environment and pose a safety hazard for women and children in the town. “We need to demand that our governments do more to prevent the human rights abuses connected to LNG export projects like Woodfibre LNG,” it said. “Teenage girls are at particularly high risk of sexual assault, exploitation, and trafficking in our communities. Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people are disproportionately likely to experience violence, to disappear, or be killed due to their race and gender.”But this time several key councillors had a change of heart after the company offered to increase a proposed surety bond to $10 million from $2 million previously — as had been demanded — and provide other assurances of responsible conduct.The town also wants to approve a ‘gender and cultural safety’ plan, waste management, air quality and noise monitoring previously approved in its environmental assessment certificate the company says are outside its jurisdiction.It is also accusing the council for the “seeming lack of recognition” of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) jurisdiction and project approvals from the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office (EAO)..A letter from Woodfibre president Christine Kennedy containing vague threats of legal action against the district furthered the cause for reconsidering the request, lest the council seem unnecessarily ‘unreasonable’ in any potential lawsuit.“I hope you will recognize the problematic nature of the decision-making to date concerning this TUP and I sincerely hope that we can avoid any further delay, and any litigation, in this matter,” she wrote.Company representatives reportedly declined to speak publicly to the meeting. Instead, they’ve invited local media to tour the boat, which is harboured in Vancouver from Estonia where it previously housed Ukrainian refugees, and published an open letter to Squamish residents urging the council to reconsider the permit..Predictably, local environmental groups were outraged. My Sea-to-Sky, which has spearheaded the campaign against Woodfibre, accused the company of pressure tactics and has applied for a judicial review of the federal Impact Assessment Agency decision allowing it to proceed.“It takes a lot of courage for a small local government to stand up to a multi-billion dollar fossil fuel company,” the group said on its website.After previously celebrating what it said was a major victory, MStS executive director Tracey Saxby accused the council of procedural injustice.“This latest request from Woodfibre LNG for council to reconsider its decision to deny the temporary use permit for its proposed floatel is the farthest thing from a demonstration of functional democracy or procedural fairness,” she told council, as per the Squamish Chief. “No one else is looking out for the best interest of Squamish except for you, our local elected leaders.”
