Shawnigan Lake residents say they are not going to leave anything to chance and are mobilizing now to stop a liquefied natural gas plant proposed for the former Bamberton lands on the Saanich Inlet.
More than 100 residents attended a town hall meeting at Shawnigan Lake Community Centre to make clear the community wants no part of Steelhead LNG’s plans for a floating facility capable of producing six million tonnes of LNG a year. The facility is still in the design phase. Both Steelhead and its partner the Malahat First Nation have said it will be at least five years before anything is built at the site.
Residents listened to speakers who addressed the environmental issues surrounding the proposed plant, the troubling economics of LNG and the tactics of the company behind the project, but they seemed more keen on building momentum to take the fight to Steelhead.
Shawnigan Lake resident Barane McCartney said town hall meetings are key to getting people to act. “I think most people are still in a state of believing that: ‘No, this isn’t going to happen, it’s so insane this will not happen,’ ” she said. “I have gone door to door along Mill Bay Road trying to get people to put [up signs] and they all say: ‘It’s years away, it will never happen.’
“It’s such a horrifically crazy idea most people can’t even wrap their heads around it.”
McCartney said she’s taking no chances as the provincial government is a big LNG booster. “They are not going to help us in this fight,” she said. “This is about standing together with First Nations. This is not going away, it’s going to be a very long fight.”
Many residents agreed that they have learned lessons about getting engaged and speaking out from the fight over the dumping of contaminated soil at South Island Aggregates near Shawnigan Lake.
“I don’t really want to be here, but I feel I have to be, we have to stand up,” said one homeowner who did not want to be identified.
Environmentalist and author Guy Dauncey, one of the speakers, said he hoped the meeting served to arm residents for what could be a long fight.
“I hope they take away detailed knowledge,” he said. “In order to have an informed engagement, people have to know the details of ecological impacts, of sound impacts, about properties and not just have vagaries.”
Dauncey said residents should ask questions about the types of pollution generated by an LNG plant, what impact treated water will have when discharged in Saanich Inlet, what effect the constant noise will have and what an industrial plant will do to property values. “The more people know of the details, the more they are going to be able to engage constructively while being opposed to it,” he said.
He said if and when the Saanich Peninsula — with more resources and influence than the west side of the Saanich Inlet — gets involved in protest, it could change the game.
“The will to stop it will be so strong,” he said.
In his presentation, Dauncey said residents who oppose the plant are part of a revolution against fossil fuels. “It’s in full swing,” he said of the increased adoption of solar power, alternative fuels and the adoption of hybrid and electric cars. “We don’t need to vilify fossil fuels. None of us would have our technology today, we couldn’t build solar panels today without the engineering and science thanks to fossil fuels. But we need to say ‘thank you’ and move on.”
Meeting organizer Chris Clay, owner of Warmland Medicinal Cannabis Centre in Mill Bay, said the meeting was just the beginning.
“I think people are starting to realize [the LNG facility] could happen,” he said. “So many I’ve spoken with don’t think it’s going forward, but they don’t seem to realize Steelhead is infiltrating the community.”
Clay said he was spurred to act after Steelhead joined the local chamber of commerce, found retail space in Mill Bay for a community relations office and started running LNG 101 sessions, at which “spin doctors wined and dined residents and glossed over concerns.”
Clay said despite what he called “activism fatigue” as a result of the fight over contaminated soil, the community is rallying around the protest over LNG. “I hope tonight is the start of building the momentum to fight back,” he said.
Adam Olsen, former interim leader of the B.C. Green Party, told the meeting it’s time to take action.
“Malahat LNG is happening, the moment they spoke about it, it started happening, they have a desire to get this through at least to approval.””
