Dear Editor:
As a former seafarer I take issue with Angus Mitchell, whose Sept. 21 rant against West Vancouver council's stand on LNG in Howe Sound indicates a profound lack of understanding of LNG -associated problems.
The Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators has a set of criteria, accepted by virtually the entire world LNG industry, for the safe siting of an LNG terminal. The first and overriding criterion is that there is no - zero - acceptable probability for a catastrophic LNG release.
Rules for terminal siting include: Not where vapours from a spill could affect civilians; Far from the ship transit fairway; Must not conflict with other waterway uses; Avoid long, narrow inland waterways; Not on waterways containing navigation hazards; and Not on the outside curve of the waterway.
The final criterion is a reaffirmation of the universal truth that the potential for human error always exists and must not be disregarded - think Titanic, Chernobyl, Exxon Valdez, Queen of the North, Costa Concordia, Lac Megantic, Mount Polley.. .. Woodfibre, on the outside curve near the head of a long, narrow, busy, populated inland waterway, fails to meet a single one of the siting criteria. How come the
B.C. government did not immediately reject it as an LNG terminal site?
LNG tankers are monster ships - twice as long, twice as wide, taller than and ten times the tonnage of our big B.C. ferries. Their 50,000 ton cargo of liquid methane packs, I am told, is the thermal equivalent of several Hiroshima bombs. Due to their big sail area and relatively shallow draft, to stay on track they must keep moving at eight to 10 knots. Their stopping distance is only a little less than the distance from Point Atkinson to Stanley Park. Their passage causes significant surface waves and surges. Stand by for damage claims along the route!
For safety reasons all vessels of every kind are prohibited within a one mile exclusion zone around the laden tanker. Much of Howe Sound being less than two miles wide, this is bound to play havoc with normal commercial and recreational traffic, particularly during boating season.
No! Council got it right.
Woodfibre is no place for a terminal. LNG in Howe Sound would be madness. Bravo West Vancouver council!
Roger Sweeny
West Vancouver
