Workers on Woodfibre LNG floatel won’t have ‘recreational’ access to Squamish

The roughly 650 workers who will live on the Woodfibre LNG floatel—a massive former cruise ship named MV Isabelle—won’t have ‘recreational’ access to Squamish. As part of the EAO Certificate Amendment, ‘workers residing on the floatel will not be permitted marine-based transportation off the floatel to access the District for recreation, entertainment, or other non-work-related activities.’

The District of Squamish invites the public to a ‘Public Input Opportunity’ for the proposed floatel at Woodfibre LNG at Brennan Park Recreation Centre on 6 pm at April 23.

Workers must remain at the floatel for the duration of their shift rotation and will be transported back to Lower Mainland after completing their 14-day shift rotation. Sean Beardow, a media relations for Woodfibre LNG, said the regulatory conditions for the project and the company’s plans to house non-local workforce are the result of extensive community, District and Squamish Nation consultation, including thousands of comments from members of the public.

“These conditions require that non-local workers have no access to the community of Squamish during their 14-day shift rotations. Non-local workers are transported to and from the floatel by boat to reduce traffic impacts and are returned to Vancouver so they can travel to their home communities for their seven days off-shift,” he said.

He said Woodfibre LNG currently employs 11 local Squamish residents and has 36 construction management personnel living on the company’s leased apartment premises in Squamish.

Though workers won’t be allowed, WLNG says there will be opportunities for local businesses to contract their services to Woodfibre LNG, and these may include laundry services, restaurants, catering companies, and health and wellness programmers. The company will support local and indigenous employment and contracting opportunities, skills training, and education, it said.

“When the Temporary Use Permit for the floatel is approved by the District of Squamish, the company will be able to place more emphasis on facilitating local business opportunities, including through partnerships with businesses that are part of the Nch’kay Development Corporation business registry,” the company said.

Woodfibre LNG Floatel: Key points

All workers on the Project who were not residents of the District of Squamish prior to September 20, 2023, are required to reside on the floatel or other company-designated housing outside Squamish municipal boundaries. Woodfibre LNG may provide exceptions on a case-by case basis for residents of the Sea-to-Sky Corridor or members of Indigenous communities.

Transportation will include using ferries from the lower mainland to move workers to and from site. Private vehicle use will be limited.

Use of hotels in Squamish is not permitted other than for short-term use, not regularly recurring stays of no more than five nights. This applies to Woodfibre LNG and all contractors, subcontractors and suppliers on the project and can be varied only by a written exception from Woodfibre LNG President or named designate. Where short-term hotel stays are required in limited or extenuating circumstances, the contractor and subcontractors must provide the guest’s name, company affiliation and duration of stay in advance, to Woodfibre LNG. Woodfibre LNG will track, log, and consolidate this information to provide to regulators, including the District of Squamish, Indigenous Groups and provincial agencies as requested.

Woodfibre LNG requires the construction workforce to live on the floatel once available and will not provide Living-Out-Allowances (LOAs). All Woodfibre LNG contractors, subcontractors and suppliers are also prohibited from providing living out allowances. • Everyone on the Project will have access to medical services on-site.

No guests will be allowed on the floatel unless they have permission from site security and are escorted. Access to the community will not be provided for floatel residents, unless in the case of an emergency that requires health care services not provided on site, or for specific business reasons.

During construction, Woodfibre LNG will prepare a bi-weekly report related to worker housing including the numbers, locations, and duration of stay for all on-boarding workforce and provide the report upon request to the EAO, Indigenous Groups and the District of Squamish.

Non-local workers will muster in Vancouver and be transported by water to the floatel (or other interim accommodation) without having any access to the community of Squamish.