WATCH: Feds announce $200 million investment in Woodfibre LNG

The federal government has announced a $200 million investment in Woodfibre LNG, which will be spread out over the next three years.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson revealed the move in Vancouver on Friday alongside Premier-designate Lorne Doerkson, Squamish Nation Chairperson Wilson Williams, and Woodfibre LNG CEO Luke Schauerte.

Hodgson said the investment will improve the facility's export capacity — thereby helping Canada double non-US trade — and "create significant opportunities in the Squamish region."

The operation has the ability to produce around 2.1 million tonnes of LNG every year thanks to a number of innovations, including electric compressors.

One thing that sets Woodfibre LNG apart is the fact that it is the first major industrial project in Canada to be approved with a non-treaty, Indigenous-led environmental assessment.

"This represents what is possible when Indigenous decision-making is respected right from the start," Williams said, "however, the work is not finished. We will keep working with our Woodfibre team, our leadership counterparts with the provincial and federal governments, to make sure this project remains something not only our community can be proud of, but the province can be proud of, and Canada can be proud of."

His sentiments were shared by Doerkson, who welcomed the feds' move.

"I've had a great opportunity to travel around the province, and the one question that's come up whether I'm in the Cariboo, whether I'm in the Okanagan, the Island, or Metro [Vancouver] is whether we can still build big things in this province — and today is proof that we can," he said. "Our resources are the strongest hand that BC holds — and Woodfibre is what it looks like when we play it."

A number of residents along the Sea to Sky have raised concerns about Woodfibre LNG, namely around flaring. On October 28, officials revealed that they had sent an application to the BC Energy Regulator for a Waste Discharge Authorization permit for air emissions.

A number of public events have been scheduled between November 17 and December 3 to provide more information. Concerned citizens have until November 29 to submit comments to Woodfibre LNG.

"We have a number of different mitigations that we've put in place for Phase 1," Schauerte said when asked by Sitka Media what his team is doing to mitigate those concerns. "We've done a lot of work to be sure that those impacts are understood and communicated, and we're in the middle of that engagement with the SLRD as well as the District of Squamish region and Squamish Nation to make sure everybody feels safe and understands what the impacts would be."

He added that such processes will be repeated as production ramps up, and that Woodfibre LNG will "continue to be committed to reducing impacts, including flaring."