The City of Delta is waiting for additional information.
That’s according to a staff report to council on the proposed second phase of the FortisBC LNG expansion at Tilbury.
The Phase 2 Expansion proposes to add 162,000 cubic metres of additional LNG storage and up to 3.5 million tonnes of LNG liquefaction capacity per year.
A Delta staff report notes the total LNG storage at the Tilbury LNG facility once the expansion is done could end up being 236,000 cubic metres.
The purpose of expansion is to connect to FortisBC's existing LNG facilities to supply natural gas to utility customers as well as supply LNG for the proposed adjacent Tilbury Marine Jetty project.
The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office are working cooperatively for the initial phase of the project review.
The province has asked that both federal and provincial environmental assessments to be completed through a single review process.
The 90-Day Early Engagement phase for the Phase 2 Expansion is already underway and ends on July 26. After that phase, the Environmental Assessment Office will determine whether the project moves into the next phase.
It’s expected that the environmental assessment won’t completed until late 2021 at the earliest.
Delta staff are requesting that further details be included with the detailed project description and that FortisBC ensures they consult with Delta's Fire and Emergency Services department as details are developed and potential impacts assessed.
The initial project description does not include offsite power line and gas line upgrades, the Delta report notes, adding that the city is seeking confirmation that no additional offsite upgrades are required for the expansion other than those identified in the completed first phase of expansion.
Delta council didn’t discuss the staff report.
Richmond city council this week voted to send senior levels of government a message that the expansion isn’t welcome, citing risks to the Fraser River, wildlife and air.
A list of concerns were compiled by Richmond staff about the proposed expansion.
Meanwhile, the separate application to build an LNG facility adjacent to the FortisBC plant has gone through a change.
It was recently announced that the WesPac Tilbury Marine Jetty project has been renamed the Tilbury Marine Jetty Project and Tilbury Jetty Limited Partnership is replacing WesPac Midstream-Vancouver LLC as the proponent.
The Delta staff report notes Tilbury Limited Partnership is a partnership between affiliates of FortisBC and Seaspan.
That proposed project would load LNG from the FortisBC facility onto ships for both local use and overseas export.
The marine jetty would provide berthing and loading facilities for up to 69 LNG carriers a year to serve offshore markets and up to 69 LNG bunker vessels to serve local and regional markets.
The maximum size of the LNG carrier would be approximately 250 metres in length, the report adds.
That project was originally proposed in 2015 and is currently undergoing a separate environmental assessment, but the review is currently suspended at day 139 of the 180-day Application Review period. The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office will lift the suspension once it is satisfied that the issues related to the marine shipping component of the assessment have been fully assessed.
The report also notes that upon completion of the review phase, the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office will provide a report and recommendations on whether or not to issue an environmental assessment certificate.
There will be an opportunity for Delta to provide comments on that draft assessment report and if the project receives an environmental assessment certificate, Delta's approval of rezoning will also be required, according to the report.
