District of Squamish rejects $142M Woodfibre LNG deal | CBC News

Woodfibre LNG proposed a contribution of at least $142 million over 10 years to the community

The District of Squamish has rejected a deal that would have seen the operators of the Woodfibre LNG project contribute $142 million over 10 years.

During a special business meeting on Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. PT, council voted on the proposed community enhancement payment agreement (CEPA) and revitalized tax exemption (RTE) for Woodfibre LNG (WLNG).

If approved, the agreement would have commenced in 2027. Without the agreement in place, the district says it would continue to rely on regular property taxation on the WLNG property.

Woodfibre LNG is currently the only property in the district that is a Class 4 Major Industry.

The use of the funds would have been subject to council approval, and $117 million would have been used for direct community payments — for wastewater, stormwater system repair and replacements, flood protection, recreation investments, transportation upgrades and climate adaptation and mitigation.

Part of the deal would have been for WLNG to pay $25 million, capped at $2.5 million per year plus inflation, through the RTE.

The agreement would have resulted in the resolution of three existing lawsuits against the district, filed by WLNG in relation to taxation in 2025 and 2026, among other matters.

"I still don't think the deal is quite where I want it to be, and I don't think it's a good enough deal for our community," Stoner said.

She said the CEPA contributions would not be indexed to inflation, and the overall deal put the district at greater risk and liability.

"We know that our costs are only escalating over the next 10 years, and not having those core payments of the Community Enhancement Payments indexed to inflation makes this really challenging at the same time," Stoner said.

Coun. Lauren Greenlaw seconded the motion, and said instead of sticking with the more typical taxation structure, the district was "losing some of our protection" with the CEPA and RTE agreements.