Wood waste spill at Woodfibre LNG site

On Thursday, September 8, a spill occurred at the Woodfibre LNG site, which is located about seven kilometres southwest of downtown Squamish in British Columbia, Canada.

The spill happened during routine maintenance on the site’s industrial landfill, which contains historical wood waste from former pulp mill operations, Woodfibre LNG said in its report of the spill.

A pipe connected to the landfill was being flushed with water, when it broke, spilling about 3,000 litres of wash water and leachate. The spill was primarily contained in a containment sump and quickly cleaned up using a commercial vacuum truck that was onsite as part of the scheduled maintenance work.

The spill was reported to the BC Ministry of Environment and Emergency Management BC for further investigation.

“Fortunately, the majority of what was spilled was water,” said Jennifer Siddon, senior manager, corporate communications, Woodfibre LNG Limited, “but the spill does underscore the challenges of managing a 100-year-old industrial site.”

A sample of the spilled wash water and leachate has been collected for further analysis, the Woodfibre LNG’s statement reads.

Woodfibre LNG, a subsidiary of Pacific Oil & Gas Limited, which is part of the Singapore-based RGE group of companies, is looking to build a 2.1 mtpa liquefaction plant which will include a 250,000-cbm storage tank and export infrastructure with three to four ships expected to load at the facility each month.

In March this year, the project has been granted an environmental approval by Canada’s minister of environment and climate change Catherine McKenna.

LNG engineer KBR has been contracted to provide FEED service for the proposed project.

LNG World News Staff