Where do I stand with WLNG 10-Year Agreement

Unfortunately, I would encourage council to vote no on the WLNG 10-year agreement. I support the financial gains that Squamish and the community will receive through the CEPA. However, the amount agreed on ($117M) is not representative to the estimated revenue WLNG will be making year over year. Additionally, we risk handcuffing future councils from properly taxing major industry to pay for the massive capital costs our town faces. Squamish should not sell our long term financial leverage for short term gains. We should dynamically tax large industrial projects based on their true impact to our community.

It is important to also recognize the amount of revenue WLNG stands to make. WLNG is built to currently export 2.1 million tonnes of liquified natural gas each year. They have signed a 15-year agreement with BP to sell 100% of the LNG to. This would mean, depending on the price of a tonne of LNG (anywhere between $400-$700), revenue would be approx. $1,000,000,000 - $1,500,000,000! Yes you read that right, $1 BILLION to $1.5 BILLION dollars over the same 10 years. Assuming they don’t expand which would be surprising as the whole LNG is built modularly, I would expect the proposed financial arrangement to be representative of their revenue. Not 1% of their facility will pull in yearly.

With that being said, $8M today will have dramatically less buying power in 2034, 2035, 2036. Looking backwards in time, $8M 10 years ago would be the equivalent of about $11M today. I cannot tell you what the world will have in store for us economically in 10 years, but I am sure the buying power wont be the same.

The urgency of this vote is also concerning. There is no reason one of the most decisive impacts to Squamish of my time should be made with haste. The community should raise their concerns as would be expected with any major projects. I encourage everyone to talk openly about this and listen to both sides of the same coin. I feel like the community has been talking and listening to all sides regarding WLNG. City hall and all the councilors need to come to the agreement that, the capital that WLNG will provide will directly benefit the community.

A no today isn’t a no forever.

I would like to hear from you, what do you think of this agreement?