Powerhouse Pacific NorthWest LNG Project Approved
By Heather Douglas
Last fall, the federal government approved the $11.4 billion Pacific NorthWest LNG mega-project, a key part of the $36 billion investment by Petronas, Malaysia’s state-owned global energy company, to build a pipeline, terminal, and natural gas extraction network in western Canada.
The LNG plant will be constructed on Lelu Island, near Prince Rupert, and is designed to ship 19 million tonnes annually (mtpa) to Asia. The feds have imposed 190 conditions the company must meet before it can start building the first phase of its export facilities.
B.C. Premier, Christy Clark was pleased as this approval was part of her government’s strategic plan to boost the province’s economy and, she hopes, propel her government to re-election this spring. “This project represents an unprecedented opportunity to create thousands of jobs and new economic prospects for First Nations and communities throughout our province,” Clark said at a joint news conference hosted by the two levels of government.
“This facility has now completed two extensive environmental reviews, including a federal process lasting more than three years,” added Clark. “This review was based on the best, most extensive scientific assessments, and has been granted from both the federal and provincial governments.”
Indigenous Peoples Offered $1.2 Billion in Benefits
Petronas, through its subsidiary, Pacific Northwest, reports it has signed $1.2 billion benefits agreements and accords with most of First Nations who could be impacted by the project. Joseph Bevan, elected chief councilor of the Kitselas First Nation, welcomed the project, saying it allows his community to benefit from the development.
Other Indigenous Peoples are prepared to take the company to court claiming encroachment on traditional territories and unresolved land claims. “We are not going anywhere off Lelu Island, that’s a given,” said Don Wesley, a hereditary chief who has led an occupation of the island and is threating to drag Pacific Northwest into a complex and onerous litigation process.
Despite Prime Minister Trudeau and Clark’s support, a coalition of BC elected officials, First Nations leaders, and environmentalists roundly denounced the project, predicting it would become “Canada’s No. 1 greenhouse-gas pollution facility, emitting an estimated nine million tonnes per year, and threaten the Skeena watershed salmon.”
Several hereditary chiefs with the Gitxsan First Nation are in Vancouver announced their opposition to the LNG project on January 10, 2017. The group’s traditional territory is in northwestern B.C., where the proposed terminal would be built. The chiefs say the project will be harmful to fish in the Skeena River and infringes on the First Nation’s fishing rights.
“The Canadian government’s decision to approve this project did not respect our fishing rights protected under the Canadian Constitution,” said Gitxsan Hereditary Chief Yvonne Lattie in a statement. “We were not consulted.”
Environmentalists were also displeased. “It’s a major step backwards and I predict Canada will miss its Paris climate targets,” reported Dr. George Hoberg, with the B.C. Institute of Global Issues, professor of environmental and natural resources policy. The federal government committed to reduce this country’s emissions by 30 per cent (by 2030) and this makes those targets harder to achieve, he added.
Dominic LeBlanc, federal minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard (DFO), disagreed claiming that scientists had conducted” thorough reviews” throughout the process and “determined the potential risks to fish and fish habitant can be mitigated.”
LNG Sanction Key Move to Endorse More Pipelines
The feds are betting that LNG prices will be strong by 2020 and onwards, fueled by an increasing demand in Asia for secure energy supplies. They believe Pacific Northwest project is an opportunity which cannot be taken for granted, saying that cost competitiveness and time of entry are important to enable Canada to succeed in the growing global LNG market.
According to several federal bureaucrats within the Departments of Environment and Energy, the federal Liberal cabinet authorized the project as “environmentally sound,” with an eye to approving new pipelines to ship that natural gas from the prolific basins of northeastern B.C. to the coast. “This is one move in a three-dimensional chess game,” one official remarked. “It establishes a template to give the green light to oil pipelines, such as the twining of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain line from Alberta to the lower mainland.”
The B.C. Chamber of Commerce supported the approval. “This will be the largest private-sector development in our country’s history, and the decision is a monumental step toward securing not only the future of BC., but could also mean a much-needed boost for the Canadian economy,” said Val Litwin, the Chamber’s president and CEO.
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