LNG - Fracking

Wednesday, September 9, 2015 1:12 PM

Press Release September 9, 2015

9 Allied Tribes of Lax'walams Support Hereditary Chiefs LeLu Island Camp To Stop Proposed LNG Plant.

Hereditary Chiefs & House Leaders of the Lax'walams First Nation have established a Camp on LeLu Island to stop further work on the proposed LNG Plant on the Flora Bank, a pristine fishing location.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015 1:12 PM

Press Release September 9, 2015

9 Allied Tribes of Lax'walams Support Hereditary Chiefs LeLu Island Camp To Stop Proposed LNG Plant.

Hereditary Chiefs & House Leaders of the Lax'walams First Nation have established a Camp on LeLu Island to stop further work on the proposed LNG Plant on the Flora Bank, a pristine fishing location.

FORT NELSON, BC / Treaty 8 Territory, Sept. 7, 2015 /CNW/ - Fort Nelson First Nation (FNFN) has won a major legal challenge against the BC government and Nexen Inc., an upstream oil and gas company. The first long-term water license granted in the Horn River Basin for shale gas fracking has been cancelled, effective immediately, by the Environmental Appeal Board (EAB).

The license, issued to Nexen in 2012, authorized the company to pump millions of cubic meters of water from Tsea Lake, a small lake in FNFN territory, each year until 2017.

Proposed LNG projects are under pressure as prices are stuck in the US$7-US$8 per million British thermal unit range, compared to the US$11-US$12 needed long-term to make project economics work.

A new LNG project envisioned for Vancouver Island would accept natural gas via an underwater pipeline that would weave from Washington State through the Gulf Islands, according to a proposal released Tuesday.

The liquefied natural gas project, which already has the backing of the Malahat First Nation, was announced last month. The proponent, Steelhead LNG Corp., has retained Williams Cos. Inc. to build the 128-kilometre pipeline – starting with a 53-km segment in Washington State and then extending 75 km underwater.

At least two earthquakes in British Columbia over the past year – including one last week – are among the largest ever caused by natural gas fracking in North America and were both strong enough to force temporary shutdowns of operations.

But while the province’s oil and natural gas ministry as well as the shale gas industry have both played down the severity of fracking-induced quakes – insisting they are rare and present no threat to people or buildings – experts caution much is still not known about just how strong a fracking-induced earthquake could be.

“Everybody outside the Northwest thinks that’s where energy projects go to die.” That’s the reputation our region has earned as an increasing number of proposed coal and oil export projects have encountered ferocious opposition.

The B.C. Oil and Gas Commission is investigating the cause of a 4.6 magnitude earthquake earlier this week that triggered the shutdown of a major fracking operation just a few kilometres away.

The earthquake struck on Monday afternoon, some 110 kilometres north of Fort St. John, and was felt in Charlie Lake, Fort St. John and Wonowon.

The earthquake's epicentre was just three kilometres from Progress Energy's fracking site, which the company immediately shut down, even though their activities have not been linked to the quake.

Below is a translation from the August 20 edition of the Montreal-based newspaper, Le Devoir.

EDMONTON - New research suggests that this week's restrictions on withdrawing water from the Athabasca River for oilsands use are a preview of what the industry will face under climate change.

Alberta's energy regulator has suspended a total of 73 temporary industry licences to take water from the Athabasca because of low flows.

A recent paper published in the journal Climate Change suggests such disruptions will become more common and increase by up to 40 per cent by mid-century.