British Columbia

VICTORIA — Hans Schreier has spent a career studying B.C.’s water supply, charting a resource that most of the province seemed to ignore until this summer’s drought.

“I worked for 30 years in water and nobody cared,” said Schreier, a University of B.C. emeritus professor of watershed management. “Now everybody wants information.”

A scorching hot summer, abnormally low rainfall and dwindling reservoirs meant there wasn’t enough water to sprinkle lawns, fill pools or wash cars in Metro Vancouver and many other cities across B.C.

Northern B.C. First Nation members say they stopped Malaysian state-controlled Petronas, the company behind an $11.4-billion liquefied natural gas terminal, from starting test ocean drilling in northwest B.C. this weekend.

The 33-metre Quin Delta drill ship, owned by Gregg Marine in California, and a barge were moved into the waters off Lelu Island near Prince Rupert by Pacific NorthWest LNG early Saturday morning.

Some equipment was set up before First Nations went out to the ship and asked the workers to stop, said Joey Wesley, a Lax Kw’alaams First Nation member.

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.

A year after Imperial Metals’ (TSX: III; US-OTC: IPMLF) Mount Polly mine released 25 million cubic metres of waste into British Columbia’s Fraser River watershed after its tailings dam broke, a new report claims that the rate of serious tailings dam failures is increasing.

A year after Imperial Metals’ (TSX: III; US-OTC: IPMLF) Mount Polly mine released 25 million cubic metres of waste into British Columbia’s Fraser River watershed after its tailings dam broke, a new report claims that the rate of serious tailings dam failures is increasing.

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.