LNG - Fracking

The federal government has pushed the pause button on a final decision for the Pacific NorthWest LNG (PNW) project, delaying it by three months until the company provides more information on environmental and Aboriginal impacts.

This includes: effects on fish and fish habitat including the Flora Bank, effects on marine mammals, effects of construction noise and light on human health, and effects on current Aboriginal use of lands and resources for traditional purposes.

The federal department, Environment and Climate Change Canada, has given the green light to the controversial Woodfibre LNG project, ruling on Friday that the proposal is "not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects."

A Pan-Asian partnership, lead by the Malaysian government's Petronas corporation, is proposing to build a massive liquid natural gas (LNG) project on BC's north coast: Pacific NorthWest LNG.

The decision whether to approve or reject this proposal is now in the hands of Prime Minister Trudeau. It will be his first major climate-vs-fossil test. And it is a doozy.

An artistic rendering of Pacific NorthWest LNG’s proposed LNG export terminal on Lelu Island.

“The project would result in 5.28 million tonnes of CO2 per year … a marked increase of greenhouse gas emissions both at the provincial (8.5 per cent increase) and national (0.75 per cent increase) level,” 

When Premier Christy Clark dismissed opponents of resource developments in B.C. as the “forces of no,” she singled out for specific criticism those aligned against the proposed LNG facility at Lelu Island, near Prince Rupert.

Mody Torres of Select Energy Services monitors water tanks at a Hess fracking site near Williston, North Dakota (ANDREW CULLEN/REUTERS)

CALGARY • Malaysia’s Petronas is frustrated that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s climate-change priorities are introducing new uncertainty for its proposed $36 billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project in northern British Columbia and has threatened to walk away if it doesn’t get federal approval by March 31, according to a source close to the project.

Companies are wiggling out of money-losing contracts to buy electricity from coal-fired power plants in Alberta as a result of the province’s new climate change policies, leaving a provincial agency to honour the agreements

Cartoon by Greg Perry.

Three things don't add up in the British Columbia budget when it comes to declining revenues from the battered shale gas industry and its non-existent cousin, the province's liquefied natural gas fantasy.

The first concerns revenue. Premier Christy Clark promised in 2013 that profits from the LNG industry would pour like manna into a $100-billion provincial prosperity fund.