B.C. First Nations group pushes back against Petronas LNG venture

A major energy project seeking aboriginal support for a plan to export B.C. liquefied natural gas has run into strong resistance from a First Nations group worried about the plight of salmon.

The Lax Kw’alaams band is weighing the promises of LNG prosperity against the perils of losing a traditional way of life that relies heavily on salmon and other marine food and resources.

In early voting, members of the Lax Kw’alaams have overwhelmingly declined to give their consent for exporting natural gas in liquid form, despite being offered $1-billion in cash from the Pacific NorthWest LNG joint venture led by Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas.

Emotions ran high during the first two meetings this week as Lax Kw’alaams members voiced their fears about the project’s threat to salmon habitat in the estuary of the Skeena River at the proposed export terminal site on Lelu Island near Prince Rupert, B.C. “I will never, ever give up the Skeena River for money,” one participant said to applause during Monday night’s meeting in a videotaped excerpt. “There is far too much at stake.”