British Columbia Premier David Eby says he's hopeful that LNG Canada will come to a final investment decision at the end of the year that will be the "largest private sector investment in Canadian history."
Eby and other provincial officials, along with federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson and LNG Canada president Chris Cooper, were in Vancouver on Thursday to tout a new "enhanced co-operation agreement" around the company's expansion plans in Kitimat, B.C.
Eby says if the final investment decision is reached, it will make a "material difference" for both Canada's GDP and the value of the Canadian dollar.
He says there are several "key milestone moments" as the project's final investment decision approaches, including the release of "hundreds of millions of dollars" by LNG Canada's joint venture partners at the beginning of this month.
Cooper says the decision still hinges on the company's joint venture partners "satisfying many additional internal requirements," including areas around supply chains, labour contractors, government and First Nations.
Hodgson says 40 per cent of the value of all projects referred to the federal major projects office set up by Prime Minister Mark Carney's government are in B.C., giving the province "almost untold opportunity."
"I look forward to celebrating a final investment decision by the end of the year," Hodgson said.
The announcement came on the same day environmentalists and a physicians groups called on the federal and provincial governments to reign in LNG projects.
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment said in a statement that LNG Canada's facility in Kitimat had been exceeding its monthly authorized emissions for several months.
It said the company's flaring activity had exposed residents to "health-harming chemicals, including black carbon and benzene, a potent carcinogen for which there is no safe exposure level."
Cooper said flaring activity spikes as a "normal" course of startup, but its working on reducing flaring and is "monitoring, very carefully, the emissions levels in the community."
B.C. Green Party Leader Emily Lowan said in a statement on Thursday that the company had downplayed the health impacts of LNG flaring.
“British Columbians deserve better than corporate spin from a fossil fuel corporation and the government bankrolling it," she said. "This government’s continued fixation on LNG expansion is deeply troubling, misguided, and disconnected from what’s best for British Columbia’s future and the current realities of global energy markets.”
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jennifer Gauthier
