Federal energy minister hails 'one project, one review' approval for B.C. LNG plant

Federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson is hailing streamlined approval of a massive floating liquefied natural gas export facility off British Columbia's coast, saying it represents one of the largest private sector investments in Canadian history.

Hodgson says the Ksi Lisims LNG project that received a B.C. environmental certificate on Monday, followed by federal approval, is an example of the "one project, one review" system in which the Canadian government relied on the province for an assessment.

He says the project that is being developed in partnership between the Nisga'a Nation, Rockies LNG Limited Partnership and Western LNG represents the "culmination of years of advocacy" by Nisga'a president Eva Clayton.

However, four out of six other First Nations asked to provide consent did not grant it, and the project is also opposed by numerous environmental groups.

The project to build two floating facilities off Pearse Island in northwest B.C. is huge, designed to process two-billion cubic feet of gas per day and export 12-million tonnes of LNG per year.

Hodgson says the world "is relying on Canada for clean energy," and he looks forward to the project being built.

A group of environmental organizations said in a news release that the plan is a "failure of environmental leadership and a direct contradiction" of provincial and federal commitments to climate action. 

Lawyer Imalka Nilmalgoda from the group Ecojustice said it "is fundamentally at odds with B.C.’s claims to be a climate leader," while Isabel Siu-Zmuidzinas of the Wilderness Committee said the province was "green-lighting LNG projects that trample over communities and torch our climate goals." 

While the facility is being developed by the Nisga'a, Rockies LNG and Western LNG, documents show the project's assets will be constructed, owned and operated by wholly owned subsidiaries of Western LNG, based in Houston, Texas.

It will be supplied by the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline that is being built in northern B.C.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck