Activists call for answers on LNG project

It was a lively atmosphere outside of B.C. Premier David Eby’s constituency office on Tuesday morning, as local activists called on the province to come clean regarding the potential environmental and human rights impacts of a proposed LNG project.

“This terminal could release in combination with all the upstream and downstream emissions, 32 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every single year,” said Tara Mardsen, Sustainability Director with the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs.

The Ksi Lisims LNG is a proposed floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, planned to be built on the B.C. – Alaska border about 100 kilometres north of Prince Rupert, and would export fuel supplied by the Prince Rupert Transmission line.

If completed, the facility would produce 12 million tonnes of LNG annually.  But for some of the First Nation communities surrounding the project, they fear the impacts it could have on salmon populations.

“This project will also destroy hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of critical salmon habitat,” Mardsen said.
Marsden says that she and other activists met with B.C.’s Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions, Adrian Dix, early Tuesday morning. However, they left the meeting without any clarification on their concerns.

“There’s a lot of fear-mongering that’s happening right now. Basically, what we have been trying to do with government is talk about the science behind this, the climate science, the health Science, the environmental science, talk about informed decision making,” Mardsen said.
“And really, we were just being stonewalled.”

An environmental assessment of the Ksi Lisims project was completed in early August, and a final decision is expected imminently.
City News reached out to Minister Dixon’s office for comment, but they did not reply before the broadcast deadline.