A federal review of the $12-billion Pacific Northwest LNG facility in northwest B.C. has been granted a three-month extension.
It further delays an already-lengthy decision on a major energy transportation project meant to open up new markets for natural gas in Asia.
The extension was granted by federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna at the request of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency over continuing concerns about the project’s effect on fish habitat.
A key concern from First Nations, environmentalists, and area residents has been the potential harm the project could have on eelgrass beds on Flora Bank, adjacent to Lelu Island, the proposed location of the terminal. The eelgrass beds are considered prime habitat for juvenile salmon.
In a statement this weekend, CEAA said it received new information earlier in March from the company, which contains additional details about the project and changes to its construction schedule and methods. CEAA noted that Pacific Northwest LNG had indicated that some of the key mitigation and potential conditions to the project the agency had proposed, to avoid or reduce significant adverse environmental effects to fish and marine mammals, were not feasible.
This information must be reviewed, analyzed, and considered in the final environmental assessment report, said CEAA.
“As a result, the agency has requested additional information from the proponent in order to determine whether the project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects. The information request pauses the legislated timeline, which will resume once the proponent has satisfied the information request,” said the federal agency.
CEAA said it recognizes the importance of timely decisions, while balancing the need for a fair and thorough process that is grounded in science.
“This extension will ensure all available and relevant information and science is considered, including over 34,000 comments recently received from the public to allow for informed decision-making,” it said.
The delay will be considered another blow by the project’s consortium led by Malaysian state-controlled Petronas. It will also be a blow to Christy Clark’s B.C. Liberal government which has pinned an economic plan on creating a new liquefied natural gas export industry to create jobs and fill the province coffers with new tax revenues.
The project, near Prince Rupert, has an estimated cost of $36 billion if development to extract gas in northeast B.C. and a pipeline to the coast are included.
The project, and other similar proposals in B.C., already faces headwinds from dampened global demand, competition from new entrants such as the U.S., and the need to reduce capital spending because oil prices have plummeted.
This latest delay also comes just as the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation elected leadership, in an eleventh-hour turn, offered conditional support for the LNG terminal that will liquefy natural gas and load it on ships for transport overseas.
In a letter to CEAA from elected mayor John Helin, the Lax Kw’alaams said they could support the project if they were part of an environmental performance committee that monitored effects of the project and had a say in compliance and enforcement actions.
The position — which opens the door to support for the project in its existing form — is a significant change from earlier positions of the community which, in the spring of 2015, unanimously rejected a $1.15-billion benefits package from the company and the B.C. government that included cash and land.
At the time, the Lax Kw’alaams said in a statement it was open to LNG development but not at a location close to Flora Bank.
Some Lax Kw’alaams hereditary chiefs reacted with shock to the “about-face” and said they would continue to oppose the project.
“We fool ourselves if we are not deeply alarmed by the recent news about the state of global warming. According to new data released by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii show that carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations jumped by 3.05 parts per million (ppm) during 2015, the largest year-to-year increase in 56 years of research. 2015 was the fourth consecutive year that CO2 grew more than 2 ppm.
Scientists say they are shocked and stunned by the “unprecedented” NASA temperature figures for February 2016, which are 1.65°C higher than the beginning of the twentieth century and around 1.9°C warmer than the pre-industrial level.” Climate Red Alert
We Are All Ready Baked in to a Record Breaking Temps., Wind, Rain and Snow That are HIGHER, Than EXPECTED ! We are going to go Off the Charts !
GREENLAND !
The Koch bros. Warren Buffet, and Bill Gates and Their Fossil Fuel Agenda,
Killing us And Destroying Our Life Sustaining Fragile Eco-Systems !
There is No Atmospheric Budget of Carbon, Methane, or Nuclear !
by Lowana Veal, November 23, 2015
Reykjavik, Iceland – Over the past year, a number of giant, mysterious holes have emerged in Siberia, some as deep as 200 metres.
Scientists say the craters may be emerging because the frozen ground, or “permafrost,” that covers much of Siberia has been thawing due to climate change.
Allowing methane gases trapped underground to build up and explode !
Permafrost is ground that is permanently frozen, where the ground temperature has remained below 0 °C (32 °F) for at least two years. It covers about a quarter of the northern hemisphere’s land surface.
“Permafrost soils contain vast amounts of carbon, nearly twice as much as is currently in the atmosphere.
As the permafrost thaws in a warming climate, the soil decomposes and releases carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and methane. These are greenhouse gases, and they warm the Earth even more.
This leads to more permafrost thawing, more carbon release, and so the cycle continues,” Chadburn said.
At the recent Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland, Max Holmes from the US-based Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) said in a presentation that the Siberian sinkholes “are an additional indication that vast changes are under way in the Arctic.”
We must Stop the Koch bros, Warren Buffets, Bill Gates, and their Fossil Fuel allies from FUKUSHIMIATIZING Us !
Greenland is Melting and Calving Now, Jonas just went over Greenland at above Freezing Temps, for the first Time.
“And for the Winter of 2016 it’s possible that the Arctic may never experience typical conditions.
For, according to NOAA, the first half of February saw this record, Spring-like, warmth extend on through today.
It’s as if these coldest zones in the Northern Hemisphere haven’t yet experienced Winter
— as if the freak storm that drove Arctic temperatures to record levels during late December has, ever since, jammed the thermometer into typical April levels and left it stuck there. ” Robert Scribbler
Greenland has 20 Feet of Sea Level Rise !
Now is the Time for Feed in Tariff Clean Kilowatts, Home Owners and Commercial Business owners selling Renewable Energy, Wind and Solar to the Utility !
Dump Net Metering (Second Utility) Third Party Leasing.
Protect Our Communities with Solar Policies that keep the Money in the Wallets and Purses of Head of House Holds.
In Order to Ready Themselves for coming, Record Breaking Rain, Wind and Snow.
Food Shortages, High Temps, Floods, Fire, Quakes, and Sea Level Rising 220 feet !
With Ca. Residential and Commercial Feed in Tariff
Help Protect Hard Working, Tax Paying, Voting, Citizens from our Koch Bros, Warren Buffet, Warren Gates, Fossil Fueled Energy and Water Policies !
Each 1C. Temp Rise, Atmospheric Moisture increases 7%
We have increased Temp 1.4C. and Climbing
1850 ppm Carbon 270
1980 ppm carbon 350
2015 ppm of Carbon 405 and Rising
What will the ppm of Carbon be when Greenland All Melts ?
Diablo Nuclear, San Onofre Fuel Rods, and All Nuclear needs to be relocated to 3000 feet above Sea Level
Over 3 Million Years of Waxing and Waning From the Poles, with the Arctic Keeping North America Cool, Now it is Greenland Because of Fossil Fuels !
Massive Sea Life Die Off on Pacific and Atlantic Coast !
Pacific and Atlantic Oceans 4 – 18 degrees warmer than Normal
Antarctica has 200 feet of Sea Level Rise
Arctic Region Warming Twice as fast as the rest of the planet !
Over 400 Nuclear Reactors at Sea Level Now !
Sign and Share for a Ca. Residential Feed in Tariff. Go to the youtube site, look six inches below video, click on Show More, then click on blue link to sign the petition.
Attachments area
Preview YouTube video We Need To Ban Fracking.
We Need To Ban Fracking.
Attachments area
Preview YouTube video We Need To Ban Fracking.
Pingback: B.C.’s Pacific Northwest LNG project faces more delays | Nina's Soap Bubble Box