Lax Kw’alaams First Nation turns down $1B for LNG project

The site of the proposed Pacific Northwest LNG plant, Lelu Island, near Port Edward,
Photograph by: http://www.lonniewishart.com , Vancouver Sun

Petronas woos band after applying to build an export terminal on Lelu Island

The Canadian Press/CBC News, May 7, 2015

The first of three votes on a natural gas benefit offer worth over $1 billion has been unanimously rejected by a First Nation on British Columbia’s northwest coast.

All of the more than 180 eligible voters at a meeting in Port Simpson stood up to oppose the plan to build a liquefied-natural-gas pipeline and terminal in their territory, said Lax Kw’alaams band member Malcolm Sampson.

Pacific NorthWest LNG, which is mostly owned by Malaysia-based oil and gas giant Petronas, has applied to build an export terminal on Lelu Island, just south of Prince Rupert at the head of the Skeena River.

‘Game changer’: Gas company offers $1-billion to First Nations band in B.C.

A liquid natural gas tanker in Australia.

JUSTINE HUNTER And BRENT JANG, The Globe and Mail, May 1, 2015

The proponent of a liquefied natural gas plant on British Columbia’s north coast is offering more than $1-billion to obtain the consent of a First Nations community, a groundbreaking proposal that could establish the new price for natural resource development in traditional aboriginal territories.

In a province where resource projects have stalled and sometimes foundered over aboriginal opposition, the tentative deal between the Prince Rupert-based Lax Kw’alaams band and a joint venture led by Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas sets a new benchmark for sharing the wealth from energy extraction.

Anti-Oil Activists Named as National Security Threats Respond to Leaked RCMP Report

Protest against Enbridge’s proposed Line 9, in Toronto.

By Michael Toledano, Vice.com, Feb 17, 2015

As the Harper government’s Bill C-51 moves to extend anti-terrorism legislation to include anyone who interferes with the “critical infrastructure,” “territorial integrity,” or “economic and financial stability of Canada,” a leaked report from the RCMP’s Critical Infrastructure Intelligence Team demonstrates how aboriginals and environmentalists are already being targeted by law enforcement for these reasons.

B.C. LNG sponsorship inappropriate at All Native Basketball Tournament, team says

Team captain says he was told if the team didn’t like it, they didn’t have to participate

By Radio West, CBC News, Feb 13, 2015

The captain of a team playing at the All Native Basketball Tournament in Prince Rupert says he’s disappointed event organizers accepted sponsorship money from oil and gas industries.

This year’s tournament is sponsored by a dozen companies and organizations, half of them related to the energy sector.

FRACK OFF LNG TOUR – Secwepemc Territory

https://www.youtube.com/embed/4OBXPO8D_PA“>

Only two B.C. LNG projects to proceed as industry faces ‘anxiety attack’: analyst

Banner dropped at International LNG in BC conference, May 21, 2013, by members of Rising Tide.

By Yadullah Hussain, Financial Post, Jan 21, 2015

Only two of the major liquefied natural gas projects proposed in British Columbia are expected to proceed as the global industry suffers from an “anxiety attack” due to low commodity prices, according to a new report.

As many as 18 projects have been proposed on the West Coast, but none has secured a final investment decision from investors. B.C. Natural Gas Development Minister Rich Coleman said this month the province remains on track to meet its goal of three LNG facilities in operation by 2020.

Gitxsan chiefs blockade highway to protest government’s LNG project approvals

Gitxsan hereditary chiefs blocking Highway 16 at New Hazelton, BC, Dec 6, 2014.

Jenny Uechi, Vancouver Observer, Dec 7, 2014

Gitxsan hereditary chiefs blocked Highway 16 at New Hazelton, in northern B.C. on Saturday, to protest recent LNG project approvals by the BC Environmental Assessment Office. The chiefs say the projects could collapse the salmon population in the Skeena River if built.

“The Gitxsan people have relied on salmon for thousands of years. The importance of salmon far outweighs any of the financial benefits that are and may be offered in the future for these LNG pipelines,” Spookw hereditary chief Guuhadakwa (Norm Stephens) stated in a release.

BG Group pressing pause button on Prince Rupert LNG, citing market conditions

A liquid natural gas tanker in Australia.

By Lauren Krugel, Canadian Press/Vancouver Sun, Oct 29, 2014

CALGARY – British energy firm BG Group is hitting the pause button on its proposed liquefied natural gas project near Prince Rupert, B.C., as it takes stock of shifting market conditions.

“All we’re doing at this point in time is pausing on Prince Rupert. We’re not abandoning Prince Rupert,” interim executive chairman Andrew Gould told analysts Tuesday on a conference call to discuss BG’s third-quarter results.

“We will continue to work on the project, but not at the same rhythm that perhaps we were working in 2014.”

Estimated LNG volumes from the United States are looking to be higher than previously expected at 90 million tonnes a year, versus 60 million tonnes, Gould said.

Regulatory approval of LNG pipeline faces First Nation resistance

 

TransCanada’s headquarters in Calgary, Alberta.

Babine Lake, Burns Lake bands say recent Supreme Court ruling changes playing field

By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun, Oct 26, 2014

One of the first big LNG pipelines has been approved by B.C. after an environmental review, but First Nations say they could yet oppose the mega-project and others like it.

TransCanada’s $4.7-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline to Kitimat was given approval Friday, although the project only goes ahead if the project it fuels is given the green light.

Shell and its partners have yet to give a positive final investment decision to the $12-billion Canada LNG project meant to tap into Asia’s growing appetite for energy.

After kicking out government officials at industry summit, Fort Nelson First Nation signs LNG worker camp deal

Fort Nelson FN chief Sharleen Gale speaking at LNG conference.

After both praise and backlash for expelling B.C. government from an industry summit in April, the Fort Nelson First Nation has signed on to an LNG camp deal with Black Diamond, which would include a 425-room lodge in the Horn River area.

Jenny Uechi, Vancouver Observer, Aug 13th, 2014

In an apparent turn of events since the “Fort Nelson Incident”, in which 33-year-old Fort Nelson First Nation Chief Sharleen Gale held up a feather and kicked out government officials from an LNG summit, the nation has now signed up a deal for a long-term camp lease for LNG workforce.