Blog Archives
First Nations hereditary leader loses court fight in LNG case

Indigenous leaders gather on Lelu island where the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation has set up camp to protest the construction of the Petronas LNG terminal. Photograph: SkeenaWatershed Coalition
by Brent Jang, Globe and Mail, Feb 28, 2018
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed an application for a judicial review into whether Ottawa acted properly when it approved plans for a liquefied natural gas terminal in British Columbia, saying it is a moot point now because the project has been scrapped. Read the rest of this entry
TransCanada keeps LNG pipeline to northwest B.C. alive
by Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun, January 5, 2018
TransCanada continues to keep alive its $6-billion Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project to transport natural gas from northeast B.C. by pipeline to the coast despite uncertain market and economic conditions. Read the rest of this entry
‘Our blood is still on the land’: Tsimshian raise totem pole declaring victory over B.C. LNG project

Members of Lax Kw’alaams, Metlakatla and the Tsimshian First Nations, among others, were present for the raising of a new totem pole on Lelu Island. (Vicki Manuel)
Pole is on island where construction of an LNG export terminal was cancelled in July
By Andrew Kurjata, CBC News, October 23, 2017
Members of the Tsimshian First Nation have raised a new totem pole on Lelu Island in northwest B.C. to assert their stewardship over the land and celebrate the cancelation of a controversial liquefied natural gas project. Read the rest of this entry
Totem pole raised on Lelu after LNG project falls
More than 100 people came to the pole raising on Lelu Island after the end of Pacific NorthWest LNG
by Shannon Lough, The Northern View, October 21, 2017
In a stand of defiance against federal authorities, members of the Gitwilgyoots Tribe and supporters raised a totem pole on Lelu Island on Oct. 20 to signify their claim to the land.
The occupation of Lelu Island began in 2015 on the site where Petronas proposed to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and it has continued even after the company abandoned its Pacific NorthWest LNG project in July. People who either took part or supported the resistance movement came to witness the totem pole being raised on a mound overlooking where the sea meets the Skeena River. Read the rest of this entry
Luutkudziiwus First Nation on Petronas Cancelling PNW LNG project
Madii Lii, August 14, 2017
Mohd Anuar bin Taib, Executive Vice President and CEO of Upstream at Petronas announced cancellation of the Pacific NorthWest LNG (PNW) project on July 25th.
In light of that decision, Richard Wright, who serves as the spokesperson for the Luutkudziiwus, says “the federal government breached its constitutional obligations to consult and our court challenge to quash the approval order still stands.” Read the rest of this entry
Petronas cancels $11.4-billion LNG project near Prince Rupert

The site of the proposed Pacific Northwest LNG plant, Lelu Island, near Port Edward, Photograph by: http://www.lonniewishart.com , Vancouver Sun
by Scott Brown and Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver sun, July 25, 2017
Malaysian state-controlled energy giant Petronas has pulled the plug on the proposed $11.4-billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project near Prince Rupert.
Petronas planned to build a LNG processing plant on Lelu Island that would have shipped 19 million tonnes a year of liquefied gas to markets in Asia, while pumping more than five million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually into the atmosphere. Read the rest of this entry
B.C. government signs LNG benefit agreements with northwestern Kitselas First Nation

Kitselas First Nation Chief Joe Bevan (right) speaks at the announcement of a benefits agreement with the province backing LNG development in exchange for up to $13 million in funding and a 1,277 land grant. Pacific NorthWest LNG chief operating officer Wan Badrul Hisham is in the background. The event was Thursday, March 30, 2017 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Derrick Penner / Postmedia News
by Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun, March 30, 2017
The Kitselas First Nation on British Columbia’s north coast, on Thursday, signed benefit agreements with the province worth up to $13 million and a 1,227-hectares land grant in exchange for backing liquefied-natural-gas export projects in the region. Read the rest of this entry
TransCanada seeks to start building B.C. gas pipeline without LNG project’s OK

TransCanada’s headquarters in Calgary, Alberta.
Global News, March 20, 2017
TransCanada Corp. is seeking regulatory approval to begin construction of a pipeline that would help feed a proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal on B.C.’s north coast even though a final decision has not yet been made whether to build the terminal. Read the rest of this entry
B.C. government signs LNG benefits agreement with First Nations

Chief Councillor Harold Leighton (front row, left to right), Minister Rich Coleman and Mayor John Helin, and back row, left to right, Minister John Rustad, Premier Christy Clark, and Pacific NorthWest LNG chief project officer Wan Badrul are shown during the signing of documents on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 in Victoria, B.C. CHAD HIPOLITO / THE CANADIAN PRESS
by Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun, Feb 15, 2017
The B.C. Liberal government signed benefits agreements Wednesday worth hundreds of millions of dollars with the Lax Kw’aalams and Metlakatla First Nations in exchange for their support of LNG projects in their traditional territories of the province’s north coast. Read the rest of this entry