A man writes notes at the display of proposed British Columbia floating liquefied natural gas export facility Ksi Lisims LNG during the LNG 2023 energy trade show in Vancouver in July, 2023.CHRIS HELGREN/Reuters
British Columbia’s Environment Minister is slated to rule on the fate of a controversial pipeline proposal in the spring after she reviews arguments from the project’s backers and opponents over whether a crucial deadline has been met.
Tamara Davidson will be briefed in the months ahead on the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) project, which has been designed to transport natural gas 750 kilometres from northeast B.C. to the West Coast. The pipeline would feed the $10-billion Ksi Lisims LNG project, which is undergoing an environmental review for exporting liquefied natural gas.
PRGT had until Nov. 25 to “substantially start” construction to prevent its environmental assessment certificate from expiring. If the minister agrees with the project’s critics that the threshold has not been met, pipeline construction will be halted and PRGT would have to restart the environmental review and certification process.
However, “if the project is determined to have been substantially started, the certificate remains in effect for the life of the project,” according to a statement from the BC Environmental Assessment Office.
PRGT, which began construction on the pipeline’s Section 5B in August on the Nisga’a Nation’s territory, argues that it has substantially started. “PRGT has invested 12 years of significant time, effort and resources to physically develop the project, expending approximately $584-million, including undertaking meaningful physical construction activities in 2024,” PRGT said in its 90-page filing with the environmental regulator.
From late August to mid-November, PRGT spent $70-million to clear 42 kilometres of the right-of-way, install nine bridges and upgrade access roads.
The pipeline’s construction costs were originally estimated at $5-billion, but no revised price tag has been disclosed yet.
This past summer, the Nisga’a Nation and Western LNG acquired PRGT from TC Energy Corp.
Another project, the contentious 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline, operated by TC Energy, cost $14.5-billion to build from northeast B.C. to the LNG Canada joint venture in Kitimat, B.C.
Shell PLC-led LNG Canada plans to start shipping the fuel from Kitimat to Asia by mid-2025, when it will become the country’s first LNG export terminal.
The Nisga’a, Western LNG and a group of natural gas producers named Rockies LNG are partners in the Ksi Lisims project near Gitlaxt’aamiks, which is home to the elected Nisga’a Lisims government.
In October, hereditary chiefs with the neighbouring Gitanyow Nation applied in B.C. Supreme Court for a judicial review into Ksi Lisims, citing risks to salmon in the Nass River and other concerns.
PRGT initially received its environmental assessment certificate in 2014, and won approval for a five-year extension in 2019.
The BC Environmental Assessment Office will be preparing a report to inform Ms. Davidson in making her ruling, though she also has the option to delegate the decision to Alex MacLennan, the regulator’s chief executive assessment officer.
“If the decision maker finds the project is not substantially started, the certificate expires and the project cannot proceed without a new environmental assessment and new certificate granted,” the regulator said.
Last week, the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition sent a letter on behalf of more than 90 individuals and groups, raising climate and other concerns with Ms. Davidson.
There are risks that “the PRGT pipeline will exacerbate ongoing climate, ecological and social issues,” read the letter, which urges Ms. Davidson to make an informed decision as Environment Minister.
“Giving a green light to this project will significantly lower the threshold for future substantial start determinations,” said the letter by Skeena Watershed and its allies, including several Gitxsan Nation leaders in the region.
Meanwhile, Reclaim Finance, an environmental group that advocates for decarbonization of the financial industry, has released an LNG report in partnership with Greenpeace Canada.
Supercooling natural gas into liquid form is a highly energy-intensive process, Reclaim Finance said in the report.
“The lack of action against fossil gas expansion by Canadian banks is inexplicable from a climate or energy perspective,” it said.
Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia and National Bank of Canada sharply increased their global financing for expanding LNG export capacity between 2021 and 2023, the report said.
“Just imagine how many clean energy projects or green homes we could have built with the billions that our banks have poured into LNG projects globally,” Keith Stewart, Greenpeace Canada’s senior energy strategist, said in a statement.