The Nisga’a Lisims Government building in the village of Gitlaxt’aamiks in the Nass Valley of northwestern B.C., in September, 2023.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
A ruling by British Columbia’s environmental regulator to support a $12-billion pipeline plan is unreasonable, say community leaders who have taken their concerns to the B.C. Supreme Court.
Lawyers for environmental law charity Ecojustice claim that the province gave the pipeline the go-ahead unfairly and before enough initial work was done. The respondents counter that the initial construction was sufficient to garner the regulator’s support.
After six days of hearings that wrapped up in Vancouver on Monday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Alison Latimer reserved her decision.
At issue is the fate of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline, which is meant to feed the $10-billion Ksi Lisims LNG project that would produce liquefied natural gas for export to Asia. It is being considered for fast-tracking by the federal government’s Major Projects Office.
Ksi Lisims LNG’s expected major project status puts spotlight on First Nations dispute
Construction of the proposed 750-kilometre PRGT pipeline, which is co-owned equally by the Nisga’a Nation and Houston-based Western LNG, would transport natural gas across northern B.C.
Alex MacLennan, the regulatory head of the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office, ruled last June that the PRGT pipeline project met the construction threshold that it had to meet by November, 2024, for it to proceed.
Lawyers for Ecojustice who are representing the local petitioners – The Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, the Kispiox Valley Community Centre Association and resident Kathleen Larson – disagreed.
The petitioners argue that Mr. MacLennan failed to justify how a limited amount of work could be viewed as sufficiently advancing the project.
In their court filing the petitioners said Mr. MacLennan “determined that the PRGT project was substantially started despite only minimal construction in one section.”
PRGT initially received its environmental assessment certificate in 2014, and won approval for a five-year extension in 2019, giving the project until November, 2024, to substantially start pipeline construction to prevent the certificate from expiring.
The respondents are PRGT, the Nisga’a Nation and B.C. Environment Minister Tamara Davidson.
The Nisga’a Nation said in its response in a court filing that more than 42 kilometres of pipeline right-of-way were cleared on Nisga’a treaty lands. “A reasonable decision is one that is internally coherent and justified in light of the legal and factual constraints that bear on it. Decisions are not assessed against a standard of perfection,” according to the response.
PRGT argues that the petitioners are improperly striving to challenge the provincial regulator’s ruling, saying Mr. MacLennan “meaningfully grappled with the key issues and concerns raised by the parties.”
However, Ms. Larson said in an affidavit she is concerned about PRGT’s environmental impacts. “I also stated the need for updated data regarding climate change, the carbon sequestering capacity of the tree plantations and the value of moose habitat.”
Representatives of Luutkudziiwus, a house group within the Gitxsan Nation’s hereditary governance system, filed a separate action also seeking to have the judge throw out Mr. MacLennan’s ruling. About 35 kilometres of PRGT’s route would cross land that falls under the boundaries of Luutkudziiwus.
The B.C. Environment Ministry said in a court document that the judge does not need to rule on an internal leadership fight between Charlie Wright and Gordon Sebastian, both of whom claim to be the hereditary chief representing Luutkudziiwus. Mr. Wright is the key petitioner in the Gitxsan action, while Mr. Sebastian has offered his conditional support for PRGT.
“With respect to the petitioner’s challenge based on alleged inadequacy of consultation, the petition should be dismissed with costs to the provincial respondent,” the B.C. Environment Ministry said in its filing.
If the petitioners win the court case, Mr. MacLennan would need to make a decision again, with guidance from the judge about how to render it. The petitioners say that if the pipeline project is subsequently deemed to be not substantially started, PRGT would have to undergo a new B.C. environmental assessment if the backers still want to proceed.
The Nisga’a Nation, Western LNG and a group of Western Canadian natural gas producers called Rockies LNG are partners in the Ksi Lisims project to be developed at Pearse Island, located in northwest B.C.
Ksi Lisims is expected to make a final investment decision later this year on whether to forge ahead with the development.
B.C. Premier David Eby shakes hands with Nisga'a Nation President Eva Clayton in Vancouver, in September, 2025.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
Eva Clayton, elected president of the Nisga’a Lisims government, has been a vocal proponent of LNG exports from B.C. “We’re showing B.C., Canada and the world what Indigenous economic independence and shared prosperity can look like,” Ms. Clayton said in a statement last fall.
LNG Canada, this country’s first export terminal for the fuel, began shipping last June from Kitimat, B.C., to Asia. LNG Canada’s Phase 2 expansion plan is also on Ottawa’s fast-tracking list.
But critics say climate and health impacts are being ignored, and they are urging governments to suspend LNG development on the West Coast and fracking for natural gas in northeast B.C.
Justice Latimer is expected to issue her ruling by the end of this year.