Pacific Northwest LNG project

Meanwhile, the realisation of the terminal has moved one step closer with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) restarting its review of the project after an 11-week delay. This means that the regulator should shortly be a in a position to issue a draft report on whether conditional approval will be granted.

The federal environment agency temporarily stopped the regulatory clock because it wanted more information on how the $11.4bn project will affect the environmental balance of the nearby Flora Bank. In response, Pacific NorthWest LNG filed a report conducted by Stantec Inc to the CEAA at the beginning of May which argues that there will be little to no impact to the environment.

Flora Bank is a sandy reef like area next to Lelu Island and according to opposers of the project contains eelgrass beds that are crucial to the survival of juvenile salmon in the estuary of the Skeena River.

Lelu Island is part of the traditional territory of the Lax Kw’alaams, an Indigenous village community not far from the city of Prince Rupert.

The community submitted its own report to the CEAA in January warning of the damage that would be created by the plan to construct a suspension bridge and trestle from the planned terminal on the island to a deep berth for LNG tankers in Chatham Sound.

They also recently rejected a $1bn cash offer over 40 years from the LNG venture involved in the project, led by Malaysia’s Petronas.