By Roy L Hales

The BC legislature is debating Bill 30, the Liquefied Natural Gas Project Agreements Act, today.  Premier Christy Clark claims this legislation will “give business certainty and keep British Columbia competitive; to ensure British Columbians see the benefits of the resource they own; and to ensure we build the cleanest LNG facilities in the world.” Critics have another name for Bill 30: a deal born of Desperation.

Doing The Opposite

“At a time when the scale of our climate challenge is becoming increasingly clear, governments should be keeping policy options on the table and continuing to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. With the Petronas agreement, however, B.C. is doing the opposite,” Matt Horne, of the Pembina Institute, wrote in a recent article.

Many believe the drought and wildfires that have inflicted the West Coast, from California to Alaska, is connected to Climate Change. British Columbia will further exasperate the situation, adding millions of tonnes of carbon pollution to the atmosphere every year, if plans to develop LNG go forward.

An Estimated $8.6 Billion, Or Not?

The provincial government touts this deal as being able to “create 4,500 jobs, with 300 operational long-term jobs and 300 local spin-off jobs. The project is expected to generate an estimated $8.6 billion in provincial revenue by 2030 through taxes and royalties.”

Only the bottom has fallen out of the LNG market and, as a press relase from the Wilderness Committee sates, “The current price being paid for LNG in Asian markets is well below that required to make BC LNG profitable. As a result, the LNG corporate tax rate applicable is half what the government originally sought from the industry. Income tax rates are locked in by the agreement, preventing future governments from generating a fairer share.”

“This is the act of a desperate government,” wrote Green MLA Andrew Weaver. “For over two years I’ve been saying the same thing. Oversupply in the global natural gas markets means that the economics simply do not support the Liberal’s irresponsible LNG hyperbole. Rather than acknowledging the folly of their pre-election promises, they take the reckless and desperate approach of essentially giving away a resource while simultaneously proposing to hamstring future governments from looking out for the interests of British Columbians,”

The agreement contains clauses that ensure Pacific NorthWest LNG  if the province:

• Raises income rates for LNG operations.
• Adds carbon taxes that specifically target the LNG industry.
• Reduces the tax credits for the industry.
• Makes changes to rules on emissions that have a negative impact on the LNG industry.

No other industry is being offered thee kinds of guarantees.

Aboriginal Title Issues

From a legal perspective, The project’s Achilles Heel may be Aboriginal Title Issues.

As is the case with so many of the energy mega-projects being proposed for BC, the proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG  development is running into aboriginal title issues. Last month, the  Lax Kw’alaams First Nation rejected an $1-billion cash offer over 40 years.

Months ago,  Jessica Clogg of West Coast Environmental Law told the ECOreport,  “This is a title question, in that Aboriginal title includes the right to choose the uses to which the land is put, and the Crown has an obligation to deal honorably with First Nations regardless of whether a court has recognized their title, “should this matter end up in court First Nations may well choose to ground a challenge on Aboriginal fishing rights, given that salmon are foundational to impacted First Nations right to fish and this right is well established in Canadian law.”

All photos & trailer below from the video Skeena Estuary: Heart of the River