Tag Archives: British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Office

Indigenous Nations, Industry

‘Heartbreaking’: an overhead view of Coastal GasLink sediment spills into Wet’suwet’en waters, wetlands

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By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Sleydo’ Molly Wickham was composed and quiet as she stared out the window of a helicopter flying over vast stretches of TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory (yintah). Below, a wide swath cut through forests and wetlands, crossing creeks and rivers. 

A wing chief of the Gidimt’en clan, Sleydo’ was part of a small group on a monitoring flight to document the contentious project’s impacts as soaring temperatures rapidly melted last winter’s heavy snowpack.

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Energy, Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Tensions rise as Coastal GasLink blasts a creek near a Wet’suwet’en camp

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Less than one kilometre from a Wet’suwet’en camp and village site, where cabins, tiny homes and a feast hall provide space for ceremony, cultural practices and opportunities to reconnect with the land, is a vast muddy clearing, guarded by private security workers. 

Here, the path of the Coastal GasLink pipeline crosses Ts’elkay Kwe (Lamprey Creek), a tributary of Wedzin Kwa (Morice River). This work requires digging a trench right through the creek to bury the pipe under it.

Ts’elkay Kwe is a known spawning channel for steelhead trout trout and other species, including coho salmon, according to a 2007 land-use plan. But steelhead and salmon throughout the watershed are in decline, in part due to widespread clearcut logging and climate change.

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Energy, Indigenous Nations

Ksi Lisims LNG project faces potential setback over pipeline jurisdiction

By Daniel Mesec, CICK 93.9 Smithers Community Radio, Local Journalism Initiative

Last month, the Nisga’a Lisims government in the Nass Valley announced an ambitious new resource project, Ksi Lisims LNG, a 12-million-tonne-per-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) project at Wil Milit, north of Prince Rupert, BC near the Nisga’a village of Gingolx.

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Energy, Environment, Indigenous Nations

Coastal GasLink Pipeline Stopped Near Protected Wetlands

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Coastal GasLink has been forced to stop pipeline construction near protected wetlands after an inspection by the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office found the company cleared areas without completing the required surveying and planning.

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Energy, Environment, Indigenous Nations

Ridley Island: Vopak’s Proposed Prince Rupert Export Terminal

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ridley Island in Prince Rupert, B.C., is home to the region’s primary export  terminal. Freight trains rumble in 24/7, carrying goods like grain, coal  and — more recently — liquified petroleum gas, commonly known as  propane. Massive ships in the adjacent deep waters are loaded with this  cargo, mostly destined for transport across the Pacific. 

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