The struggle has been ongoing for more than a decade. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) approved the first incarnation of this project in 2009 and few are surprised to hear they issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement today. The energy company Veresen’s President and CEO, Don Althoff, calls this “a significant regulatory milestone,” which came about after working “closely with federal, state and local regulatory agencies and with local communities over the past three years.” Forrest English, of Rogue Riverkeeper, said “FERC has never turned down a new LNG terminal.” The fight over Jordan Cove LNG will continue.
The recent earthquake near Wonowon is the largest of over 500 seismic events, in northeastern BC, believed to be caused by hydraulic fracturing. It may be remembered as BC’s 4.6m fracking quake.
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.
There are credible experts who believe that, with proper regulation and enforcement, it is possible to have a trustworthy fracking industry. They also say this does not yet exist in North America. Personally, I think the industry is out of control and BC’s government is desperate to get in bed with it. Last week the government released a report from Ernst & Young (EY) which the Minister of Natural Gas Development says “British Columbians can have confidence they are benefiting from a clean, well regulated natural gas industry.” Does Ernst & Young’s LNG report vindicate BC?
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s (CEAA) 20-day comment period for a proposed mega-sized LNG terminal in Delta, BC, began on May 22. If the WesPack Tilbury Marine Jetty is built, it can bring up to 120 LNG tankers and 90 LNG carriers to the Fraser River every year. This might have totally escaped our notice, if someone from Voters Taking Action On Climate Change (VTACC) hadn’t seen a notice a notice about the proposed LNG facility on the British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Office’s (BC EAO) website. That was last week. Today, a day before the comment period officially ends, word came that the CEAA has not been taking comments.
