Statements on Pacific Northwest LNG & Trans Mountain Expansion Projects
Yesterday I issued a statement in response to Petronas’s announcement that it will not be proceeding with its Pacific Northwest LNG project. As I mentioned more than four years ago, global market conditions were never going to support an LNG industry in British Columbia on the scale the BC Liberals promised. This decision by Petronas was not unexpected. I reproduce my statement below.
In addition, a number of media outlets asked me to comment on the Attorney General’s remarks regarding the Trans Mountain permitting process as well as subtle changes in the language used in the Minister of Environment’s mandate letter. That letter stated that the Premier expects the Minister of Environment to make “substantive progress” on a number of priorities. These include:
Employ every tool available to defend B.C.’s interests in the face of the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline, and the threat of a seven-fold increase in tanker traffic on our coast.
Recall that the Confidence and Supply Agreement, ratified by both the BC NDP and BC Green Caucuses, specifically states that an NDP government will:
Immediately employ every tool available to the new government to stop the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline, the seven-fold increase in tanker traffic on our coast, and the transportation of raw bitumen through our province.
This language was based on similar language in the BC NDP 2017 election platform as well as long-standing BC Green opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline. The BC NDP election platform specifically said:
The Kinder Morgan pipeline is not in BC’s interest. It means a seven-fold increase in tanker traffic. It doesn’t, and won’t, meet the necessary conditions of providing benefits to British Columbia without putting our environment and our economy at unreasonable risk. We will use every tool in our toolbox to stop the project from going ahead.
My comments, reproduced in Huffington Post and Canadian Press articles, point out that:
As an opposition party, we will remain steadfast in calling on the NDP government to use every legally available tool to stop the pipeline from going ahead
Statement on Petronas Announcement
For immediate release
July 25, 2017
Andrew Weaver statement on Pacific Northwest LNG
VICTORIA, B.C. – Andrew Weaver, leader of the B.C. Green caucus, issued the following statement in response to Petronas’s announcement that it will not be proceeding with its Pacific Northwest LNG project.
“Since the beginning it has been clear that the global marketplace does not support the LNG industry that the BC Liberals promised in their 2013 election campaign,” said Weaver.
“Rather than doing the hard work required to strengthen and secure the economic opportunities already available in other sectors, the BC Liberals recklessly went all in on a single industry. They let opportunities for innovation and economic development in clean technology, the resource sector, and other major BC industries fall by the wayside.
“BC’s future does not lie in chasing yesterday’s fossil fuel economy; it lies in taking advantage of opportunities in the emerging economy in order to create economic prosperity in BC. These opportunities must be available to people in all regions of our province.
“The BC Green caucus is committed to developing these opportunities in the emerging economy that all British Columbians can access. This is the vision we ran on.”
-30-
Media contact
Sarah Miller, Acting Press Secretary
+1 250-858-9891 | sarah.miller@leg.bc.ca
Latest Posts
Recent Comments
- on The Paris Agreement is in trouble: UNFCCC needs to ratchet up their climate efforts
- on The Paris Agreement is in trouble: UNFCCC needs to ratchet up their climate efforts
- on How can BC’s environmental organizations be more effective?
- on How can BC’s environmental organizations be more effective?
- on How can BC’s environmental organizations be more effective?
17 Comments
If we’ve not already crossed the threshold of runaway climate change, then at the very least, our opportunity to prevent it will disappear imminently. (consider the sulfuric feedback loop we’ve already triggered off of Africa’s aptly named Skeleton Coast if you’ve the stomach for it. That’s what turned Venus from a life sustaining environment into the hell it is today).
ANY further investment in dirty energy is a crime against life itself, a fact which illustrates what a menace to global security our populist Prime Minister is. He scares me more than the madman sitting in the Oval Office, and I grew up in an educated, politically connected family, even sharing ski slopes with the Trudeaus and supporting his father’s terms.
Please. Consider disrupting the global order. Do It for the future of life on earth. Get behind http://www.DaVinciEnergy.ca. It is such a simple, easy way to generate power…. literally two cables and a foil!! This is ancient technology you can literally build for yourself. Just attach a generator and you’ve no need for the grid. The cost?? An incredible 1/2 cent per kwh. The byproducts of this process? Pure hydrogen.
Petroleum is killing us. It’s usefulness is so over.
Time to start shorting those fossil fuel stocks, people. The future is here.
George Gilks you talked about power from Hydrogen. Perhaps you know that Hydrogen itself is not a power source however it can be used to store energy that has been put into it. It still requires some form of energy input ; it could be Hydro , Solar or Wind powered.
All are renewable and clean ( but none are free) 3
Dear Mr. Weaver,
I was not a supporter of the Greens. However, I admire your ability to put the interests of our province first and work with the NDP on all the major policy issues upon which you both agree.
I have a newfound respect for your party and for you and regret any negative comments I made on social media during the ‘uncertain times’ just leading up to election night. I have changed my views. I hope that you and Mr. Horgan continue to put the interests of British Columbians first. Thank you, Mr. Horgan. You will continue to have my support!
I am a Canadian, not a resident of B.C. ( I live in Nova Scotia) and employed in the Oil and Gas industry and I have to say I am happy that the LNG project is a no go, I would be even more thrilled if it was dead in the water….am I schizophrenic? No, because I see that the short term gain this project might have is far outweighed by the ecological and environmental damage it might have if things got out of hand. BC is a gem….an absolute natural wonder and it is the duty of every Canadian to put this Natural blessing ahead of economic and personal gains. Any idiot could see that once you start down to road with this type of large scale infrastructure there is no turning back. You jeopardize not just the ecological community but the cultural community as well. The about face by the Metlakatla community and the Lax Kw’alaams because of financial incentives was sickening, that would have signed their cultural death, warrant just like the Bedouin of Arabia. There are so many other ways BC can and will be financially effective, an LNG plant of this scale would be ruinous. Please look at other communities that have taken on this infrastructure…what they once were is unrecognizable now…..do you want that for BC.????…put this behind and move on.
I am a Canadian, not a resident of B.C. ( I live in Nova Scotia) and employed in the Oil and Gas industry and I have to say I am happy that the LNG project is a no go, I would be even more thrilled if it was dead in the water….am I schizophrenic? No, because I see that the short term gain this project might have is far outweighed by the ecological and environmental damage it might have if things got out of hand. BC is a gem….an absolute natural wonder and it is the duty of every Canadian to put this Natural blessing ahead of economic and personal gains. Any idiot could see that once you start down to road with this type of large scale infrastructure there is no turning back. You jeopardize not just the ecological community but the cultural community as well. The about face by the Metlakatla community and the Lax Kw’alaams because of financial incentives was sickening, that would have signed their cultural death, warrant just like the Bedouin of Arabia. There are so many other ways BC can and will be financially effective, an LNG plant of this scale would be ruinous. Please look at other communities that have taken on this infrastucture…what they once were is unrecognizable now…..do you want that for BC.????…put this behind and move on.
I think today Natural gas traded at around $2.99 to $2.88. If BC were to process natural gas what would our production costs be?
Japan is paying $8.50 this month for what we sell to the US for under 3 dollars. The Americans turn it into LNG in Seattle and ship it to Asia. Opposition to Canadian energy is funded by US interests so that they remain our only customers.
Interesting that my comment about the value of LNG in Asia and observation that the US was exporting Canadian gas out of Seattle at a profit was deleted. Nice to see that the Green Party is more interested in censorship than truth.
I haven’t deleted any comments. I will check to see if it got caught up in the spam filter.
May I remind you Mr. Weaver that the election is over and the time for puffing up the Green and NDP platform is over as well..
Rather than dwell on past pronouncements now is the time to get on board with Site C , Get on board with the KM expansion and start thinking globally rather than the colloquial self congratulatory stance you seem so fond in taking..
Loss of Lng is not good for this province , it is not good for Canada and in fact in a small way is not good globally… Quit Politicking and get on with your short window of opportunity to govern this province.
Donald,
You clearly have a very high standard for our representatives in legislature. I agree that “I told you so” statements and self-aggrandizing press releases that are issued by a government office in support of the (current) backing political party are a waste of time and taxpayer money. What I’m curious about, however, is whether you direct that same sort of critical thinking towards the previous government, and the private corporations seeking to maximise profit at the expense of taxpayers while exploiting our province. There is literally a saying in the corporate world of “privatising profits and socializing risk.” I am genuinely curious as to what markets you propose we sell LNG and the electricity from Site C to. At the prices currently reported by left-wing nutjobs like Bloomberg, both industries are uneconomical. The businesses would operate at a loss well into the future. I might be making an assumption here, but I think you’re probably a political centrist, or a bit on the right. I also believe in free markets, and a survival-of-the-fittest approach to competition between companies. Where I am apparently failing to understand your statement is this: You want the government to force through and subsidize a number of projects that private industry has backed away from because they are bad investments. You want the government to shovel money into the twin dumpster fires of Site C and LNG because no corporation sees them as being profitable anytime soon. Are you sure you’re not a socialist?
Thank you for standing up for our precious coast and keeping dirty energy in the ground. Protecting salmon habitat such as significant spawning rivers near Lulu Island is key to a prosperous BC. Allowing these big energy giants to come in carelessly and destroy these special and important ecosystems for profit (as the liberals did to widen their party pockets ) is reckless and completely self interest. It’s not in the best interest of BC. Finally we have real leaders running the Province. Looking forward to the future with green technology in mind
The MoE’s statement sounds an awful lot like what Clark used to say on this subject. Her 5 conditions, etc. Remember that the NDP doesn’t stand for the planet, but rather for labour & Horgan is under pressure from unions to let this go ahead.
Excellent, couldn’t be happier. Now we can get on with eliminating the need for fossil fuels.
Please, have a look at a Canadian company Hydrogenics. The fuel cell vehicle can also power your home. Toyota says one fillup of hydrogem will power the average home for a week. If you ate using solar and wind you can generate your own hydrogem. Once the equipment is paid for the hydrogen is free. Think about it, free energy and you can heat your home electrically, no charge. This is the type of technology we should be persuing. You can have an electric car parked in your garage drawing power from the grid or you can have a fuel cell car sitting in your garage powering your home from the hydrogen you’re producing for free.
The decisions we make now will greatly affect the future. We need to be careful with our choices.
So I can meet all my power needs for the price of equipment? It’s free you say? How long does this equipment last? Does it end up being as affordable as what we have now? I worry about how politicized this is in Canada, if it doesn’t live up to what everyone says there will be significant backlash. Also, a lot of this stuff just isn’t as affordable to everyone, or as effective. I want to cut thru the bullshit and just see the truth, but we have too much bullshit on either side.
Good for your province Andrew Weaver. However, it’s unfortunate the municipal politicians in North East BC put so much effort in pushing the regulator and federal governments to approve this LNG process. They bought into the “pipe dream” that everything depended on a single Oil and Gas company. In the end they were let down and abandoned by a company that really only cared for “it’s” bottom line. I think the government of BC should review Petronas assets in the province to ensure the BC taxpayer is receiving good responsible development of the public’s oil and gas resources. I also hope some relief is coming to North East BC in area’s of development for renewable industry expansion and socio-economic incentives to move away from fossil fuels. North east BC used to be a leader in renewable energies alongside Oil and Gas development in the Peace Region with their development of the Energy house in Dawson Creek. Today the North East is not the leader in BC and they could do more to encourage a diversity of industry through the use of renewable technologies.
I love what You are doing, I pray You do not fall for Corporate interests over my environment and I pray My Green Party will keep You in check. Love You so far.
Thanks Lots,
Chris Marrie