BC determined the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) natural gas pipeline project has been “substantially started”.
According to the province, this means their environmental assessment certificate, issued in 2014, will remain in effect for the project’s lifetime.
The approximately 900 kilometre pipeline will run from Hudson’s Hope in northeastern B.C. and Lelu Island near Prince Rupert.
The province said the Environmental Assessment Office started an investigation in November last year, when the certificate was set to expire, to determine if the project could be considered started.
Information from the First Nations, Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, Gitxsan Wilps and members of the public were also included in the office’s report but only construction and other project-related activities were considered.
The project was sold to the Nisga’a Nation and Western LNG in March last year from TC Energy Corporation.
This recent decision by BC was not received well by various organizations and First Nations.
“If you can’t live up to your own provincial climate emissions commitments, at the very least be accountable to Canadians when investing their future into non-viable, foreign-owned energy projects, stop growing the corporate welfare system with billions of tax-funded subsidies that bring violence to our communities while systematically undermining the rule of law,” said Jesse Stoeppler, Co-Executive Director for the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition.
“The Kispiox Valley Community Centre Association, representing 250 residents of the Kispiox Valley north of Hazelton, is dismayed that the BC government has chosen to ignore the environmental, social, and climate perils of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project (PRGT), and to also disregard the rights and concerns of Indigenous Peoples along the proposed pipeline’s route,” said President Kathy Clay.
According to a news release, the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs also voiced opposition to the pipeline and have taken legal action against it.
It added the construction that has taken place is through Nisga’a land and if the project wasn’t considered substantially started, it would require a new environmental assessment before proceeding.
The BC Green party also voiced opposition to the announcement.
“It’s outrageous that the government is allowing construction to proceed with no approved terminus, using an outdated plan, and threatening one of the province’s most sensitive salmon habitats, all to serve the interests of foreign-owned fossil fuel companies. This is a betrayal of environmental stewardship, Indigenous rights, and a threat to sustained climate action in this province,” said Interim Leader Jeremy Valeriote.
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