Emissions concerns delay LNG project
WENDY STUECK
Globe and Mail
January 2, 2008
VANCOUVER -- A proposed $2-billion liquefied natural gas project in British Columbia has been delayed as a result of the province's greenhouse-gas-cutting ambitions.
Calgary-based WestPac LNG Corp., which unveiled its plans for the project last summer, has pushed back the scheduled start date for the project to 2014 from 2013, according to company statements.
The project, slated for Texada Island in the Strait of Georgia, is one of 10 proposed LNG projects in Canada, which have generated interest as domestic natural gas supplies are drying up. There are about 60 proposed LNG projects in North America.
A spokeswoman said WestPac has decided to put off filing its project description - which would have triggered the environmental assessment process - until the company has a better sense of new greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations that may come into effect.
WestPac had planned to file its project description in the fall of 2007 but now plans to file it in early 2009.
WestPac's proposal is for a combined LNG terminal and natural-gas-fired electricity plant with a capacity of up to 1,200 megawatts, which would make the site one of the biggest electricity generators in the province.
But a natural-gas-fired plant of that size would also generate significant GHG emissions, making it unclear how it would fit into the province's energy plan, which requires all new electricity projects to have zero net GHG emissions.
In addition, B.C. announced plans in the February, 2007, Throne Speech to reduce GHG emissions by 33 per cent by 2020. In November, Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell named a Climate Action Team, a 22-member squad charged with exploring ways of bridging the gap between reductions expected from existing policies and the 2020 target.
The team is expected to make its recommendations by July 31.
WestPac had been working on a proposal for an LNG terminal near the northern port city of Prince Rupert, where a new container terminal began operating last fall, but shelved that plan after cost estimates soared.
The company is now focused on its Texada project.
Last month, environmental groups including the Georgia Strait Alliance, Texada Action Now and West Coast Environmental Law banded together to fight the project, saying increased tanker traffic would disrupt existing commercial and recreational traffic, and that the proposal runs counter to the province's energy plan and GHG reduction targets.
texadalng.com/LNG_Alliance_MediaRelease_17Dec2007.pdf
"We're looking at this as a litmus test for the provincial government's plans around greenhouse gas emissions," Chuck Childress, spokesperson for Texada Action Now, said yesterday.
"This project is going to show the world whether the province is serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
WestPac says expected traffic to the terminal - about 36 LNG carriers a year, or one every 10 days or so - would amount to an increase of less than 1 per cent over existing vessel traffic.
About 1,200 people live on Texada Island.
Posted by Arthur Caldicott on 03 Jan 2008