From The Register-Guard
TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved Tuesday a $27 billion liquefied natural gas project on British Columbia’s northwest coast in a decision that’s considered a litmus test for a government that has vowed to do more for the environment.
It is Trudeau’s first decision on a major energy project. It comes ahead of some important pipeline decisions that will cause him problems from either industry or environmentalists and aboriginals.
“Helping to get Canada’s resources to market is a key responsibility,” Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said, announcing the decision alongside two other cabinet ministers in Richmond, B.C. “At the same time, we said that economic prosperity must go hand in hand with environmental responsibility.”
The proposed liquefied natural gas processing plant by Petronas and other partners near Prince Rupert, B.C., would ship 19 million tons a year of frozen, liquefied natural gas to markets in Asia. But the project has drawn criticism both for the carbon emissions it would cause and for the possible impact that the export terminal would have on the wild salmon habitat in the Skeena River estuary.
Trudeau still faces decisions on Enbridge’s controversial Northern Gateway pipeline proposal that would bring oil to the Pacific Coast for shipment to Asia as well as Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain pipeline expansion from Alberta to British Columbia.
The government put in 190 conditions on the massive Pacific NorthWest LNG project, including environmental and fish protection.
