Ksi Lisims LNG: the ugly truth

Despite overwhelming pushback of more than 500 public written submissions, the BC EAO (BC Environment Assessment Office) has fast-tracked approval for the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG project, promoted by the BC govt as a 'joint venture with the Nisga'a Nation' (but is in fact 100% owned by Texas-based Western LNG).  The Ksi Lisims project would be a floating LNG plant (built in Korea!) situated at the north end of Pearse Island in the Nass River estuary on Nisga’a land.

The plant requires the construction of a massive pipeline - the previously approved (but not-yet built) Prince Rupert Gas Transmission line (PRGT), which was originally intended to supply the Pacific NorthWest LNG project abandoned by Petronas - to transport fracked methane gas from northeastern BC to the terminal for liquefaction before shipment to Asian markets.

Methane, the primary component of fossil gas, emits fugitive emissions that rank as the second-largest contributor to rising global temperatures, following C02.  These emissions occur throughout the entire lifecycle of LNG, from fracking & flaring to the liquefaction process & transportation.

[To give an idea of the EAO's application requirements for large projects, check out this link & gasp in disbelief at the 100+ pages of details & oversights this project had to satisfy for approval:
FRX_DRAFT_Application_Information_Requirements_12Jan2026_PCP.pdf (skepticism allowed - nay, expected!)]

Feedback on the project's EAO includes:  Concerns over greenhouse gas emissions from the project, impacts on the marine environment & Nass River salmon, impacts of increased tanker traffic on whales & other environmental impacts.

As the PRGT pipeline crosses Gitksan Naton territory, the Gitksan Watershed Authorities' submission stands out: “The project application does not seem to have adequately addressed or even characterized the impacts to Gitksan interests & rights. Lacking proper aquatic baseline information for assessment and evaluation is a major concern. [..]  We call on the BC Environmental Assessment Office and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada to take the time to engage with the Gitksan and address Gitksan Watershed Authorities concerns with this proposed project before approving it.”

The Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition wrote, “Approximately 150 annual tanker visits for LNG transport through the proposed facility pose potential risks to whale species in frequented waters."

In its submission, the City of Terrace’s Economic Development office says the LNG Canada development in Kitimat has resulted in increased economic activity for Terrace, but that it has generally been negative for the city, as the increased activity has strained city services without providing any additional revenue.

“The City of Terrace sees its role as a hub as detriment to Terrace and especially the quality of life for its residents,” the office writes in its submission. “Being the hub has allowed for massive inflation in professional and retail services, a strain on municipal infrastructure like roads, refuse disposal, lodgings and housing.

“Some might see this influx as a key economic driver but it has actually been the opposite.."

[EAO info from an article by Nelson Bennett at www.biv.com: 
B.C. environmental review gets earful against Nisga'a's Ksi Lisims LNG - Business in Vancouver]

Gitanyow Nation's input is even more pointedly critical of Ksi Lisims.  Quoted from their website ():  "This callous decision to proceed with the environmental review without adequate consideration of the project's potential impacts on salmon, climate, and Indige3nous sovereignty is a glaring betrayal of trust," said Simogyet Malii/Glen Williams. "British Columbia's refusal to engage meangingfully with our concerns and immediately participate in Gitanyow's Wilp Sustainability Assessment Process is an insult."  (For more info go to  www.gitanyowchiefs.ca)

Dogwood BC's website section on Ksi Lisims is equally scathing, as these articles show: B.C. can have affordable, renewable power – or LNG (with the sub-heading: "Clean energy offers peace, prosperity and political sanity.  Oil companies plan to steal it.") & Epstein, Trump … and Mark Carney’s Ksi Lisims LNG - Dogwood with the sub-heading "Backlash builds as Liberals try to fast-track American-owned gas project"  Their website includes letter-writing opportunities for public input to the BC Govt, eg. PM Carney: no taxpayer subsidies for American billionaires! - Dogwood - from which I include my own (edited) version here - & encourage you to visit & provide your own...

Dear recipient's full name will go here,

Please don’T give my tax $ to American billionaires!

I am appalled that the Wall Street sickos who bankrolled Jeffrey Epstein & Donald Trump are hoping for a special gift :  billions of dollars from Canada’s Liberal govt!!

The Ksi Lisims LNG project would be 100% American-owned & built in Korea, then floated over & hooked up to an American-built pipeline on the B.C. coast.  Since the project’s Texas owner is struggling to find buyers for the gas, or banks willing to loan money for construction, that’s where we come in.

By adding Ksi Lisims to his “fast-track” list, PM Carney hopes to “de-risk” this project with OUR tax dollars, & convince Wall St to invest!  It’s a plan that would steal money from job-creating projects in Canada, jack up our utility bills & increase U.S. control of our energy resources.

I can’t think of a worse use of public money than giving Wall Street billionaires huge subsidies for an American-owned gas terminal in BC!

Please confirm you will be opposing any taxpayer handouts to the Ksi Lisims LNG proposal.  Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Saz Marguerite Chesterman
Vancouver, BC

This page's images are screenshots of others' websites, credited above - any copyrights belong to them. 

ReViLing TMX's Risky Re-Up

I did - & you can too, thru Dogwood at this link:

 https://dogwoodbc.ca/petitions/pipelines-not-essential/

(It's important we communicate with Govt. any way we can - calling, letters etc. - because it has an impact.. esp. when you join organizations that are direct-dialled to their offices, like Dogwood & Stand.Earth & many other good people making a difference to bring about a better future for everyone!)

It's also recommended you add your own comments, for extra impact!  Here are mine added to this letter expressing dismay at govt's ill-timed & misguided reopening of COVID-rife work camps in BC:

I'm hugely disappointed in our govts - provincial & federal - for their utter hypocrisy in favouring polluting corporate interests over Canadians' health & wellbeing.  COVID-19 has only heighTened this dangerous disconnect between policy & practice, as leaders like yourself continue to endanger our communities by advancing the policies & projects proven to exacerbate catastrophic climate change/ eco-harms:  i.e. the VERY ACTIVITIES YOUR GOVT. URGENTLY NEEDS TO CURTAIL!!?

Trans Mountain - along with LNG Canada & Old-growth logging - rates among our WORST EVER eco-disasters-in-the-making, guaranteed to drive our native Orcas to extinction & our GHGs through the roof.  Advancing construction of this deadly project - AGAINST key climate/ environmental/ public concerns - threatens us ALL..

Building new pipelines at this stage - i.e. the end of the polluting 'oil era' - cannot possibly be classified as an 'essential service'(!!?)  Doing so makes a mockery of our climate goals & any COVID-related public health measures:  SHAME!

[K guess what?  THIS  is the comment added to that petition.. NOT the comment I submitted to the --yes!!?-- BC Govt in response to their call for public comment on their "Reconsideration" "report" -- which is official, so i upped the ante.. then my phone died & I thought I hadn't copied it.. so the post just after THIS one is my final submission - totally rewritten - as it turns out, I hadn'T properly contained the topic to their specifics --which my final comment DID, after reading all their bs palaver - so why shouldn't MY input be just as long?.. Anyway it all panned out, as they say..]

(Hopefully they'll include it, attached links & all, which are jusT as relevant to my words.. I'll add em when I have a sec to spare ok??  Cheers!)

My reply to BC Greens' 'leadership' email..

- in which i shouLd have included my outrage at BC Govt's gross inaction RE. Coastal Gas Link's trespassing on unceded Wet'suwet'en territory, as succinctly explained by DogwoodBC:

B.C. is refusing to meet with Wet'suwet'en chiefs, and is instead passing off the responsibility to the very pipeline company trespassing on the Indigenous community's land. Where is B.C.'s newly promised approach to respecting Indigenous rights and title 

[REF.: thetyee.ca/News/Wetsuweten-Chiefs-Government-Talks ]

UPDATES:  thetyee.ca/Newsearch

Re:  BCGreens Leadership Contest 2020

Jan. 7th, 2020

Dear Adam Olsen,

Thanks for your email.  As an active supporter of the BCGREENS for the past decade+, I feel my continuing activism on your party’s behalf has helped contribute to its increased successes. While further advancing GREENS’ policies/values is bound to enable the huge shifts needed for effective climate action, the latest in-party structural shifts appear to have stalled the necessary progress..

TBH I’m extremely discouraged by the apparent absence of BC Greens’ influence on BCNDP’s actions/policies in supporting the provincial minority government.  Where is Greens’ presence in Govt’s horrifying decisions to advance harmful LNG projects in BC?  Or affecting Site-C dam’s (/Peace River valley’s) fate??  How have BCGREENS made their mark on critical BC Forestry revisions/ holding NDP to their promises of creating SUSTAINABLE industries going forward & meeting GHG reduction targets??? Why have I not had Greens’ support for my constant efforts —alongside orgs like Ancient Forest Alliance & Wilderness Committee— to stop clearcut logging of BC’s ancient old-growth forests & ban raw-log exports?  Nothing’s more important now! (These key campaigns are very close to my heart)
 
Our fast-shrinking old-growth forests —BC’s best (/ONLY) efficient C02 sequesters/ intact wildlife habitats— URGENTLY need to be protected by a MORATORIUM placed on permits to CLEARCUT these last bastions of hope for effective C02 control!  The BC NDP’s flimsy measures RE. Climate change are woefully inadequate to enable Reconciliation (via U.N.D.R.I.P.) OR safeguard BC’s communities from predicted ecosystem imbalances.. We desperately NEED our Greens to step in & fulfill their official parliamentary duties —to table science-based solutions & REJECT extinction-drivers (eg. a WOLF CULL?)  Please don’t wait until it’s too late to have your rightful say in BC’s future!  (Can’t in-party re-org WAIT?)

If the BC NDP has been unlawfully blocking BCGreens’ rightful input in decisions/policies affecting our province —as many suspect— is it not your DUTY to publicly report such obstacles blocking due process, so we can properly respond & be included in the process, as well as show support for Greens’ inclusion in our future?  The time is NOW to apply Greens’ considerable ethics/ know-how/ resources/ values to our remade future, which will look much better with —& MUCH worse without— the priceless benefits of Greens’ involvement..

I can’t wait much longer to see more of those good public policies & collaboration across party lines mentioned in your email!

Sincerely,

SARAH (SAZ) CHESTERMAN