Nisga’a Nation paves way for construction of natural gas pipeline in B.C.

This article was written by Brent Jang and was published in the Globe & Mail on June 13, 2024.

The Nisga’a Nation in northern British Columbia has agreed to allow the start of construction of a major pipeline on its territory in August, despite opposition from climate activists and some Indigenous groups.

Prince Rupert Gas Transmission, or PRGT, is striving to become the second major pipeline carrying natural gas from northeast B.C. to the West Coast for the purpose of exports. A group of Wet’suwet’en Nation hereditary chiefs has led a campaign opposing Coastal GasLink, the first export pipeline for natural gas across northern B.C.

Coastal GasLink’s construction provoked blockades and countrywide demonstrations in early 2020.

PRGT would transport natural gas about 775 kilometres from northeast B.C. to the planned Ksi Lisims LNG terminal on the West Coast for exporting liquefied natural gas. The Nisga’a, Houstonbased Western LNG and a group of natural gas producers called RockiesLNGarepartnersinKsiLisims, which is seeking to begin shipping to Asia by 2029.

The start of pipeline construction is contingent on TC Energy Corp.’s sale of PRGT to the Nisga’a andWestern. Calgary-basedTCEnergy announced in March that it agreed to sell PRGT, with the deal slated to close by the end of June.

“Our Nation’s objective is to build a meaningful economy at home so future generations can live fulfilling lives in the Nass Valley,” Eva Clayton, the elected president of the Nisga’a Lisims government, said in a statement on Wednesday.

“As a first step on that journey, we are pleased to be hosting – and as new owners, leading – the start of PRGT’s construction on our treaty lands this summer,” Ms. Clayton said.

PRGT, through its current owner TC Energy, gave three-month advance notice to the BC Environmental Assessment Office on May 24 of plans to begin pipeline construction on Aug. 24, according to a letter released this week by the provincial regulator.

“Construction activities will be initiated within Nisga’a lands,” said the letter signed by Allison Denby, TC Energy’s director of environment, land and regulatory.

Citing climate concerns, officials from Indigenous groups in northwest B.C. who have voiced opposition to Ksi Lisims and PRGT include representatives at the Lax Kw’alaams Band, Gitxsan Nation and Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs.

A portion of the contentious pipeline route would cross the Gitxsan’s unceded traditional territory.

“Construction of PRGT is scheduled to start at the end of this August and will be undertaken by the prospective new owners within Nisga’a lands,” TC Energy spokesperson Suzanne Wilton said in a statement on Wednesday. “TC Energy will not have a role in the construction of PRGT.”

K si Li sims is undergoing a regulatory review to obtain environmental approval for the export facilities atWil Milit on Pear se Island. Ksi Li sims has said it will comply with what the B.C. government calls credible plans to reach net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases.

PRGT initially received its environmental assessment certificate in 2014, and won approval for a five-year extension in 2019, giving the project until Nov. 25, 2024, to “substantially start” pipeline construction.

“We originally selected PRGT because of its advanced stage of construction readiness and the high degree of support from Nations along the entire right-ofway,” Ksi Lisims spokesperson Rebecca Scott said in an e-mail on Wednesday.

LNG Canada became the first LNG export project to be under construction in the country when it began building in Kitimat, B.C., in 2018. The Shell PLC-led joint venture is also considering a Phase 2 expansion.

There have been delays with other plans in Canada’s fledgling LNG sector over the past decade, but projects seeking to gain momentum this year include Ksi Lisims; Cedar LNG in Kitimat; Woodfibre LNG near Squamish; and FortisBC’s expansion plans at its domestic Tilbury LNG site in Delta.

Climate activists and environmentalists say PRGT’s strategy to start building on Nisga’a territory is a ploy to prevent the pipeline venture’s environmental assessment certificate from expiring in November.

The Wilderness Committee, David Suzuki Foundation, Dogwood and Sierra Club are among the climate and environmental groups warning about fossil fuels such as LNG, saying there are substantial deficiencies in the application by Ksi Lisims to the Environmental Assessment Office.

Ksi Lisims plans to use two floating facilities to produce LNG, with hydroelectricity powering motors for compressors in the liquefaction process. The project would then deploy other vessels to export LNG to Asia.

“The massive gas terminal is still in the environmental assessment process,” Dogwood said a recent newsletter titled Sneaky Pipeline Tricks.

B.C. environmentalist Mike Sawyer has written to the Environmental Assessment Office to express his concerns about PRGT. “Using a 10-year-old environmental assessment is not likely to be representative of the current environmental and social impacts of the project or in the public interest,” Mr. Sawyer wrote in his submission to the regulator.

TC Energy will operate the contentious Coastal GasLink project, which completed the pipeline last October after five years of construction. Coastal GasLink will be supplying the LNG Canada joint venture in Kitimat, where exports of natural gas in liquid form to Asia are slated to begin by mid-2025.

Coastal GasLink would also supply Cedar, co-owned by the Haisla Nation and Pembina Pipeline Corp., which plan to start exports from Kitimat in late 2028.

The PRGT route was originally intended to end at a proposed LNG export terminal near Prince Rupert, but Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas cancelled the LNG joint venture in 2017.