After hearing non-stop about an LNG bonanza and the trillions of dollars it would bring the province, during the 2013 campaign, the B.C. Liberals have seen their first liquefied natural gas plant through the approval process.
Woodfibre LNG hopes to start construction of its export plant on Howe Sound in late 2017, although at the current prices, it might be more lucrative to be exporting liquefied India Pale Ale.
Economic benefits that will flow from this include two years of construction jobs on the $1.6-billion plant, a contingent of operational staff once the plant is complete and royalties that will flow to the province and Squamish Nation.
But, this project been made possible by an agreement that the plant run on deeply discounted hydroelectric power.
Guess who will be making up the difference? Each tanker that sails out of Howe Sound to China will be carrying a load of taxpayer subsidies with it.
The only way to get gas to the plant is through the questionable method of fracking.
And although the site has a history of industry and the pollution that goes with it, this decision comes as Howe Sound’s ecology was making a remarkable turnaround.
And it will remain a major carbon emitter. How this impacts B.C.’s ability to play its role combatting climate change isn’t clear.
In the political arena, the B.C. Liberals can now point to Woodfibre as an LNG deal signifying a promise kept from the last election.
Whether this is a promise citizens want to extend beyond 2017 will once again soon be up to voters.
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