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LNG: LNG Canada will blow B.C.'s climate targets

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:38 am
by Oscar
LNG Canada will blow B.C.'s climate targets

For Immediate Release - October 1, 2018

VANCOUVER - Wilderness Committee is condemning provincial and federal subsidies for LNG Canada because the project puts British Columbia’s climate goals effectively out of reach. Proponents credit those tax breaks with making today's final investment decision on the project possible.

“Premier John Horgan and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau laid out the red carpet for the most polluting project in the province using exactly the kind of tax breaks and subsidies Canada has promised to end,” said Climate Campaigner Peter McCartney. “In 2018, the only way these fossil fuel megaprojects are viable is by short-changing the public.”

Horgan announced $6 billion worth of additional subsidies in March on top of existing drilling credits and discounted power. Meanwhile, recent reports indicate the federal government is prepared to waive a 40 per cent tariff on prefab steel modules which will allow LNG Canada to be built overseas and then assembled onsite. Manufacturing jobs would be created elsewhere.

LNG Canada and the thousands of fracking wells it would require will create 8.6 megatonnes of carbon pollution, nearly as much as every passenger vehicle in the province. Nothing indicates the provincial government will be able to make up for the added burden to meet its newest climate target of a 14 megatonne reduction by 2030. That goal was set after B.C. announced it would miss its 2020 target.

“One look at our track record on meeting climate goals shows we cannot afford to take this huge step backwards,” said McCartney. “As fires, floods and more climate disasters ravage the world, future generations will look back at this critical time and ask why we traded our climate targets to invest further in fossil fuels like LNG."

Despite government messaging that B.C.'s LNG can assist Asian countries in weaning themselves off coal, recent prices show gas is actually competing with wind and solar worldwide.

“What you're now seeing is gas power displacing new renewable energy — not coal,” said McCartney. “Considering this infrastructure will last for decades, nobody should pretend this is good for the climate.” –30–

For more information, please contact:

Peter McCartney | Climate Campaigner, Wilderness Committee
778-239-1935, peter@wildernesscommittee.org

Re: LNG: LNG Canada will blow B.C.'s climate targets

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:39 am
by Oscar
Final investment decision expected next week on $40-billion LNG project near Kitimat

[ https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/new ... ar-kitimat ]

Thursday, September 27, 2018 |The Georgia Straight |Charlie Smith

It raises questions whether the B.C. Greens might withdraw their support for the NDP government

The largest capital investment in B.C. history could be made as soon as next week.

That's because LNG Canada—a consortium of Shell Canada, PetroChina, Korea Gas Corporation, and Mitsubishi—is poised to announce whether it will spend around $40 billion on a liquefied-natural-gas terminal, new gas pipeline, and upstream natural-gas assets.

It would enable the corporation to export LNG from a large plant that would be built near Kitimat.

The Financial Post has reported that preparations are underway in Kitimat for an October 5 announcement, though the date could change.

Earlier this year, Shell Canada's parent corporation noted that global demand for LNG grew by 29 million tonnes last year, including 17 million tonnes in Asia.

The Kitimat plant could produce up to 26 million tonnes annually.

B.C. Green Leader Andrew Weaver has threatened to vote to bring down the NDP government if it fails to limit greenhouse-gas emissions.

He also emphasized his willingness to bring down the government in a letter earlier this year to LNG Canada CEO Andy Calitz.

"We believe that British Columbia must make its GHG reduction targets and climate action plan the centerpiece of its economic strategy," Weaver stated in the letter. "Our focus must be on prioritizing innovation within our economy and seeing new investments that ensure we are leaving the next generation with real opportunities to prosper."

LNG Canada's critics, such as Peter McCartney of the Wilderness Committee, have claimed that the project will increase provincial carbon dioxide emissions by 8.6 million megatonnes after including the fracking of natural gas that will be required to supply fuel to the facility.

The B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has conducted extensive research regarding the climate implications of subsidizing the LNG industry. As a result of this work, CCPA economist Marc Lee has argued that the province needs to "put a pin in its LNG fantasy" and focus on creating green jobs.

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