pipeline news north: may 2016

VOL. 8 ISSUE 5 DIST: 16,000 SERVING THE OIL & GAS INDUSTRY IN NORTHERN B.C. AND ALBERTA

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MAY / JUNE 2016

Special Report: Fleeing wildfires, Fort McMurray family finds refuge in the Peace / Page 6

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From raucous rallies to blazing wildfires, the theme in the Peace Country over the last month has certainly been one of helping others—from a call to help boost bottom lines across the country with the development of LNG,

to providing shelter to families displaced by the Fort McMurray fires. Elsewhere in the province, Woodfibre signs a deal with its first LNG customer, work and pipeline camps for LNG Canada and Pacific NorthWest LNG

move forward, and Resource Works talks with local students about their future in the region.

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June Executive MeetingJune 7 @ 6:00 pm

Contact the secretary for the venue location.

June General MeetingJune 9 @ 6:00 pmFSJ Curling Club

Trap ShootJuly 8-9, 2016

ENTRY FEE $150.00 ~ TEAMS MUST HAVE 5 SHOOTERS• Friday Practice Round 4:00-8:00 p.m.

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2 • PIPELINE NEWS NORTH MAY 13, 2016

The following figures were taken from the stories in this issue of Pipeline News North.

PNN NUMBERS

MAY 13, 2016 PIPELINE NEWS NORTH • 3

Photo courtesy of julie rogers

1 million tonnes: Amount of LNG the Guangzhou Group will purchase yearly from Woodfibre LNG. Story on Page 8.

$9,770: Amount FSJ for LNG had raised by press time that the group will use for its

LNG or Bust road trip to Ottawa. Story on Page 10.

$71.76: The average per-hectare price at the April land sale. Story on Page 10.

2,500 acres: Size of oil and gas parcel stretching across the Peace River and in-

cluding Blackfoot Regional Park. Story on Page 11.

62: Number of pipeline benefits agree-ments the province has signed with 29 of 32 First Nations along four proposed pipeline

routes to the coast. More on Page 12.

70: Number of conditions included in 10 permits issued for the Coastal GasLink

pipeline. Story on Page 15.

22: Number of solar panels stolen from a well site in Arras in April. Story on Page 16.

$2 billion: Benefits from the Northern Gate-way pipeline that will flow to First Nation

and Metis communities. Story on Page 18.

4,500: Number of workers that can be housed in LNG Canada’s Cedar Valley

Lodge. Story on Page 20.

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Published monthly by Glacier Ventures International Corp.Pipeline News North is politically independent and a member of the B.C. Press Council. The Pipeline News North retains sole copyright of advertising, news stories and photography produced by staff. Reproduction is prohibited without written consent of the editor.


PNN Maryon: Impact of Fort

McMurray wildfires

Displaced Fort Mac families find home in the Peace

Woodfibre signs its first

LNG agreement

Residents to drive LNG message to Ottawa

April land sale brings in

$375,000

PRRD to accept drilling in Blackfoot Park

Province ‘prudent’ in support of LNG industry

Premier stirs LNG supporters

at Fort St. John rally

Look for PNN on FB: pipelinenewsnorth

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Pipeline camp approved for Pacific NorthWest LNG Two more First Nations sign on to PRGT project Final approvals issued for Coastal GasLink

Solar panels stolen fromArras well site Northern Gateway seeks 3-year extension to build

Resource Works talks opportunities for students

LNG Canada moves forward with work camp plans Five questions with Premier Christy Clark

Look for PNN on Twitter: @ PipelineNN

Photo courtesy of julie rogers

The theme of the 2016 BC Mayor’s Caucus May 1-3 certainly lived up to its promise—energy education. Some 40 mayors from across the province received a whirlwind industry tour across the South Peace on May 2. On the agenda were stops to: Encana’s Water Resource Hub, the Enbridge Tupper West Gas Plant, a Tourmaline Oil Corp. hydraulic fracturing operation, Encana’s Sunset Prairie Lodge, Encana’s Tower Sweet Gas Plant construction site, ARC Resources Ltd. site with 16 pumpjacks, and Tervita’s South Taylor Facility.

#oilsands outlookMAY 13, 2016 PIPELINE NEWS NORTH • 5

Fire season hit Western Canada this spring with a ferocity few of us have ever wit-nessed. Our hearts go out to the people of

Fort McMurray, and also those closer to home in vicinity of Fort St. John, in the aftermath of the recent fires.

People, homes, businesses, and ways-of-life have been devastated in a matter of a few days as infernos have ripped through the tinder-dry forests and communities.

As a result of the fires, many production fa-cilities in the oil patch have shut down. What may now come to light as a consequence of these shut downs is the limited ability of re-maining suppliers to ramp up production to fill the resulting voids.

It’s a good time to recall our lessons in sup-ply and demand – and reflect on how events like those we have all just witnessed or lived through may affect markets.

Two years ago, crude was selling at more than $100 a barrel as suppliers worldwide held production in check to support prices. OPEC producers (like Saudi Arabia) consciously put production capacity on hold and then enjoyed generous pricing for the millions of barrels that they did produce every day.

As non-OPEC producers like the United States ramped up non-conventional crude production, they put increasing pressure on OPEC to keep supply in balance with demand. As we all know, this induced a significant strat-egy change from the major conventional oil producers who opened up the taps and flooded the world with oil. With supply significantly ex-ceeding demand, inventories grew and pricing collapsed. No one has been willing to act deci-sively first to restore supply into balance with demand.

In the last year, rig counts in North America have plummeted and crude production is now

finally starting to show signs of decline. De-spite the continuing record large crude inven-tories in North America, crude oil pricing has recovered about 40 per cent from the February lows.

This price recovery highlights two observa-tions worth reflecting on:

1) At current production levels, there is very little “spare capacity” that can be brought on line on short notice. Indeed, given the ur-gent need for cash flow, most producers are maximizing production already. This leaves the supply side of the equation vulnerable to unexpected disruptions (like the fires in Fort

Mac) – despite the very large crude inventories in the southern U.S.

2) Market participants always tend to “look though” immediate supply /demand balances and try to anticipate future trends. If there were another significant crude oil supply disruption elsewhere in the world now, production will not be able to keep up with demand and price spikes would be very likely.

Tim Maryon is vice-president of sales and business development at Peace Country Petrol-eum in Fort St. John.

Consequences of Fort Mac fires reach beyond Alberta

Oil Matters

Tim Maryon

cody david Photo— instagram.com/tamarackasPenbirch

A wildfire consumes the areas around Fort McMurray earlier in May. As a result of the fires, many production facilities in the oil patch have shut down. What may now come to light as a consequence of these shut downs is the limited ability of remaining suppliers to ramp up production to fill the resulting voids.

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Fort McMurray families make Dawson Creek a temporary home

mike [email protected]

Melissa Hiller saw fire off in the distance from her downtown Fort McMurray apartment on May 2.

She joked with her husband, Jacob, before he left for work at a Syncrude site north of the city, that at least she would have some entertain-ment while he was gone, watching the helicop-ters try and put it out.

The next day, she took a second look out her balcony. Instead of a mild sense of inquiry, this time she felt intense fear.

“I happened to step out on the balcony and I saw these flames. They were so high,” she said.

She snapped a picture on her phone and sent it to Jacob. She didn’t know it at the time, but Melissa wouldn’t hear from him again for sev-eral hours.

She went back inside and switched on the TV, then started to monitor Facebook for any news of evacuations.

That’s when she started to smell the smoke. “What I was smelling was people’s vehicles

on fire,” she said. “I could smell rubber. It wasn’t just wood smoke, it was toxic. I decided I was going to start driving north to meet my husband.”

Little did she know that a week later, her family would end up in Dawson Creek.

going north not an oPtion

Before she could even get on the highway, re-ports were coming in that going north was not in the cards. The highway was closed off.

All other highways out of the city were quick-ly jamming up too, as people were trying to either get back to their homes and grab what they could, or get out of the city altogether.

That was how the journey began that eventu-ally landed the Hillers in Dawson Creek.

It took Melissa 16 hours of driving, including two hours in a lineup for gas outside Morin-

ville, near Edmonton, before she finally got a hotel room. There, she was able to reach Jacob again.

“It was pretty scary,” she said choking back tears. “I was driving away thinking, ‘am I ever going to see him again?’ I am from Ontario so, it’s a long way from him to end up alone.”

While many of the people displaced from the Fort McMurray fires are finding tempor-ary homes to the south, in places like Edmon-ton and Calgary, others have found relief in the Mile Zero City.

The Hillers were the first, but more families have since arrived.

Northview Apartment REIT (formerly North-ern Properties), were the Hiller’s landlords in Fort McMurray. The company agreed to put them up anywhere in Canada.

“We tried Jasper first because that’d be a nice place to spend a few weeks,” she said. “But they had no vacancies so we thought, why not Daw-son Creek? We joked about the TV show every-one thinks about when you hear about (the city).”

They arrived in the afternoon May 9 with nothing but themselves, the dog, the dog’s things and about 20 rolls of toilet paper.

“If I am going to end up in Anzac in a shel-ter and there is 20,000 people there rather un-expectedly, will they have enough toilet paper?” she said laughing. “I thought ‘I can live without all this other stuff but I need toilet paper.’”

Northview officials in Dawson Creek posted a call for help on Facebook and the community stepped up, giving the Hillers clothing and gift cards as well as supplies for Luna, like a new dog bed, leash and toys.

“It’s been pretty tight,” she said. “(But) I was just so touched. It’s really overwhelming and it’s very humbling because I am not used to it. I am the person back home that helps other people. I don’t get help. I am very blessed. I was very emotional, crying all the way up here.”

Other families are also being supported by community donations raised through social media campaigns, and being put up by local rental companies like Northview and Real Flow Investments, who took a Fort McMurray family in on May 10, according to owner Doug Scott.

While uncertainty remains on when they’ll return home, the Hillers can at least take solace in the fact that according to Northview, their apartment building is still in tact.

Residents from Fort McMurray received word May 10 that in roughly two weeks time, a plan will be released for their return.

Reports indicate about 10 per cent of the city went down with the flames.

Until they can get back, the Hillers say they plan to check out as much of Dawson Creek as they can.

“We’ve got the time,” Jacob joked. “Might as well get out and see what we can.

We’re adventurous.”

While many of the people displaced from the fort mcmurray fires are finding temporary homes in places like edmonton and calgary, others have found temporary relief in the mile Zero city


community

mike carter Photo

Melissa and Jacob Hiller with their dog Luna. The trio arrived in Dawson Creek after fleeing the wildfires in Fort McMurray. Northview Apartment REIT (formerly Northern Properties), were the Hiller’s landlords in Fort McMurray. The company agreed to put them up anywhere in Canada. “We tried Jasper first … but they had no vacancies so we thought, why not Dawson Creek? We joked about the TV show everyone thinks about when you hear about (the city),” Melissa says.

$50K donation kickstarts Fort Mac fundraising campaignThe JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group (JWN)

and its parent company, Glacier Media, are do-nating $50,000 toward Red Cross efforts in Fort McMurray.

The donation is also on behalf of other individ-ual Glacier business units, which will undertake their own awareness and fundraising efforts to help the city and its residents rebuild their com-munity and their lives, said Bill Whitelaw, JWN president and Glacier executive vice-president.

Glacier, as one of Canada’s leading media and information services companies, has also creat-ed an integrated crowdfunding campaign, with all proceeds going the Red Cross efforts, at www.fundaid.ca/fortmac.

Glacier is deeply involved in communities across Western Canada with community news-papers and business information services, noted Tim Shoults, Glacier’s vice-president of content and audience development.

“This way, we can rally our readers, our cus-tomers and our communities to get behind the Red Cross efforts in a way that allows contribu-tions of all sizes,” explained Shoults.

From an energy perspective, it’s important for Canadians from coast to coast to have a sense beyond the headlines of how important Fort McMurray is to the overall Canadian economy, Whitelaw said.

“It’s just not an Alberta dynamic ... all Can-adians need to step up and help get this engine running on all cylinders again, putting people, companies and their welfare front and centre,” said Whitelaw.

“Canada’s oilsands sector is a key part of our energy practice at JWN ... we know these com-panies and these communities well. Like all other organizations that have stepped up with support, we want these folks to know we have their back.”

JWN produces the Oilsands Review and Oil-sands Navigator as part of a broad portfolio of oilsands products and services.

“As with our industry association partners such as the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and Petroleum Services Association of Canada, we’re putting our contribution to-ward the Red Cross, the ensure the dollars we donate get amplified through provincial and federal contributions,” he added.

Glacier’s other business practices in mining, agriculture, environmental services and com-munity media are also stepping up to keep the challenges Fort McMurray and the area faces in the coming weeks and months in terms of awareness, explained Whitelaw.

“In one way or another, all of our businesses touch Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo. Besting the fire was just the first among many challen-ges still to come.”


lng

Woodfibre signs agreement to sell LNG

JeNNiFer [email protected]

Woodfibre LNG has its first customer, and it is a major player in China.

The company announced May 9 its Singa-pore-based affiliate Woodfibre LNG Export Pte has signed an agreement with Guangzhou Gas Group Co. to deliver liquefied natural gas to the Chinese gas company for 25 years starting in 2020.

“The LNG offtake contemplated in the Heads of Agreement will provide a long-term stable supply of natural gas to meet the rapidly grow-ing demand for clean energy in Guangzhou City, People’s Republic of China,” a Woodfibre LNG news release states.

Guangzhou Gas Group Co. is the public gas

utility for Guangzhou City, which has a popula-tion of more than eight million and is Vancou-ver’s sister city.

Premier Christy Clark was on hand for the of-ficial signing of the agreement.

The sale represents half of Woodfibre LNG’s potential liquefied natural gas capacity. The fa-cility is slated to produce 2.1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year, and Guangzhou will purchase about one million tonnes, ac-cording to Byng Giraud, Woodfibre LNG vice-president of corporate affairs.

My Sea to Sky spokesperson Eoin Finn stressed the agreement is not binding.

“As is commonly understood about heads of agreement documents, this announcement falls far short of a binding contract,” Finn told The Squamish Chief in an email.

“Typically, before any capital funding can be loaned for an LNG contract, binding agree-ments must be in place for 70 per cent-plus of the production volume over the life of the plant. That is clearly not the case here. Neither party is legally bound by this.”

Finn also said the LNG announcement was timed – perhaps not coincidentally – one year from the 2017 provincial election, “when the government will have to explain the progress made on 2013 promises.”

Giraud said the new announcement is a pre-liminary agreement but is good news for the

project.“This is a fairly big deal for us,” he said. “It

certainly accelerates the project.”The agreement also states the Chinese com-

pany has the option for 10 per cent equity in Woodfibre LNG, Giraud said, “so they would invest in the project as well as be a customer, which is not unusual.”

A final investment decision by Woodfibre LNG has yet to be announced, however, Giraud said the export facility is expected to be oper-ational in 2020. The company had originally anticipated being operational in 2017.

“We were a little slower on the environment-al assessment [process] than we wanted to be. We still have some permitting to do,” he said. “This is a more realistic date.”

Giraud said a final investment decision is ex-pected this year.

The agreement with Guangzhou Gas Group “shows there is an appetite in Asia for made-in-B.C. LNG,” said Giraud. “This preliminary agreement gets us one step closer to making the Woodfibre LNG project a reality, and bringing much-needed jobs and other economic bene-fits to Squamish and the surrounding area.”

Woodfibre LNG Export and Guangzhou Gas Group signed a Memorandum of Understand-ing outlining the potential for an agreement in September of 2014.

—Squamish Chief

• Guangzhou Gas Group to buy lng for 25 years starting in 2020• Final investment decision expected this year

file Photo

Artist rendering of the Woodfibre LNG site near Squamish. The company announced May 9 it had signed an agreement with its first customer.


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lng

matt [email protected]

Residents from Fort St. John, Fort Nelson, Prince Rupert and Kitimat plan to hit the road to Ottawa Sunday, May 22, to deliver a stack of petitions to federal lawmakers and appeal for the creation of a liquefied natural gas industry in Canada.

The Fort St. John for LNG group is spear-heading the “LNG or Bust” road trip alongside its Northern B.C. counterparts. After attracting national media attention for its 600-truck rally in

March followed by a visit by Premier Christy Clark at a rally in April, group founder Alan Yu said it’s time to meet federal officials on their own turf.

“There’s nothing we can do here anymore … it’s preaching to the choir. We need to bring the unemployed people, the workers, to Ottawa,” Yu said, noting several business associations and lo-cal politicians have already made the trip to Ot-tawa to share their voices.

“It’s about time the federal decision makers hear the voice of the unemployed here in Fort St. John and Northern B.C.”

Yu said the bus plans to build support and speak with local media in resource towns along the way. The group plans to stop first in Edmonton, with other stops planned for either Saskatoon or Cal-gary, White City near Regina, and Winnipeg. They hope to arrive in Ottawa on June 1.

“We would like to share our experiences here in Fort St. John and listen to theirs,” Yu said.

Taking part in the trip so far are Kristi Leer, Monica Joan Mcmillan and Jeff Rodrigues from Fort Nelson; Yu and Chris Lafratta from Fort St. John; and Judy Fraser from Prince Rupert. Par-ticipants from Kitimat are still being lined up.

The group has budgeted $20,000 for its trip, and is fundraising to help cover costs. As of press time May 12, the group had raised $9,770 through a GoFundMe online campaign.

“It’s important so we can proceed with this trip,” Yu said.

For more, visit gofundme.com/2hztstas.

“it’s about time the federal decision makers hear the voice of the unemployed here in

fort st. john and northern b.c.”

matt PreProst Photo

Alan Yu of FSJ for LNG stands next to the bus he and a half-dozen others will call home for 11-day road trip to Ottawa starting Sunday, May 22.

Northern B.C. residents hitting the road to drive their LNG message to Ottawa‘lng or bust’ trip aims to reach the capital by june 1

April land sale nets $375KJoNNy [email protected]

April’s oil and gas land sale brought in $375,000—down from last month but up from February’s historic zero-dollar auction.

Sixteen parcels sold at the April 20 sale, in-cluding subsurface leases and drilling rights, which provide exclusive rights to explore for natural gas and oil on three-to-five year terms.

Income from the land sale, which is widely considered an indicator of future exploration activity, has dropped precipitously since late 2014 with the price of oil.

Last month’s sale brought in $1,927,906 while the month before, B.C. recorded its first ever zero-dollar land sale.

2015 was one of the worst years for land sale incomes on record, bringing in just $18 million compared to $382 million the year before. Without a major uptick in exploration activity, 2016 is set to be a worse year for oil and gas exploration than 2015.

That’s a worry for the provincial govern-ment, which relies on resource revenues to pay for healthcare, school and other social services. The land sale typically accounts for 30 to 70 per cent of B.C.’s oil and gas income, with the balance covered by resource royalties.

Government officials cited the declining price for gas for the collapse in land sale rev-enues, as well as the increasingly marginal parcels on offer.

The average per-hectare price at the April sale was $71.76, well below the two years prior ($300 and $2,500, respectively).

The provincial government set aside cash from billion-dollar oil and gas windfalls in 2008, which continues to prop up sagging re-source incomes.

In an interview earlier this month, Premier Christy Clark said sagging oil and gas incomes were “the central concern that’s driving our government’s plan to export (liquefied natural gas).”


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JoNNy [email protected]

The Peace River Regional District is soft-ening its tone on fracking for gas near one of its regional parks.

At its April 28 meeting, PRRD directors voted to reverse a previous resolution asking the province not to lease oil and gas rights beneath a parcel that includes Blackfoot Regional Park.

The popular recreation area near Clayhurst was set to be included in B.C.’s oil and gas land sale last September as part of a 2,500-acre par-cel stretching across the Peace River.

Directors are concerned about the impact on drilling near Blackfoot Park, which is popu-lar with birdwatchers, boaters and fishers. It is often booked every weekend through the summer months, according to a regional dis-trict report. The land also includes a water well owned by the district.

Energy companies acquire drilling licences and subsurface rights at the monthly petrol-eum disposition. Earlier this year, the regional board moved a resolution asking the natural gas ministry to remove the parcel from the sale, saying they could not support leasing the land without guarantees that surface drilling would not occur in the park.

“This whole thing irritates me tremendous-ly,” said Electoral Area B Director Karen Good-ings. “We have one little area that we spent a lot of money on for the residents. (The min-istry) refuse to put any caveat in place that says no surface access. They could drill under the park from a distance and not impact the park but they will not do that.”

Late last month, the board withdrew its op-position to sale of the parcel, but only with the caveat that oil and gas companies consult the regional district before any drilling takes place.

Directors said they will insist on no drilling

in the park itself, according to the resolution.

some Parcels controversial

The Blackfoot land is one of several contro-versial parcels that have come up for sale in re-cent years, including one beneath Swan Lake.

While B.C. prohibits drilling in provincial parks, energy companies can access natural gas and oil thousands of metres beneath those parks through directional drilling. Regional parks are not covered by the ban.

With the current downturn in exploration, it remains to be seen whether the Blackfoot par-cel will sell.

Land auction revenues have dropped to new lows amid one of the worst oil and gas downturns in a generation. The February land sale brought in zero dollars—a first for the province.

PRRD will accept gas drilling near Blackfoot Park parcel—with caveats


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B.C. government ‘prudent’ in support of LNG industry, forum told

The president of the group representing the nascent LNG industry in British Columbia dismissed suggestions that in championing his indus-try, the provincial government is overlooking other industries.

“I think having strong political support from the government is abso-lutely critical,” David Keane, president of the eight-member B.C. LNG Alliance, said in a luncheon speech to the Energy Council of Canada forum in Calgary on May 10. “When you look at the support we do have from the government, it has been tremendous.”

However, he pointed out that the B.C. LNG industry is the only LNG industry in the world which has a special income tax, a carbon tax and a greenhouse gas intensity target.

“We’re also the only industry in British Columbia that gets a special power rate of $84 per megawatt hour versus the industrial rate of $53 per hour,” Keane noted.

“So while it’s important to have very strong political support, I don’t think … that political support translates into something that is overly going out of its way to forsake its ratepayers and forsake its constituents to support the LNG industry.”

The LNG income tax and the LNG carbon tax — both supported by industry — are to ensure that B.C. residents get a fair return for the sale of their assets, he said. “So I don’t feel that it has been completely just simply one-sided— ‘let’s give the industry everything just to get it go-ing’; I think they have been very prudent in the way they have done it.”

“The LNG industry is not opposed to B.C.’s current carbon tax of $30 per tonne, nor are we potentially opposed to an increase in the carbon tax, as long as we are competitive with competing global jurisdictions,” he emphasized.

loW energy Prices PromPt tight caPital disciPline

While companies have already invested tens of millions of dollars as part of their pre-final investment work, Keane acknowledged that the impact of low energy prices has been significant and far-reaching.

“It has prompted tighter capital discipline within companies, and re-affirms the need for certainty with respects to the fiscal, legal, and regulatory framework in British Columbia and in Canada,” he said. “Re-ducing costs will ensure our industry is able to compete globally and attract the necessary capital to build these multibillion-dollar projects.

It’s also important to recognize that given the size and scope of the proposed projects, LNG proponents will make investment decisions on a longer-term pricing horizon that goes well beyond any impact that the spot price of crude oil may have, according to Keane.

None of the member companies has yet to make a final investment decision on a project although Royal Dutch Shell Plc has indicated it is working towards a decision on its Canada LNG project by late this year while Petronas is still waiting for the results of a federal environmental assessment for its Pacific NorthWest LNG project, which has been in the process for more than two years.

In the meantime, individual LNG proponents continue to make progress towards agreements with First Nations with a view to shep-herding projects towards final investment decisions, he said.

“Contrary to what you may hear, about the industry’s relations with First Nations, the B.C. government has signed 62 pipeline benefits agreements with 29 of 32 eligible First Nations that are located along four proposed natural gas pipeline routes,” said Keane. “So despite the noise from a vocal minority of naysayers, more than 90 per cent of First Nations along proposed pipeline routes have already shown strong sup-port for LNG.”

—Daily Oil Bulletin

bc lng alliance Photo

David Keane of the B.C. LNG Alliance

lng


Premier christy clark stirs up hope for lng at fort st. john rally

matt PreProst Photo

B.C. Premier Christy Clark came to Fort St. John to take part in the LNG Rally on April 20.

matt [email protected]

British Columbians are ready and have the power to help the world cut emissions, create jobs and fill the government treasuries with the development of a liquefied natural gas industry, Premier Christy Clark told a throng of support-ers in Fort St. John on April 20.

Clark was in town as part of a quick, four-hour trip April 20 to meet with LNG supporters, get an update on the wildfire situation in the region, and meet with civic leaders.

She told the crowd their support for getting the industry off the ground is “doing nothing less than fighting for the life of B.C.”

“We are fighting for Fort St. John, we are fight-ing for Dawson Creek, we are fighting for the Northwest, and we are fighting for 100,000 jobs that will be created across the breadth of this province,” she said.

In her five minute speech, Clark touched upon the importance of LNG in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Asia, creating jobs, and hauling in revenues for government, bringing the crowd to follow her in a chant of “let us help.”

“In Ottawa, they care about climate change. Let us help you. This is the cleanest fossil fuel on the planet,” she said.

“You know that if we can ship it to Asia we

can help clean up the world’s air. So we say to Ottawa: let us help. In Ottawa, they care about economic growth and jobs Canada’s hurting and they’re running a deficit. We say to Ottawa: let us help.”

Many of those who attended the rally have found themselves hit hard by the latest down-turn in Canada’s oil and gas industry, either out of a job or with significantly reduced work hours.

Unemployed since October, Murray Farquhar has had to cut back his family’s expenses and worries he won’t be able to pay for his daughter’s college education.

For Rick Schlosser, work has been cut to half-time, and though he counts himself lucky to still be employed as an instrument mechanic, he

worries about the young apprentices following in his footsteps.

The two carried a set of placards that read “LNG = Jobs” and waved to motorists as they honked by in support.

“It’s impacted us immensely,’ said Farquhar, who has been driving truck in the industry since the 1970s but says he hasn’t turned a wheel since last October.

Farquhar and his family have had to trim expenses such as telephone plan luxuries, and stopped shopping at Safeway in favour of Wal-Mart.

Still, it hasn’t been enough to keep alive Far-quhar’s plan to help pay his daughter’s way through college. She’s in her second year of graphic design studies in Grande Prairie, but student loans have had to fill the gap.

“It hurts. I don’t want to put my daughter out saddled with debt when she starts working,” Farquhar said.

Kickstarting the LNG industry and opening up market access and the job market is critical for today’s youth in setting them up for lifelong careers, Rick Schlosser said.

“(The industry) means everything to them,” he said.

“This isn’t just a five-year thing. This is 40 years they’ll be drilling up here to feed those plants. For the young guys, it’s a lifelong career.”

‘Let us help’

matt PreProst Photo

Murray Farquhar (left) and Rick Schlosser.

lng


pipelines

Two more First Nations sign agreements over Prince Rupert Gas Transmission

The Takla Lake First Nation and the McLeod Lake Indian Band have signed project agree-ments with TransCanada over the Prince Ru-pert Gas Transmission (PRGT) project, the company announced last month.

Specifics of the agreements weren’t released, but they include employment and contract op-portunities, along with initial and annual pay-ments to the two groups over the life of the pipeline.

“This agreement ensures our values will be respected and our Nation will benefit from this project,” Takla Lake Chief John French said in a statement.

TransCanada says the latest signings bring the total number of project agreements signed on the pipeline to 11.

Other First Nations who have signed on to

the project include Doig River, Halfway River and Blueberry River First Nations in North-east B.C., along with the Yekooche , Gitanyow, Kitselas, Lake Babine, Metlakatla and Nisga’a Lisims nations along the rest of the pipeline’s proposed route.

“These agreements are signed after a mean-ingful exchange of information and ideas that not only benefit First Nations communities, but also make PRGT a stronger project,” PRGT President Tony Palmer said in a statement.

The pipeline will carry gas 900 kilometres from the Hudson’s Hope area to Petronas’s pro-posed Pacific NorthWest liquefied natural gas export facility on Lelu Island.

—PNN Staff

Pipeline camp for Pacific NorthWest LNG approvedJoNNy [email protected]

A pipeline worker camp that at its peak would house 1,000 workers has received the go-ahead from the Peace River Regional District.

The camp, which would be built near Chetwynd in the Pine Pass, would serve as home base for workers building part of TransCanada’s 900-kilo-metre Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project.

If approved, the pipeline would transport nat-ural gas from the Hudson’s Hope area to Petronas’s $11.4-billion Pacific NorthWest LNG terminal, where the gas will be liquefied and shipped to Asia.

The camp would be the largest of nine along the pipeline route, ranging in size from 150 to 800 people. According to a filing with the regional dis-trict, the Pine Pass camp will have extra room to account for delays.

On April 28, the regional district granted a tem-porary use permit for the camp to operate.

It includes a kitchen, concession, office trailer, first aid station, mechanic building, warehouse and parking area for 680 vehicles. The plans do not include a pipeline yard, which will be built separately.

The pipeline will be divided into three “spreads” supervised by separate prime contract-ors, in addition to a marine section. For that part of the line, crews are expected to live in a work camp aboard a barge.

Pacific NorthWest LNG is awaiting environ-mental permits from the federal government, which pressed pause on its review of the project in late March. Federal Environment Minister Cather-ine McKenna said the government needed addi-tional time to review the LNG terminal’s impact on salmon habitat, as well as its greenhouse gas emissions. A decision on the federal permits is ex-pected by June, at which point Petronas will make

a final investment decision on the LNG terminal.

camp won’t be ‘dry’

The Peace River Regional District has certain regulatory power over worker camps, and is in charge of issuing permits for temporary use of land within its boundaries.

In recent years, the board has implemented new requirements on temporary use permits to assess the social and economic impacts of work-er camps, which proliferated in the region during the latest oil boom.

In particular, some regional leaders had con-cerns about workers’ access to alcohol. Some oil and gas worker camps are “dry,” meaning alcohol is not permitted on site.

In some cases, that has led to workers leaving

the camp to drink, which has been a concern for residents in rural Pink Mountain, north of Fort St. John.

In its submission to the regional district, TransCanada indicated workers “who choose to enjoy alcohol responsibly in the confines of their dwelling in the camp” will be allowed to do so.

Contractors will pre-screen potential workers for drug and alcohol use, and will “enforce a zero-tolerance policy for drug use and alcohol abuse,” TransCanada says.

The camp’s impact on local healthcare services, another concern, is expected to be minimal.

According to documents provided to the regional district, work on the pipeline could begin as early as August if Pacific NorthWest LNG is approved.

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pipelinesOGC issues final approvals for Coastal GasLink

TransCanada Corporation says it has received the last of the permits it needs from the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission to build and operate the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

On Thursday, May 5, the com-pany said it received the last two of 10 pipeline and facilities per-mits needed for the project. Eight of those permits allow for pipeline construction, while the other two are for pipeline-related facilities: a natural gas compressor station and meter station in Groundbirch, and a natural gas metering station in Kitimat.

The 670-kilometre pipeline would bring gas from an the Groundbirch area to the proposed LNG Canada project near Kitimat for export to Asian markets.

“This is a significant regulatory milestone for our project, which is a key component of TransCanada’s growth plan that includes more than $13 billion in proposed nat-ural gas pipeline projects which support the emerging liquefied natural gas industry on the British Columbia coast,” said TransCan-ada President and CEO Russ Girl-ing in a statement.

“Acquiring these 10 permits demonstrates our commitment in developing this project to the highest standards of environ-mental protection while delivering benefits to British Columbians and Canadians for decades to come.”

According to TransCanada, the pipeline’s customers, the joint ven-ture partners of LNG Canada, are expected to make a final invest-ment decision on the LNG project in late 2016. If a positive decision is made, pipeline construction would begin in 2017.

The Royal Dutch Shell PLC-led LNG Canada partnership includes

Mitsubishi, PetroChina, and Korea Gas Corp. Mitsubishi is a mem-ber of the Cutbank Ridge partner-ship with Encana, one of the most active driller in the South Peace area.

Crews broke ground on the LNG Canada site in early December.

The permits for Coastal GasLink include some 70 conditions in-cluding ongoing reporting to the OGC, First Nations engagement, heritage conservation, stream crossings, land clearing, engineer-ing, wildlife and terrain stability.

In January, the West Mober-ly First Nations and the Nadleh Whut’en First Nation west of Prince George reached an agreement with TransCanada over construction of the pipeline. The agreements out-line benefits and commitments that will be provided to these com-munities during the pipeline’s lifetime, however, specific details weren’t released.

The Blueberry River First Nation north of Fort St. John, had signed a similar agreement in Decem-ber. Saulteau First Nations, West Moberly’s neighbour, have also signed off on a deal with TransCan-ada regarding the pipeline.

The project has received sup-port from the Fort St. John & Dis-trict Chamber of Commerce, City of Dawson Creek and Dawson Creek & District Chamber of Com-merce, the Chetwynd Chamber of Commerce, the District of Chet-wynd and others.

The B.C. Environmental Assess-ment Office issued an environ-mental assessment certificate for the pipeline in October 2014.

—Staff, with files from Daily Oil Bulletin

transcanada Photo

Russ Girling, TransCanada President and CEO: “These 10 permits demonstrates our commitment in developing this project to the highest standards.”

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Solar panels stolen from gas

well site in Arrasmike [email protected]

Dawson Creek RCMP are asking the public for information about the theft of several solar panels from a well site in Arras.

The losses total more than $10,000. Solar panels are often used to power monitoring systems on remote, off-grid oil and gas sites.

Police say about 22 solar panels were taken from the site sometime between 5 p.m. April 13 and 2 p.m. April 14. Additional thefts of copper wire ground cable and deep-cycle batteries used for solar panels have been reported over the past few weeks, police say.

“We don’t know if they’re stealing them for the recycle fee or if they’ve got a connection (to sell them to),” Sgt. Ed Reinink of the Dawson Creek detachment said. “We know a bunch of them are being sold in Alberta to scrap dealers. Same with the copper wire.”

Earlier this month, $100,000 worth of theft and damage was done to an Encana well site near Kelly Lake. Thieves made off with copper ground cables. Police are not sure of the date of the crime, but it was reported on April 20.

On April 24, four deep cycle solar panel batteries were stolen from other sites in the South Peace.

“Battery thefts haven’t really caught on over here so much (compared to Alberta) but solar panels— they sell them to RV owners. One of those will basically power all your lights.”

All the thefts were in remote areas on sites that do not have security systems in place. Anyone with information is asked to call the Dawson Creek detachment at 250-784-3700. If you wish to remain anonymous, call Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.


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Northern Gateway seeks three-year extension to start construction

mike carter, matt [email protected], [email protected]

Northern Gateway has applied to the National Energy Board for a three-year extension to the sun-set clause for its Northern Gateway pipeline project.

The company had until the end of 2016 to begin building the pipe-line as part of the 209 conditions outlined in the project’s environ-mental certificate. However, it says more time is needed “to receive legal and regulatory certainty” while continuing to build support with First Nations and B.C.’s coast-al communities.

NEB approval is set to expire at the end of the year if construction on the project has not begun.

“Northern Gateway believes projects like ours should be built with First Nations and Métis en-vironmental stewardship, owner-ship, support and shared control,” Northern Gateway President John Carruthers said in a statement.

“Based on collaboration with First Nations and Métis peoples we are building a project partner-ship in a way and on a scale that has never been done before. This is a true partnership between in-dustry and First Nations and Métis peoples.”

He added: “Northern Gate-way has changed. We are making progress and remain open to fur-ther changes. We believe this is the right course of action for Northern Gateway and the right thing to do

as Canadians. We know this pro-cess requires time and we are com-mitted to getting it right.”

Included in the request to the NEB are signatures from 31 Aborig-inal equity partners with a stake in the project.

Northern Gateway says it, along with other project proponents, have reduced their ownership of the project to increase First Nation and Metis ownership from 10 per cent to 33 per cent. Benefits from the project have also doubled to $2 billion for First Nations and Metis

communities, the company says.The Aboriginal partners in the

project say the application to the NEB is the “first time a project cer-tificate holder has made a joint ap-plication to the National Energy Board with its First Nations and Métis partners.”

“There is a misconception that there is no First Nations and Mé-tis support for Northern Gateway,” they said in a statement.

“This is not true. In fact, support for our project has grown from 26 to 31 communities over the past

two years and is continuing to grow.”

An official first broke news of the extension to the North Central Lo-cal Government Association con-ference in Dawson Creek in early May.

When the project was approved in the summer of 2014, now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to reverse the decision if elected, saying the project threatens B.C’s coastal economy and the jobs of thousands of people who live on the ocean. During his election campaign, Trudeau promised a moratorium on crude oil tankers on B.C.’s north coast.

But according to a report by the Financial Post last month, Trans-port Minister Marc Garneau, who is responsible for implementing the moratorium, said it was pre-mature to assume that Northern Gateway was dead because of the measure.

The project would carry diluted bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands through northern B.C. to an export facility in Kitimat via a 1,177-kilo-metre pipeline.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley recently confirmed to the Nation-al Post that she has discussed the possibility of re-routing the project to a different port with members of the federal cabinet.

The project still faces continued opposition from environmental groups and some First Nations, along with a number of conditions set out by the B.C. government.


mike carter Photo

Northern Gateway’s B.C. communication manager Donny van Dyk revealed the companies plans to apply for an extension to its environmental certificate during North Central Local Government Association meetings in Dawson Creek.

first nations and metis ownership in pipeline sees boost to 33%

“there is a misconception that there is no first nations

and métis support for northern gateway. this is

not true. in fact, support for our project has grown from 26 to 31 communities over

the past two years and is continuing to grow.”

pipelines

Peace Region has plenty to offer: Resource Works to studentsbroNwyN [email protected]

Local high school students got to connect with resource expert Stewart Muir on Tuesday, May 3, to talk about career goals and the op-portunities available in the Peace Region.

Muir is executive director of Resource Works Society, a small non-profit based in Vancouver that strives to “build a more informed conver-sation” about resources, Muir said.

“We’re not really out to be in the argument about resources, because that can be a really heated one,” he said.

“Industry, environmentalism, these are both values that we think are important. We think that having a good economy that creates jobs, that keeps families together, and give people a pathway in life, is important.

“We also think that protecting the environ-ment, having the right laws, regulations, mak-ing sure they’re enforced, being a global citizen, doing our part, providing a cleaner form of energy to the rest of the world is (important).”

Muir spoke to Grade 11 and 12 students at North Peace Secondary to share how his organ-izations works to build an understanding about resource development, and learn what youth in the northeast think about the place they call home, and where they see themselves in the future.

“When I look at the economic data that we’ve been preparing, examining … what I see is a story of the northeast of B.C. as the econom-ic engine room of British Columbia, not just today or tomorrow, but really for decades to come,” he said.

“It’s a place that will be reliant on innovation in all kinds of trades and professions. It will re-quire, I think, increasing regulations that pro-tect the air, the land, the water ... We should be so proud of what happens in the northeast, and young people should, in my opinion, see this as a place that is so full of those opportunities for them.”

But when Muir asked whom among the group of 60 or so students planned to leave for

a city centre like Vancouver after they graduate, a sea of hands flung into the air.

Why? As one student suggested, and most agreed with, they felt that they, in the north-east, were the “have-nots” of the province.

It’s not a reaction Muir was unprepared for. But, for Muir, it served as a cue that young people in the northeast aren’t aware of just how many opportunities there are in the Peace.

“At that age, you’ve got the grass growing under your feet, you want to go and see what’s in the world. Everyone needs to go and do a little bit of scouting around, but I think when they go out there they’re going to probably, for a lot of them, realize how good it is here,” he said.

He sees the Peace Region as a place where energy decisions – about natural gas, wind farms, hydroelectric power – are happening.

After his talk he told reporters he was “sur-prised” by the students’ perception.

“I thought there should be more awareness of what those opportunities are, because from my perspective, they are great family building opportunities,” he said. “There’s so many rea-sons to build a life here and keep the kids here, keep them coming back.

“It looks like the parents of these students need to do some work at home to make sure everyone understands what the facts are, because there is so much that this region has to offer.”

Muir was in the area for a tour of the Peace with 40 mayors from across BC to visit hydraul-ic fracturing sites, gas plants, water manage-ment, waste disposal and Site C.

He also gave a public talk at Northern Lights College.


New leader at the helm of Pacific NorthWest LNGmichael culbert to refocus attention on Progress energy, local drilling opsmike [email protected]

Petronas is shaking up the team at the head of its Pacific NorthWest (PNW) liquefied natur-al gas project, announcing a new president and chairman on Thursday, April 28.

Adnan Zainal Abidin will take over from Michael Culbert as president of the project and Anuar Taib will move into the position of chairman.

Culbert has been at the helm of PNW since 2014. He will refocus his attention on a major player in the Peace Region, Progress Energy, a company that he has been the chief executive officer of since 2001.

Progress is the most active driller in the Peace according to the B.C. Oil and Gas Commisison. In 2014, the company drilled 203 wells in the B.C. Montney formation—roughly one-third of all the wells in the province.

Abidin has been with Progress’s parent com-

pany, Petronas since 1984, working his way through the ranks from a trainee engineer to vice-president of global LNG projects. He is re-garded as an expert in liquefied natural gas. Be-fore his latest appointment, Abidin was the CEO of Petronas’ Egyptian LNG and was on the board of Progress Energy Canada Ltd.

Taib, who heads up upstream operations for Petronas, replaces former executive vice-president Wee Yiaw Hin, who recently retired.

In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Cul-bert said Abidin’s appointment to replace him was “a good sign for the project to bring that LNG … expertise in.”

A spokesperson for Progress however, said the company continues to develop its assets in the Montney shale formation.

“We continue to focus on the development phase of our Montney assets, targeting im-proved efficiencies and natural gas production capabilities to meet PNW LNG’s future feed-stock requirements,” Stacie Dley said.

suPPlied Photo

Adnan Zainal Abidin takes over from Michael Culbert as president of Pacific NorthWest LNG.

trades

bronWyn scott Photo

Stewart Muir spoke to a group of about 60 Grade 11 and 12 students at North Peace Secondary May 3 to share how Resource Works enhances understanding about resource development.


LNG Canada begins plans for 4,500-man work campNelsoN [email protected]

LNG Canada, the Royal Dutch Sell plc sub-sidiary planning to build a liquefied natural gas plant in Kitimat, is still moving ahead with de-sign plans for a workcamp, despite new fears the project could be shelved or deferred.

LNG Canada has announced it has selected a joint partnership of companies to design and build its Cedar Valley Lodge, a 4,500-person work camp that would be more like an instant town than a typical man camp.

Under a joint venture, Bird Construction Inc and Civeo Corp. will begin designing the lodge, which would have a total floor space of 1.2 mil-lion square feet. It would feature a communal kitchen, a medical clinic and fitness centre.

But whether the facility ever gets built will depend on Shell making a final investment de-cision – something that has been put in ques-tion this week with the release of Shell’s first quarter earnings.

“Construction on Cedar Valley Lodge will not commence unless LNG Canada’s joint venture participants have made a positive Final Invest-ment Decision,” LNG Canada said in a press re-lease. “In the interim, Bird-Civeo will advance engineering and planning work for the centre.”

In a first quarter conference call earlier this week, Shell CFO Simon Henry confirmed the final investment decision, which was expected this year, may not come.

Faced with plunging profits from low oil prices, and debt from it US$54 billion acquisi-tion of BG Group, Henry said the company may have to defer two or three of the major projects it has in the pipeline.

Shell posted an 83% drop in first quarter earnings, down from US$4.8 billion in Q1 2015 to US$0.8 billion in Q1 2016, according to its Q1

2016 financials.Shell earlier announced capital spending

reductions of US$30 billion for 2016, and has since announced it will reduce capital spend-ing this year even further.

Shell has four major projects in the pipeline, including LNG Canada, which has been esti-mated to cost US$40 billion to US$50 billion. Shell planned to make final investment deci-sions on those projects sometime over the next 12 months.

Another project is a chemical plant in Penn-

sylvania, and Henry said that one may be fa-voured for an FID.

“It’s highly unlikely that more than, I would say two, maybe only one… will actually go ahead in that timeframe,” Henry said in a con-ference call.

“The chemicals plant is probably the first one because of the timing of certain commit-ments that are already in place. It’s an excellent project.”

—Business in Vancouver

lng canada Photo

Under a joint venture announced May 5, Bird Construction Inc and Civeo Corp. will begin designing a 4,500-man lodge for LNG Canada, which would have a total floor space of 1.2 million square feet. It would feature a communal kitchen, a medical clinic and fitness centre.

operations

Chetwynd Chamber connects with resource coalitionMembership in the Northeast B.C. Resource Mu-

nicipalities Coalition continues to grow.The Chetwynd Chamber of Commerce became

the group’s tenth member last month.Chamber Executive Director Tonia Richter said

she looks forward to working with the coaliton on the “issues, opportunities and challenges,” facing the region.

“(We) feel confident that in joining the Coali-tion we will be part of a team of local govern-ments, business and industry organizations that will work together for the benefit of all our com-munities,” she said in a statement.

“We look forward to working with the mem-bers of the coalition and our fellow Chambers in our region on issues, opportunities and challen-ges faced in Northeastern B.C.”

Colin Griffith, executive director of the coali-tion, said the addition of the Chetwynd Chamber strengthens the group.

The NEBC Resource Municipalities Coaliton was

formed ahead of the renegotiation of the new Fair Share agreement, now known as the Peace River Agreement. It serves as an advocate for the de-velopment of sustainable, vibrant communities in the Peace River Regional District.

The Chetwynd Chamber becomes the 10th member of the coalition.

“This addition brings new perspectives and con-cepts not just from the oil & gas resource commun-ity but also from mining and forestry at the ground level,” Fort St John Mayor Lori Ackerman said.

The addition of the Chetwynd Chamber follows on the heels of the Fort Nelson & District Chamber joining in February.

“Our vision has always been to have a unified voice for Northeastern B.C. and it is exciting to know the business community and the Chetwynd Chamber of Commerce shares this vision with us,” Northern Rockies Regional Municipality Mayor Bill Streeper said.

—StaffchetWynd chamber of commerce Photo

Tonia Richter


• Distributed to the community in general through these fi ne publications, Alaska Highway News, Dawson Creek Daily and Fort Nelson News.• Distribution by mail and direct drop-off to Oil & Gas companies,and related businesses and organizations, in the following communities:BRITISH COLUMBIA – Arras, Baldonnel, Cecil Lake, Charlie Lake, CHETWYND, Clayhurst, DAWSON CREEK, Farmington, FORT NELSON, FORT ST. JOHN, Goodlow, Groundbirch, HUDSON HOPE, Moberley Lake, Pink Mountain, Pouce Coupe, Progress, Rolla, Rose Prairie, Sunset Prairie, Taylor, Tomslake, TUMBLER RIDGE, and Wonowon.ALBERTA – Baytree, Bear Canyon, BEAVERLODGE, Berwyn, Bezanson, Bonanza, CLAIRMONT, Eaglesham, FAIRVIEW, Falher, Girouxville, GRANDE PRAIRIE, Grimshaw, Grovedale, HIGH PRAIRIE, Hines Creek, Hythe, LaGlace, MANNING, McLennan, PEACE RIVER, Rycroft, SEXSMITH, Silver Valley, Spirit River, VALLEYVIEW, Wembley, and Worsley, Zama City.

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Special report: Drillers in Peace Region may tap Site C for clean power Northern British Columbia and Alberta’s Oil and Gas Industry

First sets of groundwater study data releasedbroNwyN [email protected]

A Geoscience BC project to map groundwater resources in the Peace has passed a milestone with the public release of its first two data reports.

Geoscience BC’s Peace Pro-ject is designed to improve local communities’ understanding of the location of shallow saline and non-saline aquifers in the area, an initiative that springs from the province’s Water Sustainability Act that came into effect Feb. 29.

It’s supposed to protect and regulate groundwater, but in the northeast there’s little information available about the resources we have.

“(The act is) going to regulate and ensure good water quality from groundwater in the north-east. But the problem is that there’s just absolutely no information in that area to map out the aquifers,” said Carlos Salas, vice-president of energy at Geoscience BC.

“How can we protect aquifers if we don’t know where they are? So this is the first step, trying to understand where they are.”

While the data released is a “first step,” it’s also highly technical and won’t mean much to the average reader. Rather, it’s meant for aca-demics and consultants – “so they could start perusing this data,”

Salas said.“We thought rather than wait

until our study is complete ... well, why don’t we just get the informa-tion out to the public domain so that academics and such can start looking at the data also, because the more eyes looking at it, the bet-ter, as far as we’re concerned.”

Geoscience BC’s Peace Project took off last July with helicopters that flew 60-meters above ground carrying a large transmitter that hung 30-meters below.

Over 43 days, researchers flew 20,099 line-kilometres along 400-metre spaced lines, equal to driving across the country three

times. The system transmitted an electromagnetic field onto the ground and measured the response from depths as low as 300-meters below the earth’s surface.

The data will be analyzed by Geoscience BC professionals as well as other academics, and will result in a series of not only tech-nical reports, but layman’s explan-ations of what that data means.

Salas expects that Geoscience BC will be able to start rolling out some of the more “digestible” information to the communities by the end of the year, “so that people can understand what’s go-ing on.”

data will help municipalities, first nations and industry

research


five questions with Premier christy clark

matt PreProst Photo

B.C. Premier Christy Clark poses for pictures at the LNG People Power rally April 20 in Fort St. John.

Premier Christy Clark was in Fort St. John Wednesday, April 20, to deliver a speech at a LNG rally in Centennial Park, get an update on the wildfire situation in the region, and meet with municipal mayors.

Following her speech and press conference at the rally, Clark sat down with reporter Jonny Wakefield to talk about the struggles to launch a liquefied natural gas industry in B.C. as she heads into the 2017 election, and rumblings that the federal government is purposefully stalling Pacific NorthWest LNG to avoid making a tough decision.

You mentioned during the press conference that there was a connection between liquefied natural gas and the forest fires we’re having right now. I was wondering if you can expand a bit how LNG can assist in the climate change we’re facing now and the forest fires that are a result of that.

Christy Clark: Well, I’ll give you an example. China has 150 coal plants on the books to be built immediately. And the only way China is not going to build those filthy, belching coal plants is if they have a different kind of fuel to power the country up. And that has got to be LNG. There isn’t any other fuel they can use that would pre-vent them from building those coal plants and LNG is the cleanest fossil fuel on the planet. If

the world today, if everybody who is using coal and oil switched to natural gas we would be a third less polluting. We would be able to cut global greenhouse gases by about a quarter or something of that nature. In one leap.

I always remind people that fracking is the biggest technological leap in fighting climate change that we’ve had so far. We really should be supporting the work that folks do up here in fracking, getting it out of the ground and mak-ing it possible to have the supply that we need to send it. And we know, on the second part of the question, that forest fires in British Columbia, and North America, are being caused in part, ex-acerbated in part, by this drier climate. Drier cli-mate is a product of climate change. If we want to be able to slow down the rate of temperature change and have fewer fires, or at least get stable on that front, we’re going to have to step up our efforts to fight climate change. It’s happening right here, it’s the land right that we’re sitting on, all of that energy under this land that’s going to allow us to do that. But we need governments across the country, decision makers, to help make sure we can get it out of the ground so we can help join them in this fight.

About the LNG rally: why show up to some-thing like that?

CC: Because people here need to know that

I’m fighting for them. Every single day, our gov-ernment, and Pat has been a huge part of this, our government is fighting for people in the northeast. Because people here are really hurt-ing. A lot of people without jobs, I talked to a lot of them today. They’re not people who don’t want to work. They’re people who can’t find work. And I want people here to know that we’re fighting for their jobs and we want to bring the wealth and economic prosperity back to this re-gion of the province.

But I also want people in the rest of the coun-try to see how much support there is for what we’re doing here, and how many people are fighting together to make sure that LNG hap-pens. It’s not just me and Pat (Pimm) down in Victoria fighting for this. This is a whole prov-ince coming together to fight for this.

Have you ever been to a rally like that before for LNG? I know obviously there are conferen-ces you’ve been to and things like that.

CC: I cant remember any other rally I’ve at-tended where people we’re so focused on just LNG. I’ll tell you why. I think until recently people really just, things seemed to be going along, you know then the price of oil and the price of gas dropped precipitously. That slowed things down a little bit. Then this regulatory pro-cess federally got everything bogged down even

— Question & Answer —

further. And then you add all the economic pain that’s been happening in Alberta into the mix. We’re starting to see really high unemployment here, again, for the first time in a long time. And I think that’s got people really focused on trying to find solutions. The solution for unemploy-ment in the Northeast is LNG. Natural gas is abundant now in North America. We can’t make any money, there’s hardly any point of getting it out of the ground if we aren’t able to ship it to Asia. So LNG is an absolute must-do if we want to create jobs. We want to keep people working here.

About the delay on Pacific NorthWest LNG. There’s been some suggestion that by delaying this for three months there’s an ulterior mo-tive that the federal government would like to make this difficult for Petronas and these de-lays cause them to walk instead of them hav-ing to say no directly. What do you say to that suggestion?

CC: I can’t imagine any federal government of any stripe that would kill 100,000 jobs and a tril-lion dollars in economic growth. It doesn’t make any sense because we know the federal govern-ment wants to balance its budget. They can’t do that without LNG. We know they want to stand up for middle class jobs, they can’t do that with-out LNG. We know they want to fight climate change, and again, the single biggest contribu-

tion Canada is going to make to fighting climate change is shipping LNG to Asia. So, you know, I can’t imagine any federal government of any stripe would be opposed to and trying to stop this project from going ahead. For Heaven’s sakes, even the New Democrats in Alberta are supporting the oilsands.

We’re coming up on the 2017 election. In 2013, LNG was the hot topic, it’s still the hot topic. There’s a lot of question whether a plant will be approved by then. How are you going to make the case to British Columbians that despite the fact we haven’t seen, or may not see by 2017 a firm final investment deci-sion, that this is a course we should stay on?

CC: We’re not going to give up. We’re not quitters. British Columbia wasn’t built by people who quit and run the white flag up the pole every time something gets hard. This has turned out to be harder than I anticipated, or anybody anticipated, because the price of oil dropped so dramatically. But that doesn’t mean we give up. We have the richest natur-al gas resource in the world. Petronas owns more natural gas resource in British Colum-bia than they do in Malaysia. And it’s a rich, wet resource, relatively easy to access. We are literally sitting on a treasure trove here in the northeast and we aren’t going to give up. We’re going to make sure we unlock that potential for British Columbia. It’s going to take longer than we thought. But I think the question in

the election is do British Columbians want to vote for a party of quitters? Or do they want to vote for a party of people that are absolutely bound and determined to make sure that we make the most of this resource for the people who live here?


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pipeline news north: may 2016

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