What's next for Pacific NorthWest LNG project? 4 questions answered

What's next for Pacific NorthWest LNG project? 4 questions answered

Project faces market pressures in addition to environmental conditions

By John Paul Tasker, CBC News Posted: Sep 29, 2016

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet colleagues signed off on one of the largest energy infrastructure projects in this country's history this week, but now attention turns to whether shovels will ever actually hit the ground to build the Pacific NorthWest LNG terminal.

The government demanded 190 legally binding conditions be met for the project to go ahead, including greenhouse gas emission limits and the creation of local First Nations monitoring committees to ensure those targets are actually achieved.

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It might all be too much to bear for Petronas, the project's Malaysian proponent. The company is facing a global glut in natural gas that has driven down prices and is cutting costs across its operations.

Other LNG projects in B.C. have been postponed indefinitely amidst gloomy global conditions for the fossil fuel. Petronas has said construction will not start right away, even with a green light from cabinet.

Here are four questions about the $36-billion project:

What is the environmental impact?

The conditions imposed on the project largely deal with two of the major concerns raised by environmentalists, First Nations and local communities during the consultation process — greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their impact on local fisheries.

The federal Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency released a draft report in February that said the project would result in roughly 6.5 to 8.7 megatonnes of GHG pollution each year, a marked increase in emissions both at the provincial (8.5 per cent) and national (0.75 per cent) level. The agency has said the project "would be one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in Canada."

Those levels were too high for federal Environment Minister Catherine Mary McKenna, who said the project must emit no more than 3.2 megatonnes when fully operational.

Experts have suggested that this can be achieved by using hydroelectricity, rather than natural gas, to power the plant that liquefies the natural gas for transport abroad.

"We've mitigated the emissions from this particular project significantly," McKenna said Wednesday, pointing to electrification of upstream operations and methane targets on the oil and gas industry. "We're very committed to meeting our Paris target, we've been clear about that."

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http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/future-pacific-northwest-lng-questions-1.3782256

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