Barring new information at this time unfortunately I cannot support the Kwispaa (formerly Steelhead) LNG proposal.
On January 8, 2018 representatives of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation made a presentation to City Council. Â The video above starts at my comments but I recommend you view their entire presentation.
It is important for City of Port Alberni residents to know that unless the LNG project is physically situated in Port Alberni in some way, the City will have very little say, in a regulatory way, on whether this project will proceed.Â
However, we will be impacted, positively and negatively, as a City were the project to happen. So our opinion does matter.
While their claims include reducing global GHGs by offsetting coal in Asian markets, they continue to fail to provide actual data to back up that claim when you include the upstream emissions. Â Not only would pursuing Kwispaa LNG put B.C.’s emissions targets in jeopardy, they do for the world as well.
So from a Climate Action Perspective, this project simply is not supportable.
It is also important to know that this project is very far away from shovels in the ground so in the meantime there are myriad of other projects where the City and Huu-ay-aht could potentially partner. I believe Huu-ay-aht have been a role model in many ways for many exciting initiatives. Â I wish them the best of luck in those initiatives and look forward to partnering with them whenever the City can.