Keep climate a national priority — donate today
The BC government’s quiet rollback of carbon pollution rules for proposed LNG projects undermines provincial net-zero promises, says a Green Party MLA.
Last month, Adrian Dix, minister of energy and climate solutions, made changes to the liquified natural gas (LNG) approval process, which were listed in a letter sent to the BC Environmental Assessment Office.
Previously, LNG projects moving through the approvals pipeline required a credible plan for net-zero emissions by 2030.
However, now proposed LNG projects only have to “provide a credible plan” to reach net-zero if they aren’t plugged into BC’s electrical grid by that date, providing a loophole for them to pollute, said Jeremy Valeriote, Green MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.
The change is a significant backtrack by the ministry because it lets companies off the hook if they claim electricity isn’t available, and allows them to generate emissions indefinitely, he said. The move also “defies logic” if the province is actually committed to meeting its emissions targets.
The Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions did not respond to Canada’s National Observer questions about how BC can meet its climate targets, or reduce emissions at all, if LNG projects are permitted to generate huge amounts of carbon pollution indefinitely.
In an email, the ministry said Dix’s letter with the new instructions to the EAO, “is a clarification of existing policy, not a change.”
LNG proponents are still expected to reduce emissions unrelated to electrical power such as gas flaring or transportation.
“Net-zero by 2030 remains the standard for LNG facilities, but we recognize that access to clean electricity will take time,” the email said.
“Proponents will not be penalized for factors beyond their control.”
Valeriote sees it differently.
“It’s just pandering to industry,” Valeriote said. “If companies can’t meet those rules, that's not the government or the public of British Columbia's problem.”
It’s not up to taxpayers to pay for and provide electrical resources for the fossil fuel companies, Valeriote said — nor is it fair if the public must shoulder the burden of any resulting pollution if they don’t.
The coastal LNG export projects need access to clean electricity, instead of burning natural gas to eliminate the large volumes of carbon pollution created during the energy-intensive liquefaction process, which sees natural gas chilled into a fluid for easy transport by ship to overseas markets.
It’s unlikely the province will have the electrical supply needed to power LNG plants with clean energy by 2030, said Matt Hulse, a lawyer with the legal charity Ecojustice.
Over the next decade, BC Hydro is spending $4.7 billion in public funds in Northern BC — expanding the grid to clean up carbon pollution from the natural gas Industry, LNG plants, mining and powering ports with clean energy.
One of the largest projects, the North Coast Transmission Line (NCTL) from Prince George to Terrace, is slated for completion in 2032.
The electrical gap means gas-powered LNG facilities can generate millions of tonnes of climate pollution beyond 2030, if power from the grid is not available, Hulse said.
For example, the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG project is expected to produce 1.8 million tonnes emissions yearly if not powered by electricity — not including the upstream and downstream emissions associated with the facility, he said. Close to 90 per cent of Ksi Lisims carbon pollution is generated from powering the plant.
Annually, the pollution from that project is anticipated to be the equivalent to 10 per cent of BC’s total industrial emissions generated in 2023.
Aside from lacking the power supply for LNG projects, the province doesn’t provide clear timelines for its availability, which undermines government claims of “clean LNG,” Hulse said.
“Even if LNG facilities are electrified, you can’t call them ‘net zero,’” he said.
“It’s still a fossil fuel, and you can’t just ignore the upstream fracking emissions and the downstream combustion that happens elsewhere.”
BC residents will continue to pay the price of burning LNG overseas in the form of disasters like floods, wildfires and drought even if the emissions aren’t included in the province’s tally sheet, he noted.
“We’ll still feel the climate impacts here — regardless of where the emissions are counted.”
Valeriote said BC emissions targets and CleanBC climate plan are largely “aspirational” and lack any measures that have demonstratively reduced carbon pollution to date.
The Greens are sitting down with the province to review and shape a more accountable, enforceable CleanBC strategy better aligned with the public’s interests, he said.
“We need to review the subsidies and the support we give to some of these industries,” he said.
“We should be spending public money on renewable energy rather than natural gas and methane.
Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer
Comments
The vast majority of that natural gas is obtained through the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing. Fracked gas has a total carbon footprint equal to that of coal.
Using «clean » electricity to liquefy a dirty fossil fuel in order to make it less dirty is called GREENWASHING.