Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver was among a number of voices critical of a massive liquefied natural gas project in northern British Columbia that received final approval on Tuesday.
Weaver said he was “deeply disappointed,” saying the rest of the provincial economy will have to make even more sacrifices to meet climate targets.
“Adding such a massive new source of (greenhouse gases) means that the rest of our economy will have to make even more sacrifices to meet our climate targets. A significant portion of the LNG Canada investment will be spent on a plant manufactured overseas, with steel sourced from other countries,” Weaver said in a statement.
WATCH HERE: Trudeau says LNG facility ‘largest private sector’ investment in Canada’s history
“B.C. taxpayers will subsidize its power by paying rates twice as high and taking on the enormous public debt required to build Site C. There may be as little as 100 permanent jobs at LNG Canada. I believe we can create far more jobs in other industries that won’t drastically increase our emissions.”
The Pembina Institute has calculated that the project will increase B.C.’s annual carbon pollution by 8.6 million tonnes.
“Without a clean growth strategy that puts B.C. on track to our climate targets, the LNG Canada project would take B.C. in the wrong direction,” Karen Tam Wu, the Pembina Institute’s managing director in B.C., said.
WATCH HERE: LNG Canada confirms investment decision to build export facility
The David Suzuki Foundation said its research has found that methane emissions from B.C.’s oil and gas industry are “vastly under-reported.”
“Our research disproves the claim that LNG is a clean transition fuel,” David Suzuki Foundation science and policy director Ian Bruce said.
“We should be investing in renewable energy rather than locking our economy into decades of fossil fuel infrastructure that is likely to be left stranded as the world transitions to a 21st-century low-carbon economy.”
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the environment and the economy were seen as opposing forces in the past, but there doesn’t have to be a choice with this project.
WATCH: Mixed reaction to Kitimat LNG facility approval
He added that the LNG project will have an impact beyond B.C.’s borders, reducing carbon emissions in India and China where LNG can replace coal as a major energy source.
“The advantage for Canada is that climate change knows no borders,” he said. “As we reduce and replace coal-fired plants around the world with LNG done properly, done responsibly in British Columbia, that is good news for all of us.”
— With files from Richard Zussman and The Canadian Press
Comments