Union opposed to LNG plant
Ashley Ford
The Province
Friday, August 03, 2007
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A proposed LNG plant for Texada Island is already generating "gas" of a different nature with opponents venting against the development. The harshest criticism is coming from the union representing workers at B.C. Hydro.
The Canadian Office and Professional employees Union Local 378 described the $2-billion project yesterday as "too dangerous, too expensive and too dirty."
"Just one week after a pipeline rupture in Burnaby sent a geyser of oil spewing into the air and gushing into Burrard Inlet, how could anyone look British Columbians in the eye and tell them that is a good idea for a fragile ecosystem like the Strait of Georgia," said union vice-president Gwenne Farrell.
Earlier this week, Calgary-based WestPac LNG said it wants to build the terminal and a 600-megawatt, gas-fired power plant at the northern tip of the island.
It says it would create about 80 full-time jobs and the liquid natural gas would be shipped in from Asia and the Middle East.
Farrell, who is also a senior financial analyst at Hydro, said "this region is one of B.C.'s treasures and home to a variety of whales, dolphins, eagles, otters, deer and what remains of our wild salmon. Why would anyone want to risk spoiling this for a constant flotilla of dodgy supertankers in Georgia Strait?"
Farrell is also scornful of the provincial government and asks why Victoria would allow such a "potentially catastrophic project" to proceed?
"The answer is simple: WestPac and the B.C. government are not seeking to serve B.C.'s energy needs at all. Instead, they are trying to make a windfall profit by selling this dangerous, dirty energy to the U.S., environmental consequences be damned," she says.
Farrell may only be the tip of growing opposition.,
The NDP also weighed into the fray, with NDP MLAs Shane Simpson and Gary Coons questioning the project.
"Such a terminal means that there will be more tankers in the Strait of Georgia, which throws the current moratorium on tanker traffic in B.C. coastal waters into question," said Simpson, the party's environmental critic.
"There is very strong evidence that the Campbell Liberals are in favour of more tankers in B.C. waters. It is time that [Premier] Gordon Campbell comes clean and share his plans for the Georgia Strait and our coastal ecosystem with British Columbians," they said.
WestPac president Mark Butler has said placing the facility on Texada Island makes sense because it can tap into an existing natural-gas pipeline and transmission lines.
He said LNG ships are safe, noting there have been 33,000 sailings since the vessels were first launched 40 years ago without a single accident.
LNG may be controversial but it is growing in importance as a fuel source for an energy- hungry continent.
The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the independent agency that regulates interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil and reviews proposals to build liquefied natural gas terminals, lists 29 approved LNG projects in Canada, U.S. and Mexico with another 16 waiting.
In Canada approved terminals include Kitimat, St. John, N.B. and Riviere-du-Loup in Quebec.
aford@png.canwest
Existing and proposed North American liquid natural-gas terminals
As of July 24, 2007
CONSTRUCTED
A Everett, MA: 1.035 Bcfd
B Cove Point, MD: 1.0 Bcfd
C Elba Island, GA: 1.2 Bcfd
D Lake Charles, LA: 2.1 Bcfd
E Gulf of Mexico:0.5 Bcfd
APPROVED
1 Hackberry, LA: 1.8 Bcfd
2 Bahamas: 0.84 Bcfd
3* Bahamas: 0.83 Bcfd
4* Freeport, TX: 1.5 Bcfd
5 Sabine, LA: 2.6 Bcfd
6 Corpus Christi, TX: 2.6 Bcfd
7 Corpus Christi, TX: 1.1 Bcfd
8 Fall River, MA:0.8 Bcfd
9 Sabine, TX: 2.0 Bcfd
10 Corpus Christi, TX: 1.0 Bcfd
11** Logan Township, NJ: 1.2 Bcfd
12 Port Arthur, TX:3.0 Bcfd
13 Cove Point, MD: 0.8 Bcfd
14 Cameron, LA: 3.3 Bcfd
15 Sabine, LA: 1.4 Bcfd
16 Freeport, TX: 2.5 Bcfd
17 Hackberry, LA: 0.85 Bcfd
18 Pascagoula, MS:1.5 Bcfd
19 Pascagoula, MS:1.3 Bcfd
APPROVED offshore
20 Port Pelican:1.6 Bcfd
21 Offshore Louisiana: 1.0 Bcfd
22 Offshore Boston:0.4 Bcfd
23 Offshore Boston:0.8 Bcfd
CANADIAN APPROVED TERMINALS
24 St. John, NB: 1.0 Bcfd
25 Kitimat, BC:1.0 Bcfd
26 Rivi re-du-Loup, QC:0.5 Bcfd
MEXICAN APPROVED TERMINALS
27 Altamira, Tamulipas: 0.7 Bcfd
28 Baja California, MX: 1.0 Bcfd
29 Baja California, MX: 1.5 Bcfd
PROPOSED
30 Long Beach, CA:0.7 Bcfd,
31 LI Sound, NY: 1.0 Bcfd
32 Bradwood, OR:1.0 Bcfd
33 Port Lavaca, TX: 1.0 Bcfd
34 Pleasant Point, ME: 2.0 Bcfd
35 Robbinston, ME: 0.5 Bcfd
36 Elba Island, GA:0.9 Bcfd
37 Baltimore, MD: 1.5 Bcfd
38 Coos Bay, OR: 1.0 Bcfd
39 Astoria, OR: 1.5 Bcfd
PROPOSED offshore
40 Offshore California: 1.5 Bcfd
41 Offshore California:1.4 Bcfd
42 Gulf of Mexico:1.4 Bcfd
43 Offshore Florida: 1.9 Bcfd
44 Offshore California:1.2 Bcfd
45 Offshore Florida:1.2 Bcfd
*U.S. pipeline approved; LNG terminal pending in Bahamas
** Construction suspended
Bcfd: billions of cubic feet per day
posted by Friend of Texada at
12:47 PM
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