Fueling the Future: Is BC to become a Global Frack Zone?

On day one of the two-day LNG conference titled Fueling the Future: Global Opportunities for LNG in BC, Premier Christy Clark announced in her keynote address that BC would lead the world in transitioning “to the cleanest fossil fuel on the planet.”

But efforts to bill LNG development as the province’s ticket to long-term prosperity may be missing the big picture.

A report published jointly by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance at the University of Victoria highlights a divide between water use policy and energy resource management policy. The discrepancy could have a direct impact on the province’s decision to promote natural gas development. A dramatic increase in the hydraulic fracturing required to remove natural gas from BC’s shale gas fields means a dramatic upswing in under regulated water use and, in turn, water contamination.

Water resource management is under the jurisdiction of the provinces, but BC—and most other provinces—neglect to maintain up-to-date information on water use and treatment, even by industries that consume the most. Failure to properly address the water-energy nexus undermines the province’s commitment to reducing green house gas emissions. Christy Clark and her government might be writing cheques LNG can’t cash.

According to the Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives, this so-called “transition fuel,” meant to wean both Canada and target markets off dirtier coal and crude, could end up being the reason BC fails to meet is own targets for green house gas emissions reduction. Six years ago, the government pledged to reduce green house gas emissions to 33 percent below 2007 levels by 2020, and 80 percent below 2007 levels by 2050.

Image from provincial report "BC's LNG Strategy."

There are currently five LNG projects under review in BC, and the government is in negotiation on at least three proposals that would make use of the Kitimat LNG facility, including the 463-kilometre Pacific Trail Pipeline proposed by Apache Canada and Chevron Canada.

Toghestiy, hereditary chief of the Likhts'amisyu clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nations, said the media attention the Alberta tar sands have received in the last few years has prevented Canadians from seeing the true environmental cost of natural gas development.

“Fracking fields are just as bad if not worse than what’s happening in the tar sands,” he says.

Toghestiy is involved with the Unit’ot’en resistance camp in Houston, BC, a collective of members of the Wet’suwet’en peoples dedicated to stopping all pipelines, whether carrying bitumen and condensate or liquefied natural gas.

He said one of the initiative’s biggest concerns about LNG development is the spread of misinformation concerning the nature of the extraction process and the resulting environmental damage.

“Really, it’s not natural at all. They’re creating man-made gas because they’re introducing toxins and causing explosions underground which in turn create a lot of other issues,” he said. “Once you put the poison in the ground you can’t just unpoison it. It stays that way for a very, very long time.”

In the throne speech earlier this month, the BC Liberals also announced the creation of the BC Prosperity Fund, intended to collect revenues from LNG development with a view to paying off the province’s $56 billion in debt. Officials say the province will start paying into the fund in 2017 and could have debts paid down as early as 10 years after that.

But the introduction of a new export tax on liquefied natural gas has some industry players hesitant to invest, particularly since the BC government could take as long as another year to finalize the details. This uncertainty could weaken BC’s bargaining position and undermine the revenues the BC Liberals are promising. Christy Clark has projected LNG revenues at anywhere from $130 billion to $260 billion over a 30-year period. This money is contingent upon the opening of five new LNG plants.

Unist’ot’en spokesperson Freda Huson told DeSmog Canada she believes the claim that revenues from LNG development will help get BC out of debt is false. What’s more, she said, it’s irresponsible of the provincial government to sacrifice the environment for the sake of saving face financially.

“They can’t compromise the rest of the world because they don’t know how to manage their money.”