British Columbia is investing $200 million to support the Cedar LNG facility.
B.C.’s agreement with the Haisla Nation, the majority owner of the project, will see the money go toward building a transmission line and other electricity infrastructure.
The nearly $6-billion Cedar LNG project is a floating liquefied natural gas terminal that will be located on Douglas Channel in Kitimat.
Premier David Eby was in Kitamaat Village for Tuesday’s announcement, alongside Energy Minister Adrian Dix and Haisla Nation Chief Councillor Maureen Nyce.
Eby said the electrification of the plant will make it “one of the lowest emission plants in the entire world.”
However, the B.C. Greens are pushing back against what they say constitutes greenwashing and criticized further investment in fossil fuels.
“The government’s continued inaction when it comes to the climate, and their disingenuous greenwashing of LNG as ‘clean’ energy is a distraction from their climate action failures,” said BC Greens interim leader Jeremy Valeriote in a statement. “Publicly subsidizing LNG expansion is not a ‘clean’ way forward and harms climate and communities upstream from fracking.”
Other environmental advocates were also critical of the move. Shannon McPhail with the Skeena Watershed Foundation questioned the amount of public money going toward LNG.
“LNG puts B.C. on the losing end. We’re racing to the bottom by tying ourselves to a volatile, polluting industry that is on life support even with public funding,” said McPhail in a statement.
The provincial funding matches federal support for the facility announced in March.
The federal government says the project is expected to generate $275 million in GDP contributions during construction and $85 million in annual GDP contributions during operation.
The project will see natural gas shipped through an eight-kilometre pipeline connected to the Coastal GasLink pipeline. The gas will undergo a process at the facility to transform into a liquid and then be shipped to Asian markets. Cedar LNG is expected to have a capacity of 3.3 million tonnes per year.
The province says the facility will employ about 100 people full-time when it’s up and running, which is expected to be in late 2028.
Cedar LNG will be located near the new LNG Canada facility in Kitimat, which is expected to export its first shipments soon.
