Premier Christy Clark confirmed the obvious on Tuesday — her government is going to excuse the big increase in B.C.’s greenhouse-gas emissions if liquefied natural gas plans go ahead.
Tallying emission savings if Asian customers switch from coal to natural gas as part of the economic equation would go a way toward balancing off the increase in B.C. There’s no set international mechanism for doing that, but she is pitching it as a way of unofficially offsetting the potential increase.
B.C. is mandated by law to reduce GHG emissions by 33 per cent from 2007 levels by 2020. But Clark left little doubt that the 2007 law requiring the reduction will not stand in the way of her big LNG push. It could easily fall by the wayside as she pursues the 100,000 new jobs the industry could bring.
Referring to the GHG emission-reduction law introduced by her predecessor, Gordon Campbell, she said: “We can either decide we want to get to yes [build the plants], or we are going to throw up barriers in the way of that that will ensure we don’t have a natural-gas industry in B.C.
“My view is very much that when we export our natural gas to places like China and we help them reduce their need for dirtier forms of energy like thermal coal, we are doing the world a favour.”
Clark said with the recent doubling of the estimate of B.C.’s reserves, there are a lot of years ahead where the province “can do the world a favour, and not just the world — ourselves.”
She said the world’s airshed doesn’t begin and end at provincial borders. So the government will pursue a strategy “that includes the recognition our contribution to reducing [emissions] really matters.”
It takes immense amounts of energy to superchill natural gas to the point it becomes liquid, which in turn reduces its volume hundreds of times, making shipping feasible.
Hydro power is one option, but the easier one is to power at least some of the plants by natural gas. Even though it’s considered clean, that would still increase emissions.
Natural Gas Development Minister Rich Coleman also stressed the potential Asian emission reductions. He said LNG is an unprecedented chance to create thousands of jobs “while supplying Asian markets with the world’s cleanest-burning fossil fuel.”
Clark’s remarks were made at the announcement of another step on the road to LNG. Nexen Energy, a Chinese-owned company, has optioned almost 800 hectares of Crown land near Prince Rupert as a potential plant site and export terminal.
The company will pay $24 million for exclusive rights to consider development on that portion of the Grassy Point site. Operating as Aurora LNG, the company is a partnership between the Chinese government enterprise and two Japanese corporations.
The Grassy Point site is big enough that discussions are continuing with three other proponents for an adjacent parcel of land.
It’s a relatively minor step in the development process. Still to come are an expensive consultation process, environmental assessments, regulatory approvals and a decision to proceed. But Clark staged a Vancouver news conference to highlight the step.
She called the move proof of corporate confidence in the play.
“Private-sector companies don’t take a big gamble like the one they’re taking today on a dream. They do it on a realistic expectation of the market.”
Hours later, Clark re-announced the move at a business gathering in Vancouver. She has been increasing the emphasis on the “trillion-dollar” LNG potential for months now, leading up to the announcement of the new tax regime in the next few weeks that will cover the industry.
“I know the pessimists always say there are no guarantees for LNG in B.C., and that’s true. That’s exactly why we have no time to waste. It’s exactly why we have to do everything we can every day to make sure we are working to get to yes.”
Something in either the LNG development process or the environmental legislation has to give before LNG gets to yes.
And it doesn’t look as if it’s going to be on the development side.
