Normzig, “No matter how many speeches are made or how many permits are issued and how many rainbow forecasts are shown, the only way BC is getting LNG plants anytime soon is if they build them with taxpayer money.”
Conventional wisdom in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector is that no new projects will be built for several years, given the vast cost can’t be reconciled with the current low prices.
The wave of LNG building in recent years has seen eight projects being built in Australia, with five now operating and the remaining three nearing completion, and five in the United States, the first of which has starting shipping cargoes.
The era of mega-LNG projects appears to be over, at least for now.
The average breakeven cost for the recent projects is $12.60 per mmBtu, a price well above the current levels.
Substantial volumes of additional LNG that can come to market in the coming years from existing facilities at considerably lower prices when compared to the huge cost of developing new plants …
The Alaska Gasline Development Corp, owned by the state of Alaska, said it plans to assume full management of the $45 billion-plus Alaska LNG Project by the end of this year.
…Once transitioned, the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation will be responsible for managing the project going forward including applying for regulatory approval, securing the commercial commitments from gas sellers, shippers, and buyers necessary to acquire the equity and debt financing that will be required to complete the project and prepare to start.
Translation:
When we initiate creative ways for taxpayers to subsidize oil and gas, there’s nothing better than having another of their senior people help us transfer investment risks to the public while still ensuring that profits stay with the industry.
The B.C. government has significantly accelerated the rate and scale of industrial development in the Blueberry River First Nations’ traditional territory over the past four years despite knowledge of alarming impacts, says a major science report released today.
“Our very life, our way of existence, is being wiped out,” Blueberry River Chief Marvin Yahey told a Vancouver press conference. “It’s devastating. It’s really impacted my people, culturally but socially also. It puts a lot of stress on a community.”
The report, authored by Ecotrust Canada and based on B.C. government data, found that up to 84 per cent of the Blueberry River traditional territory in B.C.’s northeast has been negatively impacted by industrial activity.
Almost 75 per cent of the territory now lies within 250 metres of an industrial disturbance, and more than 80 per cent is within 500 metres.
“The industrial activity has really hammered our traditional territory,” Yahey said in an interview. “It affects our hunting, fishing, camping and teaching our children our way of life. The wildlife are vanishing. Our berry picking sites are being destroyed by pathways and pipelines.”
It paints a bleak picture of the total impacts of all industrial development in the nation’s traditional territory, which covers more than 38,000 square kilometers in the Peace region.
Since 2012, the B.C. government has authorized the construction of more than 2,600 oil and gas wells, 1,884 kilometres of petroleum access and permanent roads, 740 kilometres of petroleum development roads, 1,500 kilometres of new pipelines and 9,400 kilometres of seismic lines, according to the report. Approximately 290 forestry cutblocks were also harvested in Blueberry River traditional territory over the same time period.
The disturbance atlas found that almost 70 per cent of Blueberry traditional territory is now covered by active petroleum and natural gas tenures. There are 4,676 abandoned oil and gas wells in the territory.
Several proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) lines could also extend into Blueberry River First Nations traditional territory, including Spectra Westcoast Connector, Coastal GasLink, North Montney Mainline and Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project, the report said.
Blueberry River First Nations – Industrial Development Change Over Time
David Suzuki Foundation spokesperson Rachel Plotkin called the findings both an “ecological crisis and a crisis of social justice.”
In 1979, a sour gas leak forced Blueberry River members to flee from their original reserve on the banks of the Blueberry River, with only the clothes they were wearing.
“Everything we left behind was destroyed,” recounted Yahey. “Animals, pets, food, clothing.”
The nation was eventually moved to its current location just two kilometres away, 80 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John.
The ‘Little Kuwait’ of Northern B.C.
Yahey said people refer to the current reserve as “Little Kuwait” because of the flares from fracking that light it up at night. Community members have purchased sour gas monitors to ensure they will have time to evacuate if there is another sour gas leak and they have to haul in safe drinking water due to a drop in water levels they believe is caused by nearby fracking operations.
“We leave one area and go to another and it’s just as bad there today. We go to our hunting camps and [they’ve] been destroyed.”
The B.C. government ignored a September 2014 request from the Blueberry River First Nations for a cumulative impacts assessment and monitoring program that would guide decisions about land use and resource extraction, said Yahey.
“There has been no meaningful response.”
On the contrary, the chief said the province continues to approve major industrial undertakings, including the expansion of fracking operations and the $8.8 billion Site C dam.
In an e-mailed statement, John Rustad, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, said the B.C. government is aware of the Blueberry River First Nations’ concerns regarding resource development in their traditional territory.
Rustad said the government has developed a cumulative effects framework that is being applied in northeast B.C. to improve natural resource decision-making, along with a “regional strategic environmental assessment project.” Blueberry River First Nations has been invited to join these initiatives, Rustad said.
“We also regulate all industries with rigorous environmental standards, and have programs in place to protect critical habitat for wildlife and water resources, and to ensure our air is clean,” said the minister’s statement.
Yahey said the government’s initiatives are not sufficient, and that there is “a hurry for B.C. to clear everything [and] wipe everything out without acknowledging our rights.”
In an effort to seek solutions, the Blueberry River First Nations used its own resources to develop a science-based Land Stewardship Framework. The framework, which Yahey calls a “path to yes”, identifies immediate action the provincial government can take to protect areas of importance to the Blueberry and to allow industrial development “without sacrificing ecological values.”
Critical Area Slated for Fracking
The Pink Mountain area, described by Chief Yahey as a “critical area” for Blueberry River First Nations traditional practices and an area the nation has been trying to protect, is one of many zones throughout Blueberry River territory that has been slated for shale gas drilling and fracking. Pink Mountain is currently the site of intense fracking operations by Progress Energy, a subsidiary of Malayasian-owned Petronas, one of the leading liquefied natural gas proponents in B.C.
Expansion of Pink Mountain fracking operations, leading to further landscape fragmentation, will occur if a proposed privately-built transmission line is built across Blueberry River territory to link the project with hydro facilities on the Peace River, including the Site C dam. In a controversial move, the B.C. government has excluded the proposed transmission line to Pink Mountain from independent review by the B.C. Utilities Commission.
Much of the development in the wildlife-rich Pink Mountain area is occurring in a region that, until very recently, had not been subject to the intense industrial development that characterizes the landscape further to the south in Blueberry River traditional territory.
The territory overlays the Montney basin, which contains the largest shale gas reserves in the province and some of the largest in the world. While much of the gas industry currently battles low prices, the Montney’s gas resources contains a high content of valuable liquids that allow companies to continue to extract the gas profitably.
The Blueberry River First Nations are not opposed to development but want to be included in plans, said Yahey. To that end, the chief described a lawsuit the nation launched against the province of B.C. in March 2015 as a “last hope.”
The ongoing lawsuit claims that the cumulative impacts from extensive industrial development, including Site C, violate Treaty 8, which the Blueberry River First Nations signed in 1900.
The claim asserts that Blueberry River members can no longer access uncontaminated land and resources capable of sustaining traditional patterns of economic activity and land use, as guaranteed by the treaty. These include hunting, eating moose, harvesting berries and medicinal plants and teaching children their language while on the land.
“Our backs are against the wall,” said Yahey. “We’ve tried all the time to come up with a solution. This was our only way to get them to the table to protect our way of life.”
The disturbance atlas also demonstrates that the Peace region has received a disproportionate share of the province’s industrial activity and lacks protected areas compared to other regions of B.C.
Less than one per cent of Blueberry River First Nations traditional territory is conserved in parks and protected areas, compared to 14 per cent province-wide.
While 60 per cent of B.C. is classified as intact forest landscape, less than 14 per cent remains in Blueberry territory. And almost one-half of the total area in B.C. reserved for pipelines through tenures falls in the Blueberry River traditional territory.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwired – Dec. 9, 2015)
Teck Resources Limited (TSX:TCK.A) (TSX:TCK.B) (NYSE:TCK) is piloting the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a fuel source in six haul trucks at its Fording River steelmaking coal operation in southeast B.C. – marking the first use of LNG as a haul truck fuel at a Canadian mine site.
The use of blended LNG/diesel fuelled haul trucks has the potential for significant environmental benefits and cost savings. LNG produces virtually no particulate or sulphur dioxide emissions and reduces Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by up to 20 percent in comparison to diesel alone. There is the potential to eliminate approximately 35,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually at Teck’s steelmaking coal operations and potentially reduce fuel costs by more than $20 million annually by adopting LNG and diesel hybrid fuel across the operations. FortisBC is transporting and supplying LNG to the mine site and is making a financial contribution towards the pilot.
The pilot is one of the steps Teck is taking to achieve its long-term target to reduce annual GHG emissions by 450,000 tonnes at its operations by 2030. To date, Teck has reduced annual emissions by 170,000 tonnes as the result of initiatives implemented since 2011.
“LNG is a fuel source that has the potential to lower costs, significantly reduce emissions and improve environmental performance at our operations,” said Don Lindsay, President & CEO, Teck. “We are committed to minimizing our own carbon footprint while at the same time continuing to provide the mining products that are essential to building a modern, low-carbon society.”
“Like British Columbia, Teck is a global leader in finding innovative ways to reduce GHG emissions while continuing to create opportunity,” said Premier Christy Clark. “It’s a concrete example of the difference clean-burning LNG can make in the fight against climate change.”
Teck, with support from FortisBC, has upgraded the Fording River Operations truck maintenance shop, provided engine conversion kits, installed fuelling facilities and implemented a comprehensive safety program in advance of the pilot.
“Teck is demonstrating leadership by adopting natural gas as a cleaner and more cost-effective fuel solution for their operations,” said Michael Mulcahy, President and CEO, FortisBC. “LNG, as a vehicle fuel source, provides both an economic and environmental benefit to industry in our province. Today’s announcement further builds on the diversity of the more than 400 natural gas-fuelled vehicles in British Columbia.”
The pilot is expected to run until mid-year 2016 and will provide more information about the potential of using LNG more broadly across Teck’s haul truck fleet, creating the opportunity for further fleet conversions to LNG in the future.
Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and forward-looking information as defined in the Securities Act (Ontario). Forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as “potential”, “target”, “is expected”, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “should”, “would” “might” or “will” be taken, occur or achieved. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the potential for significant environmental benefits and cost savings, expectations regarding CO2 emission elimination, cost reductions and improved environmental performance.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Teck to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to vary include, but are not limited to, unexpected operational issues in the pilot program, unexpected efficiency or reliability issues with the blended LNG/diesel system that lead to reduced LNG usage or the increase in the cost of LNG to our sites beyond projected levels. CO2 emission reductions are based on assumptions regarding the amount of diesel consumption that will be replaced by LNG as well assumptions regarding the efficiency of LNG combustion in the process, among other assumptions. Cost reduction expectations are based on assumptions regarding the price of oil, the cost of LNG and the level at which LNG will replace diesel consumption. Certain of these risks are described in more detail in the annual information form of Teck and in its public filings with Canadian securities administrators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
About Teck
Teck is a diversified resource company committed to responsible mining and mineral development with major business units focused on copper, steelmaking coal, zinc and energy. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, its shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols TCK.A and TCK.B and the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TCK. Learn more about Teck at www.teck.com or follow @TeckResources.
Andrew Phillip Chernoff 