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B.C. government says refinery deserves serious consideration

On August 17, 2012, David Black unveiled a $13 billion proposal to build a refinery on British Columbia's North Coast.

The B.C. government today released Review of the Proposed

Kitimat Refinery Project: Technical Assessment and Asian

Supply/Demand Analysis. This report was prepared for the Ministry of

Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, in consultation with the Ministry

of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas.

 

On August 17, 2012, David Black unveiled a $13 billion proposal to

build a refinery on British Columbia's North Coast.

 

To assist the provincial government with its appraisal of this

proposed refinery, Navigant Consulting was retained to consider the

following aspects of the project:

* Prepare a technical review, including an estimate of the likely

economic performance of the refinery.

* Compile an assessment of the Asian fuel supply/demand balance and

whether the output from Kitimat could be sold profitably to customers

in four Asian countries - namely, China, India, South Korea and

Japan.

 

As expressed in its report, Navigant has found that building a

refinery on the coast of British Columbia has economic merit and

should be seriously considered by the government of British Columbia.

The report finds that such a refinery would provide incremental long-

term economic benefits to the region.

 

On March 7, Premier Christy Clark delivered a statement to the B.C.

legislature where she committed the government's support to move this

proposal forward where it can be judged on its merits by a robust,

rigorous and independent environmental process, free from political

influence. "This is a credible proposal from a credible B.C.

businessman. And without question, this would be the largest single

private-sector investment in the history of our great province. And

it would be, potentially, a tremendous game-changer for our children

and their children," said the Premier.

 

The government of British Columbia has continued to advance its work

on the five conditions for heavy oil pipelines. Announced last July,

these five conditions will ensure the highest standards for

environmental protection and First Nations involvement.

 

Since their release, government has taken strong and decisive action

to develop world-leading practices for all land-based spill

prevention and response by releasing a policy development discussion

paper that is supporting comprehensive stakeholder engagement.

 

Recently, the B.C. government proactively took the first step toward

defining a world-leading, marine-based spill response model to

protect B.C.'s vast 27,000-kilometre coastline. The Ministry of

Environment contracted with Alaska-based Nuka Research and Planning

Group to review, evaluate and prepare a report on the current marine

oil spill prevention, preparedness and response regime for coastal

British Columbia to identify changes needed to support a world-class

system.

 

The paper released today advances British Columbia's knowledge of and

position as a safe and reliable jurisdiction for potential

manufacturing and shipment of heavy oil.