Editor:
One wonders if the citizens of Port Edward sleep well knowing that the LNG shipping terminal is now to be located in the centre of the fairway leading into nearby Porpoise Harbour and positioned so that the Hanjin Geneva, a 280-metre container ship that missed a critical turn and drove straight onto the Agnew Banks on November 12, 2012, would intercept the proposed LNG terminal or whatever ships are gassing up if such a mistake is made again in this confined, high traffic location.
A fiery conflagration on the scale of a small atomic bomb will likely ensue!
Alternatively, a new road and pipelines to Big Bay along Tuck Inlet on the Tsimshian peninsula would have created the long-sought road connection from Lax Kw’alaams to Rupert, left dioxin-contaminated sediment from the defunct Skeena Cellulose pulp mill buried in place at Port Edward’s Porpoise Harbour and provided low risk access for ships to the open sea.
At Big Bay, approximately 20 kilometres from Prince Rupert, ships would load safely away from population centres and the liquefied natural gas plant would dissipate the enormous heat produced in cooling the LNG to a 600 fold density into a much greater oceanic area rather than into the sensitive Flora Banks at the mouth of the Skeena River.
Consideration of other locations was given a half a page in the thousands of pages of environmental assessment documentation, most of which consists of high-priced and padded self-referential consultancy, cut and pasted from previously penned and paid for reports.
This project as currently defined is made of desperate economics driven by political motives and it will make B.C. the patsy of international investors. This project could still be reshaped on broader terms rather than on the terms of the proponent. It needs to be redesigned on the ground so there are long-term benefits and opportunities for B.C.’s North Coast communities and the province and safe access to open sea routes.
The Lelu Island Pacific Northwest LNG location is a cheap but risky way to go, a bad deal for all British Columbians.
Peter Christensen
Oona River