Ksi Lisims LNG offtake agreement: Bad for Canadians, sign of desperation

səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) territories (VANCOUVER, B.C.) – In response to Canada Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson’s expected announcement on Wednesday of a new LNG offtake agreement from Germany for the Ksi Lisims LNG project, Stand.earth Climate Finance Director Richard Brooks issued the following statement:

“Although this project has been on the books for more than a decade, Ksi Lisims LNG and its associated 900-kilometre Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline have repeatedly failed to reach a Final Investment Decision (FID). 

These ongoing delays are the direct result of fierce public controversy, escalating construction costs, and numerous legal challenges from Indigenous communities regarding treaty rights, environmental damage, and routing impacts. 

Because of these compounding liabilities — and the fact that the project’s private equity-backed owner, Western LNG, has no track record of successfully building any projects, anywhere — public funds through the Canada Infrastructure Bank are now being commandeered to financially salvage the development.

This is no cause for celebration. Ksi Lisims LNG and the 900km PRGT pipeline are financially risky, environmentally destructive, and tied up in Indigenous community-led court challenges. We should be announcing German investments in future-proof renewables — not doubling down on the dirty gas exports of the past.”

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Media contact:

Cari Barcas, Communications Director, Stand.earth, cari.barcas@stand.earth