PRGT pipeline approval slap in the face of B.C.’s climate plan

səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) territories (VANCOUVER, B.C.) – The B.C. Government today announced that they will grant the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) fracked gas pipeline its request for a substantial start decision. This indefinitely extends a ten year-old permit that would have otherwise expired and would have forced the proponent to reapply to the B.C. Environmental Assessment process.

“Approving new fracked gas pipelines in 2025 is an outright denial of climate science, and Premier Eby should know better considering last year’s wildfires are still burning in B.C.,” said Kiki Wood, Stand.earth’s Senior Oil and Gas Campaigner. “The recent actions of his government make it clear that B.C. no longer has any kind of credible climate plan. In order to get things back on track, Eby’s cabinet needs to stop making the problem worse by approving disastrous new fracked gas megaprojects.”  

This decision follows the recent release of the Climate Accountability Report which clarified that even before today’s pipeline announcement – which will lead to dramatically increased climate pollution from the related LNG terminal and expansion in fracking – B.C. was already going to miss its climate targets by a wide margin. This gap is almost entirely due to the BC NDP’s decision to slash spending on climate programmes and cancel the consumer facing carbon tax.

“Ironically the B.C. Government is using Trump’s tariffs to justify today’s decision, but this project gets its financial backing from a MAGA billionaire,” said Sven Biggs, Stand.earth’s Canadian Oil and Gas Program Director. “Stephen Schwarzman is a key Trump backer and the CEO of Blackstone Investments, which have already invested as much as $150 million into this pipeline and the connected LNG terminal. I’m not sure how David Eby will keep his elbows up while lining the pockets of one of Trump’s biggest donors.” 

The PRGT pipeline and the associated Ksi Lisims LNG Terminal are a joint venture of Houston, Texas-based Western LNG and the Nisga’a Nation. In January of this year, it was announced that Blackstone Investments was making a significant investment in Western LNG to help cover the cost of acquiring the outstanding permits for both projects. However before construction can begin, significant hurdles remain. The joint venture partners have not achieved Final Investment Decision and will need to secure $22 billion in funding. Stephen Schwarzman and Blackstone are likely going to be key players in reaching that milestone.   

While today the pipeline is intended to supply the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal which is near Pearse Island in the Nass estuary, when the permits were originally issued it was proposed to supply the now long canceled Pacific Northwest LNG terminal which was proposed to be located on Lelu Island off Port Edward. Since then both the start location, end location, and route of the pipeline have changed. Despite these significant changes to the project, today’s decision will allow the decade-old permits to stand. 

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Contacts:

Sven Biggs, Canadian Oil and Gas Programs Director – Stand.earth +1 778-882-8354, sven@stand.earth (Pacific Time)

Arin de Hoog, Communications, Oil, Gas and Shipping – Stand.earth. +1 613-978-7329, arin.dehoog@stand.earth (Eastern Time)