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Volume 58 No. 07
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www.northernsentinel.com
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
1.34 INCLUDES TAX
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Minister takes LNG tour
NEB gives export licence The National Energy Board announced last week that LNG Canada, the LNG proposal headed by Shell Canada, has received a 25 year export licence. The licence will allow the company to export 670 million tonnes of LNG over that 25 years period. The maximum annual quantity will be 24 million tonnes, which is 1.18 trillion cubic feet. The NEB said in a release that they were satisfied that the quantity of gas that the company will be exporting will, essentially, still leave enough for Canada’s own use. “The Board is satisfied that the gas resource base in Canada, as well as North America, is large and can easily accommodate reasonably foreseeable Canadian demand as well as the proposed LNG exports,” they wrote in their reasons for decision. Shell Canada owns 100 per cent of the proposed Kitimat-based LNG facility, but it will be developed jointly with Diamond LNG Canada (an affiliate of Mitsubishi Corporation), Kogas Canada (an affiliate of Korea Gas Corporation) and Phoenix Energy Holdings (an affiliate of PetroChina Investment). Shell Canada was not immediately available for comment.
Sentinel
Northern
Community, Sport and Cultural Development Minister Bill Bennett during his stop in Kitimat.
Cameron Orr The conversation has begun over how the province will share in millions of dollars of royalties. It didn’t take long between Premier Christy Clark saying Bill Bennett would be in the north to when he actually materialized. The Community, Sport and Cultural Development minister toured northern communities, including a stop in Kitamaat Village, to garner feedback to what local governments want to see from the development of liquefied natural gas facilities in the north. But that conversation includes a financial component. Bennett said the province is prepared to discuss a program similar to what’s already in place in the Northeast portion of the province, where a Fair Share program contributes money into local governments. Fort St. John, for instance, receives about $20 million a year, he said. Revenue sharing is one of the focal points of his trip, he added. He said that natural gas provides a “tremen-
dously positive” opportunity for northern communities. Aside from revenue sharing he will also talk about the services a community may need facing a possible surge of hundreds or thousands of people. “Here in Kitimat, I would expect that Mayor Monaghan and her council will tell me things I don’t know,” he said, referring to conversation in Terrace where he was made aware of some transportation issues. “Yes there are implications that will have to be dealt with but those implications are not a reason not to do it,” he said. He added, “Instead of waiting until [LNG] processing plans are built and we’re in the thick of it and sitting in a sort of Fort McMurray scenario, lets figure out ahead of time where the pressure points are going to be, what the priorities of the communities are, and we’ll do our best. We’re not wealthy in terms of the money we currently have to spend but we know this is a priority.” Bennett expects to return to the Northwest again sometime in March.
Aboriginal Relations minister makes time for Kitimat stop Cameron Orr Ida Chong took a boat ride with Haisla Chief Councillor Ellis Ross to see firsthand the proposed areas for LNG projects, before speaking to the Kitimat business community at the Hirsch Creek Golf and Winter Club. The Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliations’ day in the Kitimat area concluded with a Kitimat Chamber of Commerce luncheon, where she spoke of several issues, from the 2008 recession’s impacts on the province, to Family Day, to the desire to keep B.C. a safe place for foreign investment. But speaking to the Sentinel following her presentation, it was bringing together the District of Kitimat with the Haisla community that stood as a priority for her and her ministry. “More than anything I wanted to let them know if the province needed to come on board to help bring both jurisdictions together and talk about revenue sharing, economic opportunities and ideas, we’d do that,” she said. She noted that the government can’t impose on the two jurisdictions, but that they can help bring the two sides together for government-togovernment forums. She did point out that such meetings were already taking place though. “The fact that they’re having these conversa-
tions, I think bodes well for both communities,” she said. Chief Councillor Ellis Ross said that there has been one meeting between his government and the District of Kitimat however it was an informal “ice breaker” dinner meeting where no actual issues were discussed. He wasn’t sure exactly when everyone would be available for a second meeting. He did say that no provincial ministry has had a hand in facilitating meetings and that he doesn’t expect there to be a provincial role when it comes to discussions between the local governments. Prior attempts to establish a relationship using the treaty process was tried but Ross said those attempts fell apart. “This is basically just a potential of starting up a new relationship. That’s all it is,” he said. He said that just based on the dinner, there are a lot of common interests, but says the “devil’s in the details” for those kinds of discussions. However he said things are much different than they were even five years ago as far as inclusion for First Nations, and the Haisla expect to be a part of everything from now on, he said. Mayor Joanne Monaghan said the meeting between the Haisla and the District of Kitimat was a nice get-together to meet everyone and to learn about each other better.
Ida Chong speaking at a Kitimat Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
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Mayors talk Kitimat’s opportunity ... page 3