Opinion A6
Published by Black Press Ltd. at 737 Fraser Street, Prince Rupert, B.C.
January 27, 2016
In our opinion
Ridley propane facility a perfect storm of interests Comments made by AltaGas executive vicepresident John Lowe on the company’s agreements and sub-lease of land with Ridley Terminals (RTI) in this week’s Northern View story are a familiar tune to industry professionals here on the West Coast. The need to find new markets, and getting Canada’s natural resource products to market has always been a challenge for resource-based corporations in the past, thanks to a myriad of reasons, one of which is that Canada has always had a willing and able buyer of oil, propane and everything else by our neighbours to the south, the United States. But that relationship can be taken for granted no more. As Lowe explains, the U.S. now has a surplus of propane thanks to domestic shale gas production. The Keystone XL pipeline has been all but killed by U.S. President Barack Obama. This has been anything but welcome news to proponent TransCanada and the company is suing the Obama administration due to being “unjustly deprived of the value of its multi-billion dollar investment by the U.S. administration’s action”. Canadian companies can’t solely rely on U.S. interest in their products and resources anymore, which is why executives like Lowe are looking to Asia, and why the Port of Prince Rupert is increasingly becoming an integral part of the conversation in getting Canadian products to world markets. AltaGas had been looking for a proper site for a West Coast propane export facility for years. RTI has just started exploring new products in the wake of sinking coal demand and prices. The Prince Rupert Port Authority has made diversification its No. 1 mandate in the next 10 years. In a world characterized by uncertainty in the energy sector, the more clients RTI and the Port of Prince Rupert can take on, the better-positioned they will be when a number of those terminals experience a sustained drop in performance. Those talks at the table couldn’t have taken very long with AltaGas, the Port and RTI all on the same side of it.
Guest View: Northern MLAs commit to protect Skeena wild salmon ear Lax Kw’alaams hereditary chiefs, damage to that critical juvenile salmon habitat elected council and members: could occur with the current facility design. We are writing as the BC NDP Must take into account that industrial MLAs representing the northwest part of development in the province encompassing the Skeena River the form of a 1973 watershed and its estuary to express our proposal for a support for your efforts to protect Skeena River superport at this wild salmon and all that depends on them by site was rejected ensuring industrial development, in the form of by government the proposed Pacific Northwest LNG facility, agencies due to the does not take place on Lelu Island. unacceptable risk to We believe any decision regarding the fisheries. proposed development: For these Must recognize aboriginal title held by reasons we share Jennifer Rice MLA North Coast the Lax Kw’alaams and the pre-requisites of your perspective consultation and consent laid out in Supreme that the proposed • MLAs Court of Canada decisions such as those in facility poses William (Tsil’qotin) and Delgamuukw/Gisday’wa (Gitxsan an unacceptable risk to the Flora Bank habitat that is an and Wet’suwet’en). irreplaceable link in the Skeena River salmon ecosystem. Must give the highest consideration to peer-reviewed science such as conducted and published by Dr. Patrick Jennifer Rice, MLA North Coast McLaren and Jonathan Moore whose research on Flora Robin Austin, MLA Skeena Banks and area points to the conclusion that irreparable Doug Donaldson, MLA Stikine
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“Must give the highest consideration to peer-reviewed science”
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