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INSIDE Micro-LNG developments set for northwest B.C.

PG 4

Building permit numbers nosedive in regional district

PG 7

Subdivision proposed west of Ferguson Lake

PG 7

Site C overruns typical for megaprojects, report shows

PG 10

Industry-based rescue service on verge of launch

PG 11

Fort Nelson First Nation leading geothermal project

PG 12

Forestry critic raises stumpage concerns

PG 13

First conservancy in northeast B.C. PG 14 protects Halfway River First Nation territory General Inquiries | 250-562-2441

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Micro-LNG developments set for northwest B.C.

Matt Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter - The Narwhal

Liquefied natural gas is a hot topic in B.C. But while all eyes are on megaprojects like the Coastal GasLink pipeline and the LNG Canada liquefaction and export terminal, micro-

projects are flying under the radar.

Pacific Northern Gas is proposing to upgrade its existing natural gas pipeline, the Western Transmission Gas Line, including restoring parts of the system that haven’t been used for over a decade. This upgraded

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pipeline would feed two proposed micro-LNG facilities, Skeena LNG and Port Edward LNG. All three proposed projects are making their way through the regulatory process.

Here’s what you need to know.

What is Pacific Northern Gas? Pacific Northern Gas is a natural gas company that operates one pipeline in northwest B.C., serving over 40,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers along the Highway 16 corridor. The Western Transmission Gas Line connects to an Enbridge pipeline at Summit Lake, near Prince George, which gets its gas from sources in the northeast, and terminates in Prince Rupert and Kitimat.

It has been operating at reduced capacity since losing a few of its major industrial customers over the past 20 years — Prince Rupert’s pulp mill shut down in 2001, Kitimat’s methanol and ammonia facility followed in 2005 and the Kitimat pulp and paper mill closed its doors in 2010.

The company is owned by TriSummit Utilities, formerly AltaGas, which is co-owned by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, a federal Crown corporation, and the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund Board.

Pacific Northern Gas wants to build two new compressor stations and reactivate four that are not in use. About the size of a small single-family home, a compressor station diverts the gas from the pipeline and runs it through a compressor, which increases the pressure in the pipeline to keep the gas moving.

One station would be located between Terrace and Kitimat and the other between Terrace and Prince Rupert. The company also wants to upgrade sections of the existing pipeline and install four extensions of under five kilometres each to connect to the new facilities.

One of those extensions would divert the route away from a populated area that was vacant when the pipeline was first built in the late 1960s, rather than digging up the existing pipe.

The Western Transmission Gas Line would transport an additional 400,000 cubic metres of natural gas per year, less than one per cent of the volume Coastal GasLink will move through its pipeline.

Pacific Northern Gas expects the expansion will cost $60 million. The company told The Narwhal if it is approved, it plans to start construction in the fall. ... cont. on pg 5 INDUSTRY & TRADE | SPRING 2021

... cont. from pg 4

What is Skeena LNG? Skeena LNG would be a microLNG facility where natural gas is liquefied. Top Speed Energy, a Chinese company, is behind the project, which would be located on an industrial site near Terrace.

Before natural gas can be transported by ship, truck or rail, it needs to be condensed into liquid form. Liquefaction facilities cool the gas to -162 C, reducing its size to 1/600 of its previous volume. The gas is then transferred into pressurized containers that allow it to be transported without refrigeration for several weeks.

Micro-LNG facilities do the same thing as larger facilities, but on a much smaller scale.

Skeena LNG would produce 150,000 tonnes of LNG every year — less than five per cent of LNG Canada’s volume.

The company plans to sell this LNG to remote communities and mining operations in northern B.C., replacing other energy sources like diesel. It also plans

to export to overseas markets such as Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.

To get its product to overseas buyers, Top Speed Energy would first have to get it to Prince Rupert where it would be loaded onto container ships.

That means it would fill up to 24 trucks every day, 365 days a year, and send them along Highway 16, a scenic stretch of road that follows the path of the Skeena River.

Top Speed Energy hopes to start construction this spring.

What is Port Edward LNG? Port Edward LNG is a B.C.based company solely focused on building its namesake microLNG facility. The company is proposing to build its facility on a site it purchased last year overlooking a coastal inlet about 20 kilometres from Prince Rupert. It would also produce 150,000 tonnes of LNG per year.

Chris Hilliard, president of the company, said the company is focused on selling LNG to

customers in China, particularly companies looking to replace low-grade diesel for barging operations and small cities looking to replace coal-burning facilities.

“The growth of consumption of natural gas, as it replaces coal and diesel, is immense,” he said in an interview. “[China is] also the fastest growing in terms of the implementation of renew-

ables, but even they can’t do it fast enough. So we are part of that transition answer.”

If approved, the company plans to start construction this year and begin operations in 2023.

NDP Skeena-Bulkley MP Taylor Bachrach said he has heard from residents concerned about the increased transportation of hazardous materials throughout the region. ... cont. on pg 6

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“Local governments and community members really want to have a sense that our regulatory system and our emergency response systems are up to the task of protecting communities as we see a larger volume of dangerous goods moving through our region,” he said in an interview.

The Narwhal reached out to the province’s ministry of transportation but did not receive a response prior to publication.

Transport Canada said in an emailed statement it provides regulatory oversight on the transport of dangerous goods and said it conducts over 5,000 risk-based inspections annually.

Also, while the proposed projects are small, any new LNG projects contribute to the cumulative impacts of increased fracking activity and associated methane emissions.

“We’re concerned about anytime we’re expanding fracking to power these things [and the] upstream impacts they have, especially on the land and water in the Peace Valley and the Horn Basin,” Biggs said.

[The province has] put a lot of power in the hands of one regulator “And the methane emissions that come with fracking are one of the key drivers of climate change.”

Natural gas is composed primarily of methane. Methane emissions, in the short term, warm the climate much more quickly than equivalent carbon emissions. And as more projects come online, the subsequent increases in fracking activity puts further pressure on B.C.’s ability to meet its emissions reduction targets.

Emissions aren’t the only concern with increased fracking activity.

“The thing about fracking is that it has a much bigger foot-

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print than I think people realize,” Biggs said. “Infrastructure in that area fragments the wilderness, destroys traditional hunting grounds and contaminates local water. It’s hard to measure the impact because it’s so spread out.”

The proposed work on the pipeline is subject to approval by the B.C. Utilities Commission — an independent agency of the B.C. government that oversees provincial energy utilities such as hydro and gas.

In early 2020, the B.C. Utilities Commission approved the pipeline company’s initial plans, after Pacific Northern Gas consulted with the public.

The commission said in an emailed statement it conducted an “open and transparent public review process” before making its decision. The company plans to submit its application to the utilities commission this month.

The LNG facilities recently submitted permit applications to the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission — a provincial Crown corporation — both of which are currently under review.

Sven Biggs, oil and gas program director with Stand.Earth, described the commission as a “one-stop shop for industry.” “[The province has] put a lot of power in the hands of one regulator,” he said. “Through a combination of turning a blind eye to problems in the industry and underfunding that office, almost no regulation is happening on the ground.”

Neither the proposed pipeline expansion nor the micro-LNG projects have to go through the environmental assessment process.

The pipeline expansion project is not subject to environmental assessment because the majority of the work is reactivating existing components. The proposed LNG facilities are not required to undergo environmental assessment because they won’t exceed production and storage thresholds set by the province.

To be subject to environmental assessment, an LNG facility has to have the capacity to

store more than 136,000 cubic metres of liquefied natural gas, according to the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.

A provincial environmental assessment would mandate meaningful consultation with stakeholders, including First Nations, and ensure public transparency. It would require the companies to make public their design plans, mitigation strategies for environmental impacts and consultation documents.

Neither Skeena LNG nor Port Edward LNG have their project plans available to the public, apart from a general overview.

Hilliard said there proprietary reasons a company might not want to disclose its technical plans or regulatory applications, but added that he is committed to working with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities that might be impacted by the project.

“Our goal is to be as transparent as we can be,” he said. “We are committed, when conditions allow, to having open houses and ongoing public forums.”

Biggs said he would like to see the province reconsider its position on environmental assessment.

“I think the Ministry of Environment and the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office should take a second look at these projects and consider adjusting the threshold so they’re getting at least a basic B.C. environmental assessment, which is not a terribly strenuous bar to climb over — especially for a fossil fuel project,” he said in an interview.

Bachrach said he would like to see more transparency from the proponents.

“It’s never going to be a perfect process but the more transparency we have, and the more opportunities for engagement we have, I think the stronger the process will be,” he said in an interview. “Being transparent with communities and with residents is really the best way to build support and social licence for any project.”

INDUSTRY & TRADE | SPRING 2021

Building permit numbers nosedive in regional district The Regional District of FraserFort George saw a sharp decline in the number of building permits it issued in February, after an exceptionally strong January.

In January, the district issued permits worth nearly nine times as much as those issued in the same month of 2020. In February, the permits issued by the district were worth just 16 per cent of those issued in February 2020.

In February, the district issued a total of seven permits, worth a combined $739,750. Only two of those permits were for new construction – a permit for a single-family home on Chief

Lake Road and a large accessory building on Buckhorn Lake Road.

In February 2020, the district issued 31 permits worth a combined $4.5 million – including permits for eight new homes, two recreational cabins and a garage.

With the weak February, the district’s permits are more than $2 million off the pace set in 2020.

As of last month, the district had issued 19 permits with a combined value of nearly $2.58 million, compared to 39 permits worth $4.73 million by the same time last year.

Subdivision proposed west of Ferguson Lake Arthur Williams

A developer is looking to build a rural subdivision immediately west of the Ferguson Lake Nature Reserve, according to a report to directors of the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George.

The proposal, by a numbered B.C. company, would see 13 lots ranging in size from 1.62 hectares (four acres) to 2.96 ha. (7.3 acres) developed on the 32.5 hectare (80 acre) parcel. A 400 metre access road would connect the subdivision to Pilot Mountain Road.

The proposed subdivision is in the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, right on the edge of city limits. The area was logged more than four years ago and remains mostly cleared.

The proposed site plan includes a pair of greenbelts to allow a minimum setback of 15 metres from a pair of unnamed streams on the property, which flow into Ferguson Lake.

The developer is looking to rezone the property from SPRING 2021 | INDUSTRY & TRADE

Rural Residential 1 to Rural Residential 2 to facilitate the subdivision. If the rezoning is approved, the developer would have to provide proof of a drinking water supply and sewage disposal system capacity for the lots, before the subdivision would be approved, a regional district report said.

The eastern portion of the lot, closest to the lake, is in a Development Permit Area designated in the Salmon River-Lakes Official Community Plan. Any development in that area would require the district to issue a development permit, “with the objectives of ensuring lake water quality and aesthetic scenic qualities of the lakeshore,” the district report said.

The regional district will be holding a public hearing on the proposed rezoning at 6:30 p.m. on April 8, via a teleconference. Written or emailed submissions can be sent to the regional district until noon on April 7.

For more information, go online to www.rdffg.bc.ca/

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Site C overruns typical for megaprojects, report shows

Glacier Media

Premier John Horgan assumed the demeanour of a physician delivering bad news to a patient when he revealed the findings of Peter Milburn’s review of the Site C dam project.

Horgan announced February 26 that the government will finish building the hydroelectric megaproject, despite new estimates that now put the cost of completing the project at $16 billion.

The capital cost of the dam had already jumped from $8.6 billion under the BC Liberal government, to $10.7 under the BC NDP, and hit its most recent estimate thanks to pandemic-related delays and some troublesome geotechnical challenges.

A number of recent analyses by economists, and energy and public policy experts suggest that, if the project were to go much over $10.7 billion, it would make sense to cancel the project now, even though it is half complete and $6 billion has been spent, and instead meet B.C.’s future energy demands with natural gas power or wind and battery storage.

But cancelling the project now would be an even worse deal for taxpayers, the government concluded.

“Cancelling Site C when it was half done would have meant laying off 4,500 workers, just as we’re coming out of the impact of the pandemic,” Horgan said at a press conference. “It would have left us with a $10 billion debt and nothing to show for it.

10

Some experts offer a way out for the Horgan government, should it decide to complete the project, by suggesting that it partner up with Alberta on a regional clean power strategy.

Whatever the size of its eventual total overrun, Site C is by no means unique as a budget buster.

Most large hydroelectric dams end up going significantly over budget and most suffer delays in getting built, according to a commission of inquiry into the Muskrat Falls project in Labrador, which is also on track to cost roughly double its original estimated capital outlay.

The inquiry examined 274 hydroelectric dam projects around the world, and found the average cost overrun to be 96 per cent.

In other words, twice the original estimate is the norm for large hydroelectric dam projects.

“The data also show that on average dams nearly double their budget,” the commission notes.

Schedule delays are also the norm.

“The data show that schedule overrun is more likely than not.

Eight out of 10 past hydro-electric dams were delayed.”

The only other energy projects that suffer even worse delays and cost overruns are nuclear power plants, the commission found.

While unexpected geotechnical challenges like the one now plaguing Site C are often a contributing factor to ballooning budgets, the real problem, according to the commission of inquiry, is governments and utilities lowballing the cost estimates from the start.

Large dam projects almost universally exceed budgets, the report states, due to political “bias” and “optimism.”

“Often cost and schedule overruns are explained by unforeseen conditions and adverse events, e.g. unforeseen geology, project complexity, scope changes, bad weather,” the inquiry report notes.

“However, these are not root causes. The root causes of cost overruns and schedule delays can be found in optimism and political bias in estimates of geology, complexity, scope, weather, etc., which translate into underestimates of cost and schedule, which later turn into cost and schedule overruns.”

In hindsight, the previous Liberal government might have avoided some of the problems now plaguing Site C had it not exempted the project from a thorough review by the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC). The commission might well have recommended against the project in favour of other energy sources to meet B.C. future power needs.

In an opinion piece in December, Simon Fraser University sustainable energy economist Mark Jaccard (a former BCUC commissioner) and University of Calgary public policy professor Blake Shaffer suggested the project should probably never have been sanctioned in the first place, given the falling costs of wind power.

“But what’s done is done, and absent a time machine, the decision to complete the dam rests on

photo: Glacier Media

go-forward costs,” they wrote.

Jaccard and Shaffer point to an analysis done by three academics – Nic Rivers (University of Ottawa), Kent Fellows (University of Calgary) and Brett Dolter (University of Regina).

They said Site C dam could still make economic sense, despite its budget overruns, but only if two things happen: higher levels of decarbonization in Alberta and B.C., and co-operation between those two provinces on power trading.

With beefed-up interties and a power-sharing agreement, B.C.’s dispatchable hydro power could facilitate the replacement of coal power in Alberta with wind and solar.

“Rather than displacing wind and solar, large hydro facilities with the ability to increase or decrease output on short notice can actually enable more investment in these renewable sources,” Jaccard and Shaffer write.

“Expanding the transmission connection, with Site C on one side of that line, becomes even more valuable.”

But on February 26, at least one of the authors of the analysis of Site C -- Kent Fellows -- said the dam project is now beyond the point where it could provide a net benefit.

On February 26, he tweeted: “With this new price tag, it appears as tough there is now no reasonable scenario wherein Site C will produce a net benefit.”

INDUSTRY & TRADE | SPRING 2021

Industry-based rescue service on verge of launch Mark Nielsen Prince George Citizen

A branch of a helicopter-based rescue service that caters to resourcebased industries could be ready to fly out of Prince George by the early summer.

Miles Randell, president of Squamish-based Technical Evacuation Advanced Aero Medical, says he has nearly 20 people signed up to take the training this April and aims to have the branch take to the sky by sometime in June, if not sooner.

He said what TEEAM provides differs from B.C. Ambulance Service in that a crew will be able to reach remote locations, and differs from search and rescue in that each flight will carry two members capable of providing advanced life support.

In the three years it has been operating out of Squamish, Randell said the non-profit has attracted strong support from the forest industry in general and treeplanting companies

in particular.

“It’s financed in part through what we call a patronage program which is based on the model they use in Switzerland,” Randell said. “It’s kind of like a membership, so you pay an annual fee to be a patron of our program and that sort of helps us keep the lights on and pay our bills. And then we offer an insurance-based program that covers the cost of rescues when you do need a rescue.”

He said patrons in need of help contact TEEAM directly.

“Our air-ops will answer the call and dispatch the appropriate resources,” Randell said.

TEEAMS also works with the Canadian Armed Forces’ joint rescue centre on an as-needed basis.

Likewise, he said TEEAMS can also respond to calls from the RCMP whenever there is a need for a higher-level of medical care or mountain rescue that a traditional search and rescue group cannot provide.

Including Prince George, he said TEEAM is in the process of estab-

lishing in five more communities across the province - Fort St. John among them.

It was launched after Randell and TEEAM vice president Jordan Lawrence lost a friend to cardiac arrest while in the backcountry.

“I kind of found myself on a journey with a crew of other guys that were involved in trying to fill that gap,” Randell said. “We’ve travelled to Switzerland to see how they do it. They’re 53 years ahead of us in Switzerland. We travelled to New Zealand where they’re 50 years ahead of us.

“We’re behind, but we’re catching up quickly and we’ve already made a huge difference in patient care which is first and foremost with our program. But there’s also the financial benefit to the financial system and to WorkSafe from the service that we provide.”

The Prince George branch will rely on a helicopter provided by Bailey Helicopters on a pay-as-you-go basis.

About $350,000 has been budgeted

to outfit the staff, who will be paid on a per-mission basis.

“It’s about $1.4 million a year to have an aircraft sitting and available. That’s why we’re not dedicating an aircraft right now, we just don’t have that budget,” Randell said. “So paid, on call, we start with about $350,000 worth of equipment and training and then build from there.

“If we were to fully fund the base, it’s about $3.6 million and that includes paid, full-time staff, dedicated helicopter, the complete entire setup.”

Randell said TEEAM is welcoming resumes from people interested in joining.

“Primarily people with medical skill sets so life-support paramedics, primary care paramedics with rescue backgrounds, emergency or critical care nurses, respiratory therapists with pre-hospital care backgrounds, emergency physicians, anesthesiologists or critical care physicians,” he said when asked for the skills sets TEEAM is seeking.

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Fort Nelson First Nation leading geothermal project our inherent rights and build an economic base that will help us be financially independent.”

She said the project will act not only as catalyst for the Nation’s economy, but the economy of the entire northern Rockies region.

Gale also represented Deh Tai Corporation, the First Nation’s economic development arm which oversees business operations, for last Friday’s announcement.

She said her Nation had been involved in oil and gas work for 50 years and that workers already had the existing skillset for the ongoing work. She also said that this new work provided an opportunity for youth to “meet their full potential” without having to leave their home community.

Along with creating jobs and

Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter - Windspeaker.com

T

he federal government has invested more than $40 million in a geothermal project led by the Fort Nelson First Nation.

The funding will see the Clarke Lake gas site in northeastern British Columbia transitioned to a commercially viable geothermal electricity production facility.

“We are proud and honoured to be able to move ahead with the Clarke Lake Geothermal Project,” said Fort Nelson First Nation Chief Sharleen Gale during the virtual announcement of the funding.

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SERVICING CENTRAL & NORTHERN BC SINCE 1989

other local economic opportunities, the Clarke Lake project will provide capacity building and training to workers from other industries to help them transition to the renewable energy sector.

Fort Nelson Mayor Gary Foster joined Gale in noting the economic hardships the region has faced since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the downturn in the oil and gas industry. “(This) sets us on a path of how First Nations and non-Indigenous people can work together to build a brighter and better future for all of us,” said Foster, who recognized Gale and other First Nation leaders who “pressed this project forward.”

Gale, who chairs the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, credited the work undertaken by the coalition in helping to secure the funding for the project.

“Supporting it was a natural choice. The request was core to our mandate in providing capacity support to our members when they need to get projects across the line,” said coalition vice chair Corinna Leween, chief of Cheslatta Carrier Nation.

“This project is a prime example of Indigenous leadership in green energy infrastructure, which is an area of focus for our coalition,” she said.

The coalition will continue to support the project as it moves toward completion and operation, Leween added, including the next steps for commercial financing.

Federal funding at this stage comes through Natural Resources Canada with $39.5 million, including $38.5 million from the Emerging Renewables Power Program; $2 million through Western Economic Diversification Canada; and $250,000 from Indigenous Services Canada’s Community Opportunity Readiness Program. “(This) is a huge opportunity to deliver on our shared vision of economic prosperity, strengthen

environmental performance and advance Indigenous partnerships,” said Natural Resources Canada Minister Seamus O’Regan.

The province contributed $1 million, including $430,000 through the First Nations Clean Energy Business Fund.

The BC Indigenous Clean Energy Initiative, a partnership with Western Economic Diversification Canada and the New Relationship Trust, contributed $500,000.

“Our government and First Nations across BC share a strong interest in exploring and building clean energy options together,” said Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin.

“It offers important opportunities for First Nations to participate in a sustainable regional economy, a diversified regional economy,” he said.

Gale said the geothermal project, which is fueled by heat from the earth’s core, is expected to be operational in 2024. Test well exploration work is underway, she said.

Although electricity generation will be the primary source of revenue from the Clarke Lake project, additional revenue opportunities could include the sale of waste heat generated by the plant.

Excess heat from the facility could also lead to new activities, such as providing power to the forestry sector and for greenhouses and food production.

The Clarke Lake geothermal facility is expected to produce between seven and 15 MW of clean electricity from a consistently available resource, which is equivalent to powering up to 14,000 households. It will provide a valuable alternate source of energy for remote and northern communities, which now depend primarily on diesel. It is expected to reduce 25,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to taking more than 5,000 cars off the road.

INDUSTRY & TRADE | SPRING 2021

Forestry critic raises stumpage concerns Mark Nielsen, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter - Prince George Citizen

B.C.’s forest sector will remain on shaky ground unless the provincial government makes some significant changes to make the industry more competitive, B.C. Liberals forestry critic John Rustad said.

“Under the NDP we have seen British Columbia become the highest-cost jurisdiction in North America,” the Nechako-Lakes MLA said. “This places us at a tremendous disadvantage, leads to underinvestment at a time when we need renewal, and leaves us vulnerable to any future decline in prices.”

Rustad wrote a letter to forests minister Katrine Conroy outlining some of the challenges he says the industry continues to face, namely excessive red tape and an outdated means of determining the cost of stumpage fees.

Buoyed by sky-high lumber prices, lumber producers have been reaping healthy profits. Canfor recorded nearly $575 million in adjusted net income for 2021 while West Fraser finished the year $843 million to the better in adjusted earnings.

The outcomes failed to quell Rustad’s concerns.

“Nobody ever complains about stumpage when we are on the upside of the lumber price cycle, SPRING 2021 | INDUSTRY & TRADE

but the way B.C.’s stumpage is calculated today still leaves us vulnerable to price swings or price declines due to the delays in reflecting current market conditions,” Rustad added.

“This was one of the reasons why the forest sector faced so many challenges over the previous few years of John Horgan’s government with regular mill curtailments and permanent closures.”

Rustad concluded by saying there are several measures - in addition to modernizing stumpage rates - that the government could take to help protect the 100,000 people in our province who remain employed in forestry either directly or indirectly but he did not get into further detail.

In an emailed response, a ministry spokesperson said B.C. has a market-based stumpage system is in place with the rates based on prices for timber sold at auction through BC Timber Sales.

He said stumpage is updated annually and quarterly to reflect market conditions for lumber pricing in the Interior and lumber and veneer pricing on the coast and that ministry consulted with industry representatives about moving to monthly adjustments and, “at this time, the general consensus was to stay with the current system of quarterly adjustments.”

A logging truck is unloaded in the Lakeland Mills log yard in Prince George in 2017.

Prince George Citizen file photo

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First conservancy in northeast B.C. protects Halfway River First Nation territory BRITISH COLUMBIA

TSAA NUNA CONSERVANCY

“

The protection of this area will ensure that we can continue these activities in this area for generations to come.

Matt Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter- The Narwhal

A

fter decades of fighting to preserve an important cultural and ecological area along the banks of a northeast B.C. river, the Halfway River First Nation finally succeeded when the province agreed in March to establish the Tsaa Nuna Conservancy. The 5,306-hectare conservancy on the nation’s territory sits across the Halfway River from the community, which means it’s well-situated for Elders to practise cultural activities and pass on Traditional Knowledge to younger generations.

“It is an important area for our community where we hunt, trap, gather berries and teach our children about traditional practices and our way of life,” Chief Darlene Hunter said in a press release.

“The protection of this area will ensure that we can continue these activities in this area for generations to come.”

Tsaa Nuna is the first conservancy in northeast B.C. and the first established in the province since 2013. The protected area lies within the Montney shale gas formation, a hotbed of fracking activity and the source of most of B.C.’s natural gas.

According to the province, conservancies are Crown lands set aside to protect their biodiversity, preserve their Indigenous cultural uses and maintain their recreational values. Development that’s consistent with these uses is permitted, but commercial logging, mining and hydroelectric power generation are strictly prohibited.

However, under the B.C. Park Act, the province can grant

permits to extract oil and gas “in or from the subsurface of land within a park, conservancy or recreation area.” That means fracking is allowed in Tsaa Nuna — and plans are already underway.

Halfway River is the largest tributary of the Peace River — it enters the Peace roughly halfway between the Site C dam, currently under construction, and the W.A.C. Bennet dam at Hudson’s Hope. The community is about 65 kilometres from Fort St. John.

The newly protected area consists of mostly undisturbed forest. A mix of black and white spruce stands and wetlands, Tsaa Nuna is home to moose, deer, elk, martens, fishers, lynx, beavers, wolverines and porcupines, and the river is spawning habitat for bull trout and mountain whitefish.

Minister of Environment and

Climate Change Strategy George Heyman told The Narwhal protecting the area is a win, both ecologically and culturally.

“The role of the conservancy is to ensure that the cultural features, the wildlife habitat that still exist there [and] the historic and ongoing cultural significance for the Halfway River First Nation is maintained … by formally incorporating it under the B.C. Protected Areas Act,” he said in an interview.

First Nation protected the area from logging in the 1990s The northeast has long suffered from a boom and bust economy tied to resource extraction — first forestry and more recently natural gas. Tsaa Nuna has had its share of eager investors trying to capitalize on its natural resources, but the Halfway River First Nation made sure to protect the area for ... cont. on pg 15

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INDUSTRY & TRADE | SPRING 2021

... cont. from pg 14

its spiritual, cultural and ecological values.

In the 1990s, the Ministry of Forests granted a permit to Canfor, B.C.’s largest forestry company, to log the now-protected area.

In response, the Halfway River First Nation took the province to court, arguing that the proposed logging activity in the area would infringe on its Indigenous Rights to hunt, trap and fish. In 1999, the courts ruled in favour of the nation and a temporary protection was placed on the area.

Heyman said the new conservancy sets an example of how the province can improve its relationship with First Nations across the province.

“The importance of the conservancy is to demonstrate that consultation and dialogue with Indigenous nations around rights and interests and values is a far better way to achieve reconciliation than ending up in court.”

In 2017, the province entered into an agreement with the nation to facilitate co-management of wildlife and natural resources and to protect culturally significant areas. One of the conditions of the agreement was setting up the conservancy.

Province, First Nation permit fracking under conservancy While the conservancy will protect cultural and ecological values, the natural gas in underground shale deposits is not off limits, and there are plans to frack that gas from outside Tsaa Nuna’s borders.

Fracking requires large quantities of fresh water, which becomes contaminated and has to be stored either in tailings ponds or injected underground.

In 2018, the province sold natural gas drilling rights on 1,847 hectares of land bordering Tsaa Nuna to Landsolutions GP Inc. for $42 million. Part of the agreement between the province and the Halfway River First Nation noted they would work together to “appropriately balance conservation and maintenance of the natural and heritage resources and opportunities … with the recovery of high-value natural gas underlying Tsaa Nuna.”

SPRING 2021 | INDUSTRY & TRADE

In other words, the conservancy doesn’t outright prohibit natural gas activity, but the goal is to make sure there is no surface disturbance. Many fracking operations use directional, or horizontal, drilling to extract gas from reserves in places that are harder to access.

According to the agreement, B.C. and the Halfway River First Nation have 24 months to develop plans “in relation to the surface activities and developments within Tsaa Nuna.”

The province and the nation will collaboratively make any decisions about the conservancy, including any subsurface fracking activity.

The Halfway River First Nation declined interview requests and did not provide any information about the process of establishing the conservancy or management plans.

Indigenous knowledge should guide conservation decisions Rachel Plotkin, a project manager with the David Suzuki Foundation, told The Narwhal conservancies are one way the province can support Indigenous Rights around stewardship.

“They can give Indigenous Peoples the capacity to do things like host knowledge transfer between Elders and youth, and to ensure that there’s no industrial activities in those areas,” she said in an interview.

“Every province needs to be having discussions about ways to uphold Indigenous governance — not just having Indigenous people at the decision-making tables about where protected areas land, but also how they’re governed.”

Heyman said Tsaa Nuna is a positive first step in how the province manages conservation.

“We have incredible biodiversity in B.C. [and] we have decades of heavy industrial activity that we all know has destroyed a significant amount of habitat, causing pressure on certain species,” he said.

Indigenous knowledge should guide the process of protecting areas to prevent further impacts on habitat and wildlife, he added.

“The process to establish the Tsaa Nuna conservancy is a good example of how we can do that.”

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