VANCOUVER/UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (MUSQUEAM), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (SQUAMISH) AND səlilwətaɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) TERRITORIES : Already on course to miss its 2025 and 2030 climate targets, the Government of British Columbia has awarded an environmental assessment certificate to the Cedar LNG Plant, a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility and terminal, in Kitimat.
Ecojustice climate director Alan Andrews issued the following statement:
“Both the federal and B.C. governments have approved this massive LNG project that will pump millions of tons of more carbon into the atmosphere just as we need to be rapidly reducing emissions to avoid climate breakdown. The science is clear: there is no room for fossil fuel expansion in a 1.5 degree future. Pretending otherwise is greenwash by government.
B.C. is already on course to miss its 2025 and 2030 climate targets. The Government of B.C. pledged that LNG projects would only proceed if they could fit within those targets but has given the green light to a project that will put them even further out of reach. It claims there is a path forward to meeting B.C.’s climate targets that includes Cedar LNG, but clearly doesn’t have a map.
Both federal and B.C. governments are ignoring the majority of the carbon pollution that is emitted when fracked gas is burned abroad and downplaying the devastating impacts of fracking on communities in northern British Columbia. On the same day, B.C. announced that it will introduce a regulated emissions cap for the oil and gas sector. While regulations are an essential and overdue step, they must focus on delivering real emissions cuts rather than relying on dubious offsets and magical new technologies. This shouldn’t distract us from the fact that B.C. has given the green light to another fossil fuel project that is a big step backwards.”
