After a hard-fought campaign from environmentalists and Indigenous peoples to stop Pacific Northwest LNG, the cancellation of the project is a massive win for communities on the Skeena River and the global climate.

“We’re absolutely thrilled that the Malaysian backers of this liquefied natural gas terminal have backed down from their reckless plan to jeopardize BC’s second largest salmon run and blow our provincial climate targets,” said Peter McCartney, Climate Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee

Pacific Northwest LNG would have produced 11 megatonnes of carbon pollution every year, more than all the vehicles, buildings and landfills in Metro Vancouver and nearly all of BC’s 2050 emissions target. It would have also threatened habitat for 88 per cent of the salmon in the Skeena River.

Today’s decision by the project’s backers is a reflection of the collapsing economics of liquefied natural gas and fossil fuels more broadly.

“It’s very clear now that British Columbians should not stake our future on a liquefied natural gas industry,” said McCartney. “We need to embrace the future — renewable energy and clean technology — and quit clinging to the fossil fuel industry.”

Thousands of Canadians mobilized to fight the project through grassroots political action.

“My heartfelt thanks go out to the Indigenous peoples who stood up to protect their salmon and to all the people who wrote countless letters to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and Minister Catherine McKenna opposing this reckless project,” said McCartney.

With one of the biggest LNG terminals now off the table, the next step to finishing off this failing industry is to ban the destructive process of fracking that fuels it.

“Economics are helping stall and kill these liquefied natural gas projects along the coast but to truly protect the climate BC needs to ban fracking for good,” said McCartney.

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For more information, please contact:

Peter McCartney | Climate Campaigner, Wilderness Committee
778-239-1935, peter@wildernesscommittee.org