Christy Clark might soon finally have her first liquefied-natural-gas (LNG) plant under construction.

This morning (November 4), the premier joined representatives of Woodfibre LNG Ltd., a subsidiary of the Singapore-based Pacific Oil and Gas, in Squamish for a news conference. There, they announced the company had decided to proceed with the construction of a natural-gas development just outside Squamish.

“I am delighted to welcome this good news, which will undoubtedly continue to create good, sustainable, environmentally sound, high-paying jobs for British Columbians in this region,” Clark said.

Standing beside her was Byng Giraud, Woodfibre LNG’s country manager for Canada.

“We commit today to build this project, a project that is right for Squamish and right for B.C,” he said.

Woodfibre LNG is projected to export an estimated 2.1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year, mostly to markets in Asia.

A plan for the development of liquefied natural gas in B.C. that the Liberal government circulated ahead of the 2013 election lists no fewer than 18 LNG projects on the horizon.

“We are creating a Prosperity Fund which will collect revenues in excess of $100 billion over 30 years,” it reads.

But three years later, no oil-and-gas company has firmly committed to building anything in B.C.

With Woodfibre LNG finally having committed to construction, Clark could see the project break ground just before the provincial election scheduled for May 9, 2017.

Today’s news was immediately condemned by environmental organizations.

“Today’s announcement puts B.C. one step closer to realizing an LNG industry that would undermine the province’s ability to do its fair share in the fight against climate change,” said Matt Horne, the Pembina Institute’s B.C. associate director, in a media release. “If built, the Woodfibre LNG project will represent 6% of B.C.’s legislated 2050 emissions target, making the target more challenging to achieve.”

On August 19, the provincial government released a revised strategy for combating climate change.

That document makes clear that B.C. has, essentially, abandoned its legislated goal to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to 33 percent below 2007 levels by the year 2020. Although the provincial government states it is still “committed” to reduce emissions by 80 percent below 2007 levels by 2050, the government’s discussion of that goal has sounded increasingly pessimistic.

Peter McCartney, a climate campaigner with the Wilderness Committee, criticized the government for established subsidized rates for power that will fuel the LNG development.

“While British Columbians are being asked to curb their carbon emissions, this industry gets a free pass to ramp up its pollution,” he said today in a media release. “In the warmest year on record when we have seen a record-low Fraser River sockeye salmon numbers and wildfires drive people from their homes, it’s deeply irresponsible to invest in fossil fuel infrastructure like Woodfibre LNG.”

Striking a different tone, Clean Energy Canada, a think tank based at SFU, argued that Woodfibre LNG could serve as a relativly clean model for similar developments.

“Designing this facility to run on electricity will reduce on-site carbon pollution by up to 80 per cent. By using electricity instead of natural gas, Woodfibre has set the bar for other would-be LNG facilities—including the proposed Pacific NorthWest project,” Jeremy Moorhouse, a senior analyst with the group, said in a release.

He noted, however, that the facility will emit greenhouse gases.

“Natural gas is a fossil fuel, and this project will still increase carbon pollution in British Columbia and globally,” Moorhouse said. “But by reducing carbon pollution from their operations, Woodfibre and other facilities who follow their lead will be more resilient and competitive as the cost of carbon pollution rises.”

The leader of the B.C. NDP, John Horgan, released a statement in response to the news. It states the Opposition party supports the Liberal government's goal of creating an LNG industry in B.C.

"I am pleased to hear that Woodfibre LNG has announced they intend to move forward," Horgan said quoted there.

"B.C.'s New Democrats are supportive of Woodfibre LNG and the jobs and economic activity it will bring to our province," he continued. "Other LNG projects that meet our four conditions can expect similar support.

At today's news conference, Clark repeated a favoured claim of the Liberal government that maintains the development of a large LNG industry in B.C. will help the world fight climate change.

That argument relies on the belief that LNG produced in B.C. will help coal-dependent countries like China transition to cleaner fossil fuels and therefore decrease the amount of greenhouse gases discharged into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Academic studies have concluded that logic is flawed. For example, an October 2014 report by the Pembina Institute concludes that unless strict emissions polices are enacted around the world, B.C.’s LNG industry will do nothing to alleviate the onset of climate change and will not help humans transition away from fossil fuels.

“We conclude that natural gas has a role to play in a world that avoids 2°C of warming, but that role is unlikely to materialize unless shaped by strong climate change policies in the jurisdictions that produce and consume the gas,” the Pembina document explained. “Because these policies are not currently in place, claiming that natural gas, and specifically LNG from BC, is a climate solution is inaccurate. Making more natural gas available is unlikely to change that conclusion, unless the current gulf in international policy is bridged.”

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