I’ve heard a lot of talk about LNG, but I have no clue where to start. What even is it?

The LNG Canada project sits at the nexus of resource development, environmental protection issues and Indigenous rights on the west coast. You need to know about it.

Hey there, and welcome to the sixth issue of The Supplement, a newsletter that fills in the gaps of your other news intake. This is Samantha, one-third of the Supplement team! 

Each week, we pick a question submitted by you, our readers. If you’d like to submit a question for a future week — it can seriously be about anything — then email us at thesupplementnewsletter@gmail.com. We’re also popping off over on Instagram, so make sure to give us a follow. 

This week, we’re tackling this question: I’ve heard a lot of talk about LNG, but I have no clue where to start. What even is it?

TL;DR: LNG Canada is a hot-button issue in BC and Alberta. Proponents of the natural gas terminal and accompanying pipeline say it will bring economic benefit and jobs to the region. But the ongoing construction process has been shrouded in conflict: the pipeline would run through unceded Indigenous territory, and experts say the environmental damage is difficult to accurately estimate and could be much greater than planned. 

Here’s our answer:

Let’s start with the basics. LNG stands for liquified natural gas, a resource predominantly located in BC and Alberta. 

There are actually several proposed LNG facilities in BC, but the only one going forward as of now (and the one most west-coasters are likely talking about when they mention it) is LNG Canada. At $40 billion, LNG Canada is potentially the biggest private infrastructure project in Canada’s history. It involves a terminal in Kitimat — a town around 650 km north of Vancouver — and the 670-km Coastal GasLink pipeline, which will run all the way from northeast BC to the coast to export natural gas across the world. 

In a July assessment, the Conference Board of Canada wrote that for a 56-million-tonne annual footprint in BC, 71,000 more jobs a year and over $4.6 billion in wages would be created.

Trouble picturing it? The Globe and Mail has a great map in their explainer on the topic: 

The project illustrates the tension playing out between resource development, environmental protection and Indigenous rights in the province (and nationally). 

Members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and supporters have tried to block construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline, which runs through their traditional and unceded territory. There have been years of protests, including most recently in February, when Wet’suwet’en people were fearful of what tactics might be used against them in the face of revelations that the RCMP had previously authorized the use of lethal force to disperse the site. 

Here’s some great reporting from The Intercept, which provides important context as to how the RCMP “have played a key role in Canada’s attempt to protect business interests from Indigenous land claims.” It recently came out that the RCMP spent more than $13 million on policing the conflict between January 2019 and March 2020.

But Indigenous opinions aren’t monolithic. While Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs continue to assert that they never gave consent to LNG Canada, 20 First Nations elected councils had signed agreements. There are also groups like the First Nations LNG Alliance.

The project was ordered to temporarily stop in July for getting too close to protected wetlands. Last month, lawyers were in court arguing over its environmental assessment certificate and how it didn’t consider the risk the project might pose to Indigenous women and girls.

You potentially heard about the recent BC election, which took place in mid-October. (I broke down the party platforms on climate change for The Tyee if you want to read more.) The BC NDP won re-election with a majority, meaning that the BC Greens won’t be able to push them in the same way. Experts say that LNG projects will make it very difficult for the province to meet its 2050 emissions goal.

Also: in late October, the respected Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis released a scathing critique of a glowy Conference Board of Canada report, saying the report’s job projections and overall tone was unrealistic. 

For more high-impact analysis, The Narwhal is the destination for knowledgeable environmental coverage.

Here’s someone to follow:

Ryan McMahon is an Anishinaabe comedian, writer and podcaster — in his own words, “I talk/yell/write for a living.” His latest project is season two of Thunder Bay, a multi-part podcast series exploring the systemic racism and violence in, you guessed it, Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Here’s a story to check out:

Tying into today’s environmental theme, the subheading of this article from investigative powerhouse ProPublica tells you everything you need to know about the piece: “Federal regulators have given a Canadian oil company the power to seize property from Oregon landowners for a gas pipeline that will help … Canada.”

ALSO: One of our very own, Sierra Bein, will be in conversation with Chris Hadfield on climate change, environment and making the world a better place as part of a Globe and Mail event series. Join Canada’s favourite astronaut and The Supplement’s favourite content editor next Thursday, November 26.

A poster at a Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Event at Queen’s Park in Toronto in February. Photo by Jason Hargrove, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.