December 17, 2007
Nanaimo, BC – Fifteen community groups from around the Strait of Georgia have banded together to fight a proposed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project on Texada Island. The Westpac LNG Corporation wants to build an LNG plant facility, a gas-fired generation station, as well as a high voltage power transmission power line on the island, all of which will bring increased pollution and risk of spills to the region.
“The known risks that come with this proposed project are too great for both the residents of Texada and the surrounding communities”, says Chuck Childress, from Texada Action Now (TAN). “We want to see this project stopped immediately before irreparable damage is done to our region and our way of life.”
An LNG terminal brings with it many risks including increased tanker traffic and the increased risk of an accident that comes with it; increased security around tankers, due to their volatile content, which would disrupt existing commercial and recreational boating traffic; and a negative impact on tourism. The proposed gas-fired electricity generating plant would also significantly increase BC’s total greenhouse gas emissions, which is counter to the provincial government’s new Energy Plan and would make it more difficult for the province to reach its reduction targets.
“At a time when the provincial government is setting legislated targets to dramatically reduce the province’s greenhouse gas emissions, this project would simply move us in the wrong direction”, says Deborah Conner, Executive Director of the Georgia Strait Alliance. “We ask that the province puts a stop to this project and work instead to promote energy alternatives.”
“The harm that the LNG terminal could bring to our region is simply unacceptable”, says long-time Powell River residents Don and Fay Johnson. “We have lived in one of the most unique and beautiful regions in the world for 15 years, and we simply can’t stand by and let this project damage what we love most.”
In addition to their concerns around the LNG terminal and power plant, the groups, who have come together under the banner of the Alliance to Stop LNG, also want an end to all new coastal oil and gas infrastructure in British Columiba. They also support the existing moratorium on tanker traffic in BC’s North Coast and no new tanker traffic in the south.
For more information contact any of the LNG Alliance members:
- BC Citizens for Public Power, Melissa Davis, 604-681-5939
- Dogwood Initiative, Eric Swanson, 250-370-9930 ext. 27
- Georgia Strait Alliance, Christianne Wilhelmson, 604-633-0530
- Green Party of BC, Don Johnson, 604-485-4297
- GSX Concerned Citizens Coalition, Arthur Caldicott
- Powel River Parks and Wilderness Society, Eagle Walz, 604-483-9565
- Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter – Malaspina Group, Glenn Parkinson, 604-485-7478
- Sunshine Coast Conservation Association, Daniel Bouman 604-886-8325
- Texada Action Now, Chuck Childress, 604-414-3537
- West Coast Environmental Law, Greg Gowe, 604-684-7378
- Wilderness Committee, Andrea Reimer, 604-719-3920
