Peace River South MLA Mike Bernier spoke at a recent South Cariboo Chamber of Commerce luncheon in 100 Mile House about business opportunities surrounding British Columbia’s expanding liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.
He encouraged local businesses interested in gaining some industry work to pre-register now.
“Just because you are a small company, don’t think there is not opportunity here.”
There are already spin-off jobs coming from the current surge in northern resource industry growth, he said.
“If this goes through, we will have 100,000 job openings. Well, we don’t have 100,000 people looking for work [in Northern B.C.].”
He added some northern economies are already booming with construction and preparation for the expanded LNG industry.
The resident of Dawson Creek (where one of three proposed LNG plants would be built) said he has met people who fly to the North for two-week work rotations.
“In 100 Mile House, if you have people going up north to work, that’s a great situation. Because, they are coming back, they are buying trucks … their kids are going to school here.”
While the seminar was geared toward business opportunities, Barbara Hooper, Maddi Newman and Patricia Spencer asked Bernier questions about their environmental concerns related to the LNG fracking process.
One of the questions was if the fracking might cause a shortage in B.C.’s fresh and surface water, in the midst of climate change, and another asked about potential water contamination.
“In 2013, the amount of water used in all of B.C. for fracking in the natural gas industry was equivalent to one-and-a-half days of flushing toilets in the Lower Mainland,” Bernier responded.
He added traditional gas extraction involves a different, cold-water process – not the deep, shale gas extraction used for LNG performed three kilometres under the ground.
“We’ve never had, in the history of Canada, water contaminated because of fracking.”
More information and pre-registration is available online at http://engage.gov.bc.ca/lnginbc/lng-buy-bc-program.
