A group of Russians scientists toured Northwest B.C. communities last week to discuss the potential impact of liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants on salmon and the environment.
Funded by Oregon’s Wild Salmon Center, geomorphologist Viktor Afanasev, oceanologist Alexander Vedenev, salmon ecologist Aleksandr Shubin and conservationist Dmitry Lisitsyn delivered presentations in Terrace, Smithers, Hazelton and Prince Rupert.
The group shared their experiences at Sakhalin Island, a large island north of Japan off the Russian coast. About 10 years ago, a Shell LNG facility was built in a bay called Aniva Bay, which once had the third largest runs of pink salmon in the world. Since the LNG facility was built, the salmon runs in this area have collapsed.
Lisitsyn, who has been working on salmon conservation in the Sakhalin region since the 1990s, said that when salmon numbers there took a sharp dive after 2009, a direct cause was difficult to pinpoint. However, he believes the LNG plant and overfishing could both have contributed.
According to Lisitsyn, the Pacific Northwest LNG facility – proposed by Petronas for Lelu Island – would have similar concerns.
On Feb. 10, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) released its draft report into the possible environmental impacts of the Pacific Northwest LNG facility. The assessment identified greenhouse gas emissions and potential impacts on harbour porpoise as the main areas of concern.
In regards to the impact on juvenile salmon habitat, the agency determined the project would not have significant negative impacts as long as mitigation occurred.
However, Lisitsyn says two potential risks were not sufficiently explored in the report. He said LNG plants could create “light and noise pollution” that could affect salmon migration routes.
According to Lisitsyn, the purpose of last week’s presentations was to share his experiences so residents of the northwest could make informed decisions about LNG projects.
“The real impact and real consequences and effects, negative effects of the LNG development is much wider and higher and larger than any estimations, any assessments, any promises of the project,” he said. “This is the major, general lesson we learned.”
“We learned also that the public participation with the involvement of proper science is extremely important, is crucial, for projects like this,” he added.
SkeenaWild Conservation Trust executive director Greg Knox said Lisitsyn and the scientists had unique insights that could not be found in B.C.
“It’s really important because right now we have 18 project proposals and we don’t have any LNG facilities that have been built; we don’t have any experience with actual LNG facilities,” said Knox.
He hopes the presentation will encourage people to engage in the environmental approval process for LNG proposals, including the 30-day public comment period for the CEAA draft that ends on March 11, 2016.
