Your cartoon in the Feb. 28 Shuswap Market News highlights the flaws in the B.C. Government’s economic plan to develop liquid natural gas for export to Asian markets.
The infrastructure for LNG exports would take years to construct and could end up adding to B.C.’s debt. Australia, racing to supply Asia with LNG, has seven LNG plants under construction and all are facing cost overruns of up to 40 per cent.
The U.S. is currently awash in gas and is offering Asian buyers huge price discounts.
Premier Christy Clark says she will cut industry costs here to the bone. But the LNG industry would then pay far less in taxes and gas royalties, which would negatively affect the government’s pre-election economic projections.
Another argument against large-scale LNG development is that extraction of shale gas involves fracking, which is characterized by chronic leakage of methane, a powerful climate change driver.
The B.C. Government’s plans for expanding the LNG industry would double or triple the amount of gas extracted in B.C., producing additional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions equivalent to adding 24 million cars to the world’s roads. As a result, B.C. government would be unable to honour its 2007 legislation requiring GHG-emission reductions of 33 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050.
Instead of rushing to develop LNG resources for export, the province should slow down and work out how to use our natural gas resources to maximize job opportunities, and make B.C. a leader in green technology and infrastructure. For example, build small domestic gas processing plants that allow us to power B.C.’s ferries, diesel buses and truck transport fleets on natural gas, and ensure that these plants are world-leading low-carbon emitters.
Such a strategy would produce far more jobs, and better jobs, than those to be had by developing our LNG resources for export. It would also be an investment in a safe-climate world for our grandchildren.
Anne Morris
