To the editor:
The provincial government is banking heavily on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Asia, and there are definitely good reasons why this is a good strategy economically as well as environmentally.
However, our American neighbours have discovered they, too, have an abundance of natural gas, and according to one report, the United States could end up exporting as much as one-fifth of its natural gas resources to Asia.
The Asian market is an obvious one for any LNG supplier to go after owing to the fact that natural gas sells for almost five times the North American price in Asia.
However, if the global market gets flooded with LNG, it could cause a price collapse and render economic development strategies based on LNG less profitable than currently envisioned. This is the essence of supply-and-demand.
I would, therefore, suggest the province not put all its eggs in one basket. In addition to developing an LNG export industry, the provincial government should also be developing the renewable energy resources British Columbia has in unusual abundance.
Due to the fortuitous confluence of climate and geography, B.C. has renewable energy resources like nowhere else in North America. It’s a unique advantage we have over other jurisdictions and one we should be leveraging as much as possible.
Donald Leung
Burnaby
