Author: James Westgate Snell

There’s a good reason Chief Clifford White, a First Nations LNG Alliance board member and hereditary leader of the Gitxaala Nation near Prince Rupert, B.C., walks a fine line when it comes to resource development on or near his territory.  

There’s a lot happening near the remote island village of Lax Klan (Kitkatla) – the $14.5 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline terminus, the $18 billion first phase of LNG Canada, and the proposed $3 billion Cedar LNG facility, 50 per cent owned by the Haisla Nation – all at the Port of Kitimat 120 kilometres east. To the north, the Nisga’a Nation and its partners have proposed the $10 billion Ksi Lisims LNG terminal on Pearse Island.  

Once operating, the projects will deliver LNG by ship to Asian markets. A 2022 study by Wood Mackenzie found that Canadian LNG exports could reduce net emissions in Asia by 188 million tonnes per year through 2050 by providing a cleaner alternative to coal. 

Continue reading “LNG ‘watchmen’: merging economic opportunity and environmental protection key for remote B.C. First Nation”

With an eye on legacy, Edward Innes is helping maintain environmental standards along a section of the Coastal GasLink pipeline near Terrace B.C.

The 78-year-old Elder of the Kitselas First Nation has been a construction monitor and community liaison (CMCL) on the project since 2019 – observing people, projects, and wildlife. He has completed over 550 reports, which are uploaded to a community database.

“I tell these people who are working on the [Coastal GasLink] project – this is history, just like the highway and railway,” says Innes, adding he sometimes reports in Sm’algyax – the Kitselas language. He is one of the last language keepers in the community. Continue reading “Kitselas First Nation language keeper helping monitor Coastal GasLink pipeline construction”

Even though Kitimat, B.C. receives around two metres of rain a year, nothing can dampen the spirit of its three-term mayor when it comes to the emerging liquefied natural gas (LNG) export industry and its benefits.

Phil Germuth is enthusiastic as he speaks about the west coast town of 9,000 permanent residents. There’s a lot happening – around 6,000 camp-based construction workers at the LNG Canada site within eyeshot of town and 6,000 in the region and beyond working to complete the Coastal GasLink pipeline. The proposed Cedar LNG terminal, 50 per cent owned by the Haisla Nation, will also create hundreds of construction jobs.

“Kitimat is a great example of Canadian industries that are at the leading edge of environmental protection,” says Germuth, who owns a local automotive repair business.

Continue reading “Kitimat, B.C. thriving alongside emerging LNG industry”

The Haisla Nation on Canada’s west coast has reason to celebrate.  

The community’s $3 billion proposed Cedar LNG project now has provincial and federal environmental approval to proceed.  

Meanwhile, the Nation is taking delivery of a fleet of environmentally friendly tugboats to support the LNG Canada project.  

Days before Cedar LNG’s approval, HaiSea Marine, majority owned by the Haisla Nation in partnership with shipbuilder Seaspan ULC, celebrated the naming and blessing of its new tugboat fleet, which is under construction in Istanbul, Turkiye.  

The fleet – with arrival dates in 2023 – includes three fully electric harbour tugs and two LNG-powered escort tugs that will guide LNG carriers through the Douglas Channel to open water – 36 hours round trip.  Continue reading “Haisla Nation taking delivery of new tugboats as B.C. LNG project approved to proceed”

Nuclear energy provided about 10 per cent of global power in 2021, says new research from the Canadian Energy Centre.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), global nuclear power generation increased over the last twenty years, reaching 2,653 Terawatt hours in 2021. Canada’s share has remained comparatively stable (86.8 TWh in 2021), but it could grow as small modular reactors are built to help satisfy increased electricity demand across the country.

John Gorman, CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association, shared his perspective with the Canadian Energy Centre on the state of nuclear power and what the future could hold.

CEC: What role does nuclear energy play in the world today? Continue reading “The future of nuclear power in Canada: Q&A with John Gorman, CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association”

The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin contains some of the largest oil and gas reserves on earth, extracted using world-leading knowledge and technology.  

At 1.4 million square kilometres, larger than the entire country of Peru, the vast WCSB accumulation of sedimentary rock stretches from the Rocky Mountains to the Canadian Shield to the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories.

The wedge-shaped geological structure is roughly six kilometres thick under the Rocky Mountains and thins to zero at its eastern margin in Manitoba and northern Saskatchewan.  

Over the decades, geologists like Nicole Renella of Cabra Consulting, along with countless geophysicists, engineers and technologists, have developed sophisticated methods for discovering and producing oil and gas from porous rock.  

Continue reading “Canada’s trillion-dollar rock”

A growing number of Indigenous people are being employed in Canada’s oil and gas industry and the sector has eliminated the wage gap with non-Indigenous workers, according to new federal statistics.

Indigenous people make nearly three times more in the energy sector than in other industries – $140,400 versus $51,120, says recent census data published in a report by the Indigenous Resources Network (IRN). In particular, Indigenous women are thriving, earning $115,400 versus $43,600 in other industries. Pipeline jobs for women pay the most, $151,000 for crude oil and $113,000 for gas.

“These numbers show the resource sector is valuing the skills and experience that Indigenous workers bring to the table,” says John Desjarlais, board chair of the Indigenous Resource Network.

Continue reading “Indigenous workers are earning high wages in Canadian oil and gas industry”

North America’s first commercial small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) is expected to come online in Ontario’s power grid within five years, sparking hopes of lower emissions across the country, including Alberta’s oil sands.

SMRs can produce up to 300 megawatts of electricity – enough power to supply around 200,000 homes. They may be deployed for heavy industry, backup for renewables, steam generation, hydrogen production, and oil and gas facilities. They can be constructed in one location, then shipped and operated at a separate site.

“SMRs are like a Swiss Army knife of the nuclear world,” said John Gorman, president and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association. “They produce very high temperature heat in a clean, scalable way. That’s important because not only can they produce electricity, but they can also use that heat to do things like produce steel or extract bitumen in the oil sands.”

Continue reading “North America’s first commercial small modular reactor holds promise across Canada”

Japan and South Korea are looking to Canada for reliable liquefied natural gas (LNG) to offset coal-fired power and reduced Russian energy supplies, but recent comments from B.C. Premier David Eby may lead to disappointment for Canada’s natural resource-poor trading partners.

Eby was asked in the B.C. legislature about the delayed permit decision on the proposed $3 billion Cedar LNG facility in Kitimat, which is 50 per cent owned by the Haisla Nation. According to the First Nations LNG Alliance, Eby cited “complex issues” of climate targets and economic development with Indigenous communities, and said the world is transitioning away from fossil fuels.

But LNG consumers see it a different way.

Continue reading “‘The world is waiting’ for Canadian LNG: Japan, South Korea reps say”

Construction of the long awaited Woodfibre LNG export facility near Squamish B.C. is scheduled to begin in September.

The $5.1 billion project is expected to be Canada’s second entry into the soaring global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market, following the LNG Canada project in the Port of Kitimat.

Woodfibre is planning a self-contained floating camp to accommodate hundreds of workers during peak construction. The facility will be contained on the old Woodfibre pulp mill site seven kilometres from Squamish. Continue reading “Canadian Energy Centre: Woodfibre LNG plans construction kick-off”