First Nations from northwest B.C. are strong in their opposition to a proposed liquefied natural gas project near Prince Rupert and will fight it in the courts and on the land if it is approved, a delegation of senior aboriginal leaders warned the federal Liberal government Tuesday.
The group travelled to Ottawa to urge the government to reject Petronas’s Pacific Northwest LNG project at the same time as six municipal politicians from northern B.C. travelled to Ottawa in an effort to persuade the federal government to support LNG projects in the province.
Cabinet is expected to make a decision on the environmental assessment of the $11.4-billion Petronas project by late June.
While mayors from communities such as Fort St. John and Tumbler Ridge say LNG approvals are needed to prop up their sagging economies, First Nations say the Petronas project would threaten the Skeena River salmon run — Canada’s second largest wild salmon run — and would become one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the country.