Premier David Eby is pushing back against critics who say his government’s support for LNG amounts to greenwashing.
Eby spoke to reporters after visiting the LNG Canada export facility in Kitimat Wednesday, which began its first liquefied natural gas shipments to Asian markets in late June. He celebrated the milestone as a means of diversifying B.C.’s economy and building more “clean energy.”
Eby said the LNG from the site is 60 per cent lower carbon than the average LNG plant around the world.
His comments come a day after announcing the province had agreed to provide $200 million to support electricity infrastructure for the nearby Cedar LNG project.
The amount matched the federal government’s funding for Cedar LNG announced in March.
Eby said Tuesday the electrification of Cedar LNG will make it “one of the lowest emission plants in the entire world.”
The support for Cedar LNG prompted criticism from environmental advocates and the BC Greens.
David Eby comments:
“The government’s continued inaction when it comes to the climate, and their disingenuous greenwashing of LNG as ‘clean’ energy is a distraction from their climate action failures,” said BC Greens interim leader Jeremy Valeriote in a statement. “Publicly subsidizing LNG expansion is not a ‘clean’ way forward and harms climate and communities upstream from fracking.”
Asked about that criticism Wednesday, Eby said Canadian LNG offers a better option for overseas markets, which would otherwise get their product from jurisdictions with higher carbon footprints.
“Japan, Malaysia, Korea, China are not eliminating fossil fuels overnight,” said Eby. “If they are using LNG…they should be using Canadian LNG that’s produced ethically, that promotes environmental protection, as well as high quality labour standards and safety standards.
“Everyone knows that we have to transition away from fossil fuels, but in the meantime we should be using the lowest carbon fossil fuels possible,” he said.
Valeriote said the NDP government hasn’t provided evidence to support the claim that B.C. produces the lowest-carbon LNG in the world.
LNG Canada has a 40-year export license and is expected to initially export up to 14 million tonnes of LNG per year as it ramps up production.
The province has said LNG Canada is the “largest private-sector investment in Canadian history.” It said $40 billion has been committed to building the export facility in Kitimat and associated infrastructure.
It’s backed by Shell, Petronas PetroChina, Mitsubishi Corporation and the Korea Gas Corp.
