Two Indigenous communities in northwestern British Columbia are heading to court to challenge the federal government’s approval of the Ksi Lisims floating natural-gas facility and marine export terminal close to Prince Rupert. The Lax Kw’alaams Band and the Metlakatla First Nation have each initiated separate judicial reviews in Federal Court, asserting that the minister of environment and climate change disregarded their objections regarding the negative impacts of the significant LNG project.
Last month, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada revealed that the minister had granted the go-ahead for the facility situated off the northwest coast of British Columbia. Federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson praised the decision, aligning it with the federal government’s “one project, one review” approach, where the province’s assessment was relied upon.
Challenges raised by the Metlakatla First Nation in court documents suggest that the decision was based on “hypothetical economic ideas” to justify the adverse effects of the project while overlooking increasing evidence of its lack of economic viability. Similarly, the Lax Kw’alaams Band highlighted in court filings that the project is planned within their traditional territory, posing a threat to their Aboriginal rights and title indefinitely.
Both Indigenous groups have ongoing Aboriginal title claims for the Mylor Peninsula in British Columbia Supreme Court, where the construction of a transmission line is necessary to power the natural gas facility. As of now, neither the government nor the Ksi Lisims project team has responded to the claims in court.
The project aims to construct two massive floating facilities off Pearse Island in northwestern British Columbia, capable of processing two billion cubic feet of gas per day and exporting 12 million tonnes of LNG annually. Legal challenges filed in September in British Columbia highlighted that a pipeline required to supply the project had not been significantly started, contradicting a provincial government decision from June.
Despite opposition, the Gitanyow hereditary chiefs were unsuccessful in their attempt to challenge the Ksi Lisims project in court in September, citing lack of appropriate consultation. The project is a collaboration between the Nisga’a Nation, Rockies LNG Limited Partnership, and Western LNG, with project assets set to be built, owned, and operated by wholly owned subsidiaries of Western LNG, headquartered in Houston, Texas.