Nisgaa-owned LNG pipeline wins key approval as BC Greens, other First Nations push back [Video]

The British Columbia government says a decade-old environmental assessment certificate remains valid for the construction of a natural gas pipeline in northern B.C., in a decision opposed by the province’s Green Party and environmental groups.

The Environmental Assessment Office says it has determined the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline has “substantially started,” fulfilling a requirement of the 2014 certificate and allowing the project to proceed without a new assessment.

The original approval was for a roughly 900-kilometre pipeline between Hudson’s Hope in northeastern B.C. and Lelu Island near Prince Rupert, the site of a liquefied natural gas processing facility that has since been cancelled.

The pipeline was purchased by the Nisga’a Nation and Texas-based Western LNG last year to supply natural gas to the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG facility, a project the province says is still undergoing environmental assessment.

The province says the office is also reviewing requests by the proponent to change the pipeline route, including shifting its endpoint to the Ksi Lisims …