Work together for LNG benefits

Aproposal to build a floating liquefied natural gas plant in Saanich Inlet has taken the surrounding communities by surprise. No word of the project was heard until the Malahat First Nation and Steelhead LNG Corp. announced their intention to proceed.

Taken with Steelhead’s other proposal for a plant near Port Alberni, the project near Bamberton would present significant problems and important opportunities.

The Malahat deal has numerous obstacles to overcome, not least the opposition of neighbouring First Nations who weren’t consulted. And it would be difficult to find a less suitable location for this plant than an already polluted inlet.

And yet the Island’s aboriginal communities have a case. Indeed, they have a morally unanswerable case.

Infant mortality rates among status Indians on Vancouver Island are 37 per cent above the provincial average. Aboriginal teen pregnancies are on a par with Third World countries. High school reading scores are poor; so are graduation rates.

Unemployment is rampant, incomes are far below the rest of B.C. and incidence rates for chronic diseases such as diabetes are off the chart. It is an uncomfortable fact to face, but our Island is a tale of two cultures, one thriving and the other in desperate poverty.

Economic development could be a partial solution, and LNG is an option worth pursuing.

Steelhead LNG also has an agreement with the Huu-ayaht First Nation near Bamfield to build an LNG port on their land. The $30-billion project would involve construction of a terminal to ship liquefied natural gas overseas.

This also poses environmental risks, as does any major industrial development. The facility would be located at the extreme end of a peninsula overlooking Barkley Sound.

This is one of the most beautiful and unspoiled regions on the West Coast. Yet the processing plant, if it comes to fruition, would produce 24 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas each year. A fleet of oceangoing ships would be required to service the facility.

In a choice between Saanich Inlet and Bamfield, there is little room for argument. It makes far more sense, ecologically and geographically, to locate an LNG facility at a remote site on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

In addition, the economic benefits of this vastly larger project at Bamfield would be felt throughout the entire mid-Island corridor, from Port Alberni to Campbell River.

That region has been hit hard by job losses in the forestry and fishing sectors. A major new industry would breathe life into dozens of communities, many of them with large numbers of First Nations families.

Phrased in these terms, this can be made to sound like a win/lose proposition. The Huu-ay-aht win, the Malahat lose.

But it need not be so. It should be possible to structure the Bamfield agreement in such a way that many of the Island’s First Nations share the economic benefits and spinoffs.

That will take diplomacy and co-operation. But an LNG plant on the West Coast that has broad support from aboriginal leaders across the Island has a much greater chance of gaining the approval of regulators.

A facility in Saanich Inlet facing almost united opposition is a far riskier proposition.

Both of these schemes are still in the early stages. Nothing is set in stone.

But this is an occasion for First Nations to work together on plans that could create widespread economic benefits.