LNG Canada receives Environmental Assessment Certificate
On June 17, 2015, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency approved LNG Canada’s Environmental Assessment, and the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office issued an Environmental Assessment Certificate for the project. These recent regulatory approvals are a positive step for the Coastal GasLink pipeline project.
The LNG Canada export terminal is now the first project to be granted a certificate following a substituted environmental assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Substitution means that the Environmental Assessment Office conducts a single process that meets all federal and provincial requirements. The federal minister and provincial ministers make separate decisions on whether to approve the project based on the environmental assessment report prepared by the Environmental Assessment Office. Both decisions have been favourably announced, with common and expected conditions.
The Coastal GasLink project continues to progress. Our application for a construction permit is with the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission and we hope to hear from them soon. We have also been engaging with local communities and First Nations since we announced the project in 2013. Since the start of the project, we have made significant efforts to build relationships with all interested groups along the proposed pipeline route. Our engagement efforts have included more than 85 meetings with local governments, 44 information sessions and open houses, dozens of local and regional business events, and hundreds of other individual interactions. We continue to work with many aboriginal groups to inform them about the project, to demonstrate the benefits it will provide and to address questions that different people have about this natural gas pipeline.