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A LNG dream or a fracking nightmare?
Perceptions by Gerry Warner
Is Christy Clark’s promise of a “debt free BC” thanks to potential LNG development in the province just a pipe dream? Clark made this promise the centerpiece of her unexpected 2013 election victory, but an announcement out of the oil patch last week throws a dark shadow over her prediction.
On July 31, Houston-based Apache Corp. announced in Calgary it was pulling out of the giant Kitimat LNG mega-project throwing the future of the multi-billion project in doubt.
In a Financial Post story Aug. 1, Apache chief executive and chairman Steven Farris said there were several reasons for abandoning the US $15 billion development. “If you look at what we’ve got in front of us in terms of these LNG projects and the long-term nature of them and the amount of capital it takes to invest in them, I think that’s an easy decision.”
An easy decision? Clark must be hoping that other oil giants in her LNG dream don’t make the same “easy decision.” In a follow-up story in the Post, Natural Gas Development Minister Rich Coleman was quick to play down the significance of Apache’s announcement. “We remain committed to developing a competitive, liquefied natural gas export industry in British Columbia.” And so do others like the US, Russia, Australia and Nigeria where fracking has opened up new LNG development possibilities world-wide.
At this point it’s hard to avoid thinking about the old cliché of putting too many eggs in one basket. Clark did run a brilliant election campaign made even more brilliant by the dismal performance of the NDP. But now the loquacious Liberal leader, who gave us the sizzle in her campaign, has got to come up with the meat and that’s not going to be easy for a number of reasons.
For starters, oil-rich, shale deposits are popping up all over the world like mushrooms after a rain. The giant Bakken Shale Formation, which stretches across North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, could make the US a net exporter of oil within a decade, which means they would be competing with us. More competition could come from at least a dozen other countries where shale deposits are being developed. And much of this LNG is destined for China where the economy is slowing down after two decades of spectacular growth. What does all this mean for Christy’s LNG dream? Could it become a nightmare? At this point, we simply don’t know.
There are other problems too. The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, which is supposed to carry bitumen-producing LNG to BC’s northwest coast for export is bitterly opposed by a host of opponents including environmentalists, farmers, urban dwellers, municipal leaders along the line – and perhaps most importantly – by First Nation leaders emboldened by the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision recognizing aboriginal title, which would include much of the LNG route. Then there’s the proposed Site C dam on the Peace River, an $8 billion mega-project to supply energy for LNG development which is not a slam dunk for approval and is also bitterly opposed by a broad coalition of opponents.
All of this makes Clark’s dream look more like a nightmare.
However, one would be a fool to underestimate the political smarts of Christy Clark or the world’s insatiable thirst for energy to power a standard of living that may yet destroy the planet. With man-made climate change an accepted fact by most of the world’s scientists and only denied by knuckle-dragging, fundamentalists of the flat earth variety, how much energy can mankind go on producing until we foul our nest to the point where the earth becomes uninhabitable?
This is not a dystopian fantasy. The world’s climate is becoming more violent all the time. We’ve experienced the storms right here in the Kootenays. So do we go on mindlessly fracking and poisoning the ground beneath us like King Midas lusting for ever more gold, or in our case, oil?
Is Christy Clark, the Pied Piper, leading us down the road to ruin?
Time will tell.
– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist and a Cranbrook City Councillor. His opinions are his own and he doesn’t mind admitting he’s a great admirer of Christy Clark’s political skills.
