Prince Rupert gas pipeline cleared to keep environmental permit indefinitely
The Prince Rupert gas pipeline project is 'substantially started' and will keep its valid environmental certificate for the life of the pipeline, the BC Environmental Assessment Office has ruled.
The Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline is jointly owned by the Nisga'a Nation and Western LNG, but other First Nations and environmentalists say the decision favours corporate interests over climate commitments and Indigenous rights.
Tara Marsden, sustainability director for the Gitanyow hereditary chiefs, said the decision was not unexpected, but still 'damaging and daunting.'
She said the province frequently bends or breaks its own laws and regulations to accommodate PRGT, undermining the integrity of the environmental review process.
'This is absolutely not in the interests of Gitanyow and many other nations who have expressed concern,' Marsden said. 'It's going to be a significant reversal of the climate policy of this government."
The BC government has legislated targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But according to critics, pursuing additional LNG and pipeline projects will undercut any progress made by adding significant new emissions that were not considered in the province's climate plans.
Marsden said the government is acting without responsibility, forcing First Nations to fight in court because it doesn't respect consultation, Indigenous rights, UNDRIP or true consent — and the decision was politically and economically driven, not based on policy, law or sound science.
'This is absolutely not in the interests of Gitanyow and many other nations who have expressed concern,' Tara Marsden, sustainability director for the Gitanyow hereditary chiefs. 'It's going to be a significant reversal of the climate policy."
'This government can now do whatever it pleases with no accountability,' Marsden said. 'First Nations are left to fight for these things on the ground and in the courts.'
She said the report by the Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) — the agency tasked with technical review — was 'very slim,' noting that Gitanyow's own submission was likely twice as long.
Janelle Lapointe, senior advisor at the David Suzuki Foundation and member of Stellat'en First Nation, said the approval casts significant doubt on the province's willingness to meet its climate targets, respect Indigenous rights and title, and even follow its own policy on determining whether a project has had a 'substantial start.' The keyword — substantial start — is critical because under BC's Environmental Assessment Act, a project's environmental certificate will expire unless enough real, physical work has been completed on the ground before a set deadline — in this case, November 25, 2024.
According to the EAO report, the PRGT pipeline was considered 'substantially started' because the company cleared 42 km of pipeline route, built nine permanent bridges, upgraded or built 47 km of access roads, and set up work areas before the deadline. The company also spent about $584 million on the project since 2013.
The concerns related to greenhouse gas emissions and incomplete permits were not part of the decision and was mainly based on the physical work completed on the ground.
'If PRGT was really a good project, it wouldn't need a decade-old permit, quiet approvals, and a government bending the rules to push it through,' Lapointe said.
She said since the original environmental assessment certificate was issued in 2014, lands, waterways, and ecology have only become more vulnerable due to continued extraction, corporate greed, and the accelerating effects of climate change.
Lapointe said the project will cross hundreds of fish-bearing streams and rivers in a watershed that her community depends on.
The government is again refusing to ensure the project won't harm their ecosystems, especially salmon — a key species important to their culture and vital to the local economy, she said.
'The province has failed to address the concerns of the Indigenous nations asserting their rights to protect our territory. It sets a very dangerous precedent,' Lapointe said.
She pointed out that newly passed Bill 15 and the PRGT approval highlight a troubling trend — the provincial government is making it easier for corporations to move projects forward, while making it difficult for Indigenous nations to exercise their rights and oppose developments that threaten their territories.
'Are they going to allow outdated permits from 2014 to be treated as more legitimate than the rights of sovereign nations? I am left wondering, why is our province bending over backwards to hand over critical energy infrastructure to American billionaires?' Lapointe said.
Christina Smethurst, communications head at Dogwood BC, a Victoria-based non-profit, non-partisan citizen action group, said while the EAO issued the approval, there has been no clear public statement or ownership from elected government officials about the decision, with significant environmental, Indigenous rights and economic implications.
"The BC NDP have abandoned any semblance of caring about climate change,' Smethurst said. "Where is the government on this? Who of our elected officials will take responsibility for making this decision?'
Marsden said Gitanyow is preparing legal and other actions, and the fight to protect their lands will continue. Lapointe said they would follow Gitanyow's lead in the ongoing opposition to the pipeline.
Marsden also challenged the narrative that this project would help Canada's energy independence.
'This isn't about getting out from under the thumb of Americans. It's actually about enriching people who are in Trump's inner circle,' Marsden said.
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