Last year, Today’s BC Liberals made a promise to British Columbians: to seize B.C.’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop our reserves of natural gas, which would create thousands of new jobs, pay off our provincial debt, and make a huge contribution to reducing global carbon emissions.
Delivering on that commitment, Environment Minister Mary Polak today introduced legislation that ensures British Columbia will have the cleanest liquefied natural gas facilities in the world.
“There is no point in establishing an LNG industry in B.C. if we can’t protect the environment – we want to enable safe development with great environmental standards. We have a proud heritage of developing the oil and gas industry in this province to world-leading standards. This pride and commitment to the environment guides us as we take this next, big step with LNG.”
– Environment Minister Mary Polak
The centrepiece of the plan is a greenhouse gas emissions intensity benchmark that is lower than any other LNG facility in the world. As well, companies will have flexible options to reach this world-leading benchmark, including purchasing offsets and contributing to a technology fund.
The export of B.C. LNG is both an economic and an environmental opportunity for the province. By exporting natural gas, B.C. will supply fast growing markets in the Asia-Pacific region with the cleanest-burning fossil fuel, thereby reducing their emissions, and improving their air and water quality.
As promised, British Columbia is on track to compete and win in the global race to meet the energy needs of Asia-Pacific economies. With numerous projects in the planning and land acquisition stages, we’ll be able to create 100,000 good jobs, and pay down the provincial debt, while working to put BC businesses and workers first in line for new LNG opportunities.
British Columbia has given the liquefied natural gas industry clear direction on the Province’s environmental expectations – the cleanest LNG facilities in the world and nothing less. With a competitive tax system, strong workforce planning and coordinated transportation infrastructure development, the cleanest LNG facilities in the world will remain an attractive investment, generating benefits for investors and British Columbians alike for many decades to come.
