Today the Government of British Columbia released its Kitimat Airshed Emissions Effects Assessment. The report examined the air pollution impacts of three LNG terminals and associated gas-turbine-powered electrical generation facilities proposed for the city of Kitimat—as well as other proposed and existing industrial projects in the area.
The following remarks may be attributed to Merran Smith, director of Clean Energy Canada:
“The provincial government says the impacts of the proposed LNG plants will be manageable, but the reality is that burning natural gas to make LNG elevates levels of air pollutants that create acid rain and worsen asthma and other respiratory illnesses.”
“If the industry moves forward with proposals to build gas-fired LNG plants in Kitimat, more people are at greater risk of getting sick more often. Proponents can largely eliminate this threat—reducing air emissions by 70 percent—by powering their plants with electric drives running on locally generated renewable energy.”
“Electric drives paired with renewable energy are a cost-effective, plug-and-play solution to the industry’s air-pollution problem, and the combination will also help companies deliver on the government’s promise to produce the ‘cleanest LNG in the world.’”
“Industry needs to step up to the plate. Kitimat already has a smog problem; there is simply no need to make it worse.”
Our recent research, available at cleanestLNG.org, concludes that any proposed North Coast LNG facility could primarily power its production with renewable energy and electric drives, and do so reliably, affordably and on schedule—using established commercial technologies.
