The Council of Canadians is opposing the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipelines and export terminals in British Columbia, we have highlighted that the New Brunswick government wants to twin the Energy East tar sands pipeline with a gas pipeline to bolster an LNG export terminal in Saint John, and have noted a proposed LNG export terminal in Guysborough, Nova Scotia.
Now the LNG industry appears to be eyeing Quebec.
California-based Freestone International LLC has filed with the National Energy Board an application for an LNG export project at the deep-water port of Grand-Anse in La Baie in Quebec’s Saguenay region. The Globe and Mail reports, “The project, called Énergie Saguenay, would be located 16 kilometres east of Chicoutimi. …[The project would] ship up to 11 million tonnes of LNG per year or about 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas a day. The gas would be carried by tanker ship down the Saguenay River, which joins the St. Lawrence.”
In her report Liquid Pipeline: Extreme energy’s threat to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow writes to protect these waterways we must “ban all transport of fracked oil and gas on, under and near the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.”
The gas would be sourced from British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan and would be transported by pipeline.
A former executive with Bechtel who is leading this project says, “There’s a huge need for global energy. Europe wants diversification of their gas supply. And we’re very close to Europe.”
The LNG terminal would be powered by hydroelectric power from Quebec’s controversial network of dams. Only three major or mid-size rivers from the Ontario border to the Gulf of St. Lawrence have not been dammed for hydroelectric power.
Further reading
3-city speaking tour opposes LNG plans in BC
New Brunswick premier calls for the twinning of the Energy East pipeline
LNG terminals planned for Guysborough, NS to export to Europe, India
Innu walk 900-km to protest Plan Nord and La Romaine dams
