The Comox Valley Chapter of the Council of Canadians is co-hosting a public forum to look at the future of LNGs, pipelines and fracking in the province. People will have a chance to hear from local speakers about the impacts of LNG projects and everything that happens on the way to the export facility.
As noted on the Facebook event page, people are invited to “come learn more about Fracking for LNG and its impact on Northern B.C. and the First Nations who live there. As well as the natural gas we burn, there’s a local connection with the (now ‘on pause’) Kwispaa LNG project proposed for Barkley Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island.”
“The proposed gas transport pipeline to the facility would travel from the Chetwynd area to Williams Lake, southwest to Powell River, across the Strait of Georgia to the Island and land around Courtenay/Comox. It would then cross the Island to the Kwispaa LNG site at Sarita Bay.”
The public forum “LNG, Fracking, and the Comox Valley Connection” will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 7 p.m. at the Florence Filberg Centre in Courtenay. Admission is free and will be offered on a first-come, first, serve basis.
The event features five guest speakers who will give the broader context of the proposed B.C. LNG export industry and the fracking operations that will need to expand to feed that industry.
Speakers include: Bernadette and Keith Wyton from the Barkley Sound Alliance will give background on the Kwispaa project and speak to where it’s at now.
Richard Wright, Wilps Luutkudziiwus spokesperson from Madii Lii Center in Gitxsan territory in northern B.C., will speak about the history and cumulative impacts of the oil and gas industry’s activities in northern B.C. and the Indigenous rights context of such projects.
Micheal Sawyer, an environmental consultant who successfully appealed a decision of the NEB with respect to the Prince Rupert LNG pipeline, will speak to the greenhouse gas implications of the LNG industry and his current legal challenge to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which is being contested by the Wet’suwet’en people and their allies.
Damien Gillis, B.C. journalist, filmmaker, and co-director/co-producer of the documentary feature Fractured Land, will present video clips and speak to the impact of fracking on land and water.
The evening is co-hosted by Council of Canadians Comox Valley chapter, the Watershed Sentinel magazine and the Glasswaters Foundation.
