Canada’s federal government approved a massive natural gas export project in British Columbia despite opposition from environmentalists.
The project is designed to ship 19 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas per year, mainly to Asia, according to the Vancouver Sun.
{mosads}Federal officials said the C$11.4 billion ($8.6 billion) project has strict environmental controls, and would provide important economic development to British Columbia.
“The only way to get resources to market in the 21st-first century is if they can be done in a responsible and sustainable manner,” Environment Minister McKenna said.
“This decision reflects this objective. With the legally binding conditions we are putting in place and with British Columbia’s commitment to increase its price on carbon in line with the Pan Canadian Framework, I am confident that we will minimize the environmental impacts of the project.”
British Columbia Premier Premier Christy Clark said that as the largest capital investment in the province’s history, it “represents an unprecedented opportunity to create thousands of jobs and new economic prospects for First Nations and communities throughout our province.”
But environmentalists and First Nations decried the project as destructive to the climate and the environment.
A coalition of greens and First Nations leaders said it would become the country’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter and threaten the salmon population that natives rely upon.