North Coast Transmission Line Agreement Boosts LNG Project

Province makes energy deal British Columbia's energy minister Adrian Dix says an agreement between BC Hydro and the Nisga'a First Nation will help power a planned floating LNG terminal in northwestern B.C. across the finish line. Dix says the agreement announced in Prince George, B.C. will see the North Coast Transmission Line supply up to 600 megawatts to what proponents say will be Canada's second-largest LNG facility. The Ksi Lisims LNG project planned for Nisga'a Treaty territory on Pearse Island north of Prince Rupert is a proposed 12-million-tonne-per-year, floating liquefied natural gas facility, which received environmental approvals from the provincial and federal governments in September. But the project still awaits a final investment decision, and Dix says that decision would not be possible if government had not been investing in infrastructure projects like the North Coast Transmission Line to supply the necessary clean electricity. Dix says it is the role of government to build infrastructure, adding that the announcement will help facilitate private sector investment, because investors will see a plan in front of them. Both the North Coast Transmission Line and Ksi Lisims LNG are on the federal government's list of major projects of national importance, and Dix says the transmission line will also help B.C. open up the resource-rich region of northwestern B.C. known as the Golden Triangle.