Quebec nixes LNG facility that would have carried western natural gas to overseas markets, Premier Legault had initially supported the project, but it was met with widespread opposition by CBC News, Jul 21, 2021
The Quebec government has refused to approve construction of a natural gas facility in the Saguenay, north of Quebec City, following years of opposition from citizens, Indigenous communities and environmental experts.
The decision, announced today by Environment Minister Benoit Charette, is all but certain to halt a $14-billion project that would have carried natural gas from Western Canada across Quebec to the Saguenay port, and then shipped it to markets overseas.
Premier François Legault’s government had initially been a proponent of the project.
But in March, the province’s independent environmental review agency issued a report that was critical of the plans to build a plant and marine terminal in the Saguenay.
The project was likely to increase greenhouse gas emissions in Canada by eight million tones annually, the agency concluded.
Last month, federal environmental agencies determined the project, which would involve large tankers transiting along the Saguenay River, threatened beluga whales.
And last week, three Innu communities vowed to oppose the project because of the negative impact it would have on the environment.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Minister Benoit Charette in Sagueni on Wednesday to announce the decision on GNL Québec, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Industries by Maria Gill with Michel Goudreau, July 21, 2021, Vaughan Today
A summons was sent to the media by his cabinet for a press conference at 3 p.m. at the Hotel Le Montagnais in Chicoutimi.
Following the disclosure of the Bureau of Public Hearings’ report on the environment (DoorOffice of Public Hearings on the EnvironmentOn March 24, Minister Sharett pledged to share his government’s official position on GNL Québec’s Énergie Saguenay project before the end of the summer. The final decision is up to the Cabinet.
Independent Commission DoorOffice of Public Hearings on the Environment Sur GNL Québec, headed by Denis Bergeron, has issued an unfavorable opinion on the liquefaction plant project with a gas pipeline to bring natural gas from western Canada to the port of Grand Anse. Gasodoc, sister company to LNG Québec, is piloting a 780-kilometre underground pipeline development project linking northern Ontario to Saguenay. The two entities are headed by a Symbio Infrastructure limited partnership.
unfavorable opinion
At hearings held last fall, the Bureau heard a record number of participants. About 2,500 abstracts were submitted, the vast majority of which conveyed unfavorable views of the project, which is expected to be the most important and special nature in Quebec’s industrial history.
In his report, the DoorOffice of Public Hearings on the Environment He noted that Quebec should not give its approval to the project unless the promoter can meet three specific conditions: finding social acceptance, promoting energy transmission and reducing greenhouse gases.
The Minister of Environment has the power to issue or not to issue an authorization certificate to allow the work to start.
Chicoutimi’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Humanitarian and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Andre Laforest, will accompany her colleague during the press conference. Everything indicates that Mayor Jose Neron, who is currently on vacation, will not be present. The City of Saguenay and the Saguenay Promotion came out in favor of the Énergie Saguenay Project, but under certain conditions.
Quebec liquefied natural gas, Ino chiefs are ready to start legal proceedings by Maria Gill, July 19, 2021, Vaughan Today
(Montreal) There will be no more negotiations on a gas pipeline project that crosses the local territory of northern Quebec, say opposing Inoue leaders.
Virgin Ann, Canadian Press
The Innu First Nations of Mashteuiatsh, Pessamit and Essipit say they are ready to take measures, or even initiate legal action, to prevent the establishment of LNG’s Énergie Saguenay in Quebec on their soil.
Friday’s statement came in response to comments by GNN Quebec president Tony Le Verger, who said last weekend that he wanted to continue negotiations with indigenous communities.
Mashteuiatsh First Nations Vice President and Innu First Nations spokesperson Charles-Edouard Verreault said in an interview Friday that GNL Quebec will not get their approval.
Innu First Nations had already voiced its opposition to the multi-billion dollar project in May, after the publication of a BAPE report on the project.
“We listened, we did our research on the project […]After BAPE’s conclusions, it was clear to us that our position would be firm, said Mr. Verreault. This project will not see the light of day in our lands. ”
The 500-page BAPE report concluded that the benefits of the 750-kilometre pipeline would not outweigh the associated environmental costs. The project study sparked an unprecedented response to a report from the organization with over 2,500 briefs submitted, 91% of which were against the project.
As stated in the BAPE report […]There is no effective way for GNL Quebec to ensure that LNG will actually serve as a substitute for more polluting fuels in its target export markets, said Mr. Verreault. Thus, it is impossible for the company to fulfill its commitments regarding the overall reduction of greenhouse gases. ”
GNL Quebec spokesman Louis-Martin Leclerc said in an interview that the company remains open to negotiations with communities to explain the benefits of the project. 
Explain or lie & propagandize, and bribe to divide and conquer those communities? Those good old precious “commitments” that never materialize after big oil and gas projects get approved. “We are and remain open to dialogue in order to have the opportunity to explain our commitments and demonstrate that the Énergie Saguenay project will provide LNG with the lowest carbon footprint in the world, thus making an important contribution to the fight against climate change,” said Mr. Leclerc. Pfffft! Such boring spin. Their lies are all the same; companies can’t even find any creativity and lie to us in an interesting way.
Mr. Virault said the Énergie Saguenay project was first introduced to Indigenous communities in 2014 as a measure to combat climate change.
The proposed route would transport LNG from western Canada to the Port Saguenay, Quebec liquefaction plant. However, Feriault said that he would cross the original lands.
He said that accepting a project that could pose environmental threats to the First Nations Inu goes against ancestral values.
Mr. Virault insisted that “this region is where our ancestors grew up centuries ago and where we hold the rights of our ancestors and the titles of the Inu”.
The Quebec government did not officially recognize the rights of the early Inu ancestors.
Quebec Minister of Indigenous Affairs Ian Lavrinier said Friday that he was aware of the position of the Ainu, but is awaiting a decision by Environment Minister Benoit Charette on the project.
The Quebec government indicated in April that it would decide by the end of the summer whether to green-light the project.
“All options are still on the table, on the level of actions we can take [pour arrêter le projet] If the government [va de l’avant] Mr. Verreault announced.
“There is no doubt that it will see the light in the Ino region,” he said.
Environmental risks outweigh potential gains when it comes to Saguenay LNG plant, report finds, Environmental review board says $9B plant has divided society, garnered huge response by CBC News, Mar 24, 2021
Quebec’s environmental review board says the benefits of a multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the Saguenay do not outweigh the environmental and social costs associated with it.
The 500-page report by the BAPE (Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement) states there is already significant global competition for LNG production and exportation, so the Saguenay project may not even be needed by the time construction is finished and the plant is up and running.
The report goes on to state the highly polarizing GNL Québec project has garnered the greatest response of any BAPE review, with more than 2,500 briefs presented at last year’s hearings.
Two massive intertwined projects — the Gazoduc pipeline that will run from northern Ontario through the Abitibi and to the Saguenay, and the GNL Québec transformation plant in the Port of Saguenay — are being touted by proponents as an economic booster, job creator, and environmental innovator. Frac crap! Those words to describe money laundering LNG (pump public taxdollars into Big Oil CEO pockets while emptying ours and decimating public health and education) are as vile as CAPP, Encana and AER coming up with their conniving “Synergy Alberta” propaganda program to feed ego, greed and con the reluctant and concerned citizens into accepting being poisoned by frac’ing in their own homes, businesses and communities.
They say it will be one of the greenest LNG plants in the world, that it’s possible to protect the region’s endangered beluga whales from the effects of passing tanker ships through the Saguenay Fjord, and that the plant itself would be carbon neutral.
But the BAPE report is recommending the government take extra care to consider the risks to marine life, specifically the area’s beluga whale population, before making any decision about the project.
It also states the company didn’t provide any guarantees that exporting LNG from the Saguenay Fjord to international markets would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, and it questioned the global demand for natural gas in the coming decades.
GNL Québec interim president Tony LeVerger said the company plans to tackle the BAPE’s recommendations and answer its questions.
“Even though you can see some conclusions that may be a bit harsh at the end, as you get into the details and the contents, you realize it’s a lot more balanced,” he said.
LeVerger added the BAPE is not rejecting the project, but rather giving the company a nuanced and fair list of homework.
“As a company, we are optimistic we will be able to do it,” he said.
Company still has work to do: environment minister
Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette said there are three main criteria against which his department is evaluating the project: its social acceptability, its ability to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and its contribution to a worldwide transition toward green energy.
“The report does not allow for the conclusion that one or more of those three conditions will be respected, so the ball is really in the promoter’s court,” he said.
Charette said the report is an important step in the environmental review of a project, but pointed out that the BAPE does not approve or reject projects, it only makes recommendations. The government has the final say.
Energy expert Pierre-Olivier Pineau said the report was more negative than he’d anticipated, and that it does a good job of outlining the opposing views of the project.
But he added the BAPE should have limited itself to environmental analysis, instead of adding an economic one.
“I don’t see a bright future for the project,” he said. “And I think for politicians, the BAPE report will be a clear indication that it is too sensitive to give the OK.”
But Pineau explained he agrees with GNL Quebec that natural gas could in fact play a role in the energy transition. Another synergized and frac’d academic?
“In terms of the global greenhouse gas assessments, [the BAPE is] leaning on the extremely conservative side,” he said. “So I wouldn’t say it’s entirely fair, because they are presenting the worst case scenario as the one that should be taken into account.” If all gov’ts globally heeded recommendations such as these by BAPE (and their 2014 frac harms report also, link below), life on earth wouldn’t be burning up and flooding so terribly.
Environmental groups react
Adrien Guibert-Barthez of Coalition Fjord — a citizens’ coalition working for ecological stability in the region — said he’s “very happy” with the BAPE’s summation of the project.
“The assessment confirmed all the claims and positions of environmental groups about greenhouse gases and the impact on whales, specifically,” he said.
“We should not have to debate whether or not we should construct more pipelines,” he added. “We should talk about how we can transition from fossil fuels to green energy.”
The director of Nature Quebec, Alice-Anne Simard, called the report “devastating” for the LNG project and said she hopes it will give the government everything it needs to reject it.
“The quicker we can put this project aside and say ‘no’, the quicker we can start all working together to put in place the green transition that we need,” she said.
Simard also said the project is a non-starter, and she doesn’t believe there’s any way for the company to fix it, because, in her view, it is an inherently bad idea. “This is not a good project for Quebec, this is not a good project for the world, and the government doesn’t need any more information, they can say ‘no’ to this project right away,” she said.
This report focuses primarily on the $9-billion LNG plant and marine terminal at the Port of Saguenay, while the $5-billion Gazoduc pipeline will be evaluated separately.
With files from Julia Page and Glenn Wanamaker
One of the comments:
Dave Brodowsky:
This project not happen. Having a floating bomb go down the pristine Saguenay river is a travesty. And what angers me the most, is that those developers never outline the negative impacts of their projects. They always paint a rosy picture.
Refer also to:
Gérard Montpetit: Judicial terrorism and frac’ing
Hello Pieridae, Are you watching? Another LNG project bites the-damning-environmental-report dust
… Australia’s AGL Energy has pulled the plug on its planned liquefied natural gas import project at Crib Point in Victoria, Australia.
Development of the proposed LNG import jetty project has ceased with immediate effect, AGL confirmed on Monday.
The decision follows the 30 March determination by Victoria’s Minister for Planning that the project would have unacceptable environmental effects. …