B.C. has approved an amendment to the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline project, greenlighting a new, shorter route that will impact a different part of the province’s landscape.
The decision, made Aug. 28 by chief executive assessment officer Alex MacLennan, concluded a nine-month review process by the Environmental Assessment Office (EAO).
The newly approved "Eastern Route Alternative" is a 172-kilometre section of pipeline that will replace a 223-kilometre portion of the previously certified route, making the overall project 51 kilometres shorter. The new route begins 37 kilometres west of Chetwynd, B.C., and will follow the Pine River valley and Highway 97 before rejoining the original route near Mackenzie.
Roughly 900 kilometres long, the PRGT project is meant to transport natural gas from Hudson’s Hope in northeastern B.C. to either Lelu Island, near Prince Rupert, or to the proposed Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas export terminal 82 kilometres north of the coastal city. From there, gas would be super-cooled into a liquid and exported overseas to Asian markets.
The province's latest decision comes amid a Canada-wide push from industry to boost fossil fuel infrastructure as a remedy to U.S. tariffs. Opponents of such projects say it would pull public dollars away from long-term renewable energy projects and risk investing in assets that could soon be stranded as the world moves away from fossil fuels.
In its decision, the EAO classified the amendment as "complex" due to its significant deviation from the original plan. The review process included a public comment period, a review from a technical advisory committee, and extensive consultation with eight First Nations.
The assessment decision details seven key issues raised during the review: caribou, grizzly bear, freshwater resources, air quality, vegetation, cumulative effects on the landscape and wildlife, and potential impacts on First Nations' rights. Public engagement also sought to address concerns around greenhouse gas emissions and impacts on climate.
Saulteau First Nations expressed support for the alternative route, stating it avoids culturally significant areas and has a smaller impact on sensitive caribou habitat. It remained concerned about infringement of treaty rights — including upstream impacts and cumulative impacts related to the project — and how specific stretched of the pipeline might impact caribou and grizzly bear, water quality and fish habitat, old-growth forest, and key plant species.
Other nations, including Nak’azdli Whut’en and West Moberly, maintained their concerns about cumulative effects and insufficient baseline data.
Nak’azdli Whut’en told the province that PRGT Ltd.'s scientific assessments did not capture the full environmental impacts observed by the nation, that they do not agree with the conclusions in the report — especially around cumulative effects, impacts on caribou, fish and fish habitat, grizzly bears, compliance and enforcement of conditions, old growth, and concerns regarding insufficient baseline data collection.
Blueberry River First Nation remained concerned about the impact of fracked gas and oil development upstream of the pipeline and raised questions around the use of a more than 10-year-old cumulative effects assessments it says was outdated.
West Moberly First Nation’s primary concerns were around cumulative effects, caribou and their habitat, impacts on cultural locations, and overlap with old-growth forest areas. The nation said further engagement and work on the proposed route was needed and did not consent the amended environmental certificate for the pipeline’s new eastern route.
BIV reached out to several of the First Nations but nobody was immediately available.
In his assessment, MacLennan acknowledged a consensus was not reached with all First Nations, but that the EAO made sufficient efforts to engage with them.
“I am satisfied with the level of consultation and engagement that the EAO conducted with participating Indigenous nations, and the efforts made towards seeking consensus,” MacLennan wrote.
He added that the new route will result in “minimal changes” to the project's potential environmental effects.
To address outstanding concerns, the approval includes new and amended conditions for the project’s certificate. Those conditions will require PRGT to update its mitigation plans for grizzly bears and caribou in consultation with First Nations and relevant agencies before construction on the new route can begin.
Between those measures and other required regulatory permits, the project's original environmental assessment conclusions remain valid, MacLennan wrote.
The approval for the alternative pipeline route comes within weeks of a B.C. Supreme Court decision that threw out a legal challenge against a section of the pipeline.
The lawsuit, filed by Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, the Kispiox Valley Community Centre Association, and the Kispiox Band, argued that the BC Energy Regulator unlawfully permitted construction without a new cumulative effects assessment.
Justice Michael Tammen ultimately ruled that the groups did not have standing to bring the lawsuit, and that challenging a single piece of the pipeline was not a “serious issue of public importance.”
The judge noted that the section of the pipeline in question lies entirely within Nisga'a Lands, and the Nisga'a Nation supports the permit decision.
Shannon McPhail, Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition’s co-executive director, said that by rejecting the three plaintiffs standing, courts have yet to answer whether the BCER adhered to its own permit conditions and B.C. legislation.
“This should be a wake-up call for all British Columbians that our energy regulator is not looking after the public interest,” said McPhail.
The BCER turned down a request to comment on the case. At the time, a lawyer for Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Ltd. said he was not immediately available to comment.
