WCC LNG proposal for Tuck Inlet continues to quietly move forward

As we noted on the blog yesterday, a major Alberta investment group has pegged four LNG projects as the most likely to move forward in the short term of the province's hoped for development cycle, with the Pacific NorthWest LNG project and the WCC proposal for Tuck Inlet both considered the furthest ahead at this moment in the Prince Rupert area.

Much has been noted of late about the Petronas/Pacific NorthWest LNG proposal, which you can review here, so we'll turn our attention towards the other project that seems to be percolating away without much in the way of attention from the media.

The WCC LNG proposal is the main North Coast LNG project which the City of Prince Rupert has the potential to receive the most benefit from, with the terminal proposed for land that the city successfully brought into the municipal boundaries back in 2014.

A lease agreement in 2014 provided WCC LNG access to the east side of the Tuck Inlet location for further investigation related to terminal development.

In a pair of reports from November of last year, the city noted that WCC LNG could be paying the City up to 18 million dollars over the next two years for further investigative purposes.

The full documentation from those reports can be reviewed here.

WCC has already provide the City with an injection of some eight million dollars in revenue through the City's Legacy Corporation, with the City, as we noted on the blog back in May, having already put some of that money to use through its planning for Major Projects program.

The announcement of the Major Projects planning is an ambitious initiative that the City expanded on through a Spring update provided in May.

WCC LNG is conducting
air monitoring around
Tuck Inlet as part of their
investigative work on a
proposed LNG terminal
(from WCC Community update)

As for WCC LNG's scouting work on the Tuck Inlet site, the company has been conducting a number of environmental, engineering and technical studies to support their environmental assessment process, something that they are currently in the pre application stage with at the BC Environmental Agency.

That environmental review process was shifted to the provincial review office in March of this year, when a substitution notice was posted to the CEAA website.

In May, WCC LNG received its procedural order instructions related to that environmental process.

One aspect of their early planning that residents of the region might be interested in, is is a simulation of the navigation process through the Prince Rupert harbour to and from the proposed Terminal site at Tuck Inlet.

 That animated simulation can be reviewed from the WCC LNG website.

The animated review of that transportation route to and from the terminal makes notes of the number of tugs that will be used as part of the navigation process, the capacity of the terminal and anticipated shipment levels and frequency if at full capacity.

Illustration of the proposed LNG Terminal
Facility for the east side of Tuck Inlet
(from WCC Community update)

The local contact for the WCC LNG is Leanne Dohy,  Ms. Dohy relocated to Prince Rupert from Calgary in March and now is working out of the WCC LNG storefront offices located at 111, 101 1st Avenue East. 

The office is open from 1 -4 PM Monday through Thursday and from Noon to 1 on Friday for those looking to stop in and check on the progress of the proposed development.

WCC LNG has not outlined a timeline as of yet as to when they may be positioned to make a Final Investment Decision and that probably won't be known until they begin and work through the Environmental Assessment process.

The most recent update, a summer progress report from the company, a summer progress report can be found here.

For more background on the WCC LNG proposal see our archive page here.