CEAA restarts clock on Pacific NorthWest LNG project, destined for a late September deadline

The Pacific NorthWest LNG project
is back on the clock at the CEAA

The frequently paused process of review for the proposed 11 billion dollar LNG terminal at Lelu Island is back on again, as the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency restarted the clock on its work related to the project.

June 27, 2016 - The proponent has submitted its final response to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the Agency) in relation to the March 18, 2016 information request. The Agency has determined that the proponent's final response satisfies the information request. The legislated timeline for the project, including a three-month extension granted by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, has resumed.

The CEAA announced the resumption of the review process yesterday, it had been put on pause after the federal agency requested further information from the proponent related to the site development plans for the suspension bridge aspect of the project.

In it's submission to the federal agency on June 17th, Pacific NorthWest LNG responded with a range of revisions to Potential conditions, with aspects related to consultation with Aboriginal groups key to the majority of the observations listed, along with observations listed on themes of air and marine management issues.

Included in the overview is commentary related to mitigation measures during the construction phase of the terminal project designed to reduce impacts on marine life in the terminal location.

You can review the background information related to the revisions here.

With the process underway again and a three month extension to the process put in place by the Minister of the Environment, the new target date now shifts to mid to late September for a hand off of the file to Minister Catherine McKenna, who will take the project to the Federal cabinet for final approval.

Some media notes on the resumption of the Environmental review can be found below:

Canada resumes environmental review of Petronas-led LNG project
CEAA resumes review of Pacific NorthWest plans
Petronas LNG Bid Faces 90 Day Wait as Clock ticks for Trudeau
90 days left for Pacific NorthWest LNG environmental review
90 day clock begins on Pacific NorthWest LNG review


While the regulatory work continues towards that September deadline, Pacific NorthWest LNG is looking to add on to its head office roster, posting a career opportunity for a Legal Counsel to work in the field of Regulatory and First Nations aspects of the proposed development.

More background on the Pacific NorthWest proposal can be found on our archive page here.