Nathan Cullen cites lack of "Social Licence" as one factor towards Pacific NorthWest LNG cancellation

NDP MP Nathan Cullen has released
 a statement on the cancellation of 
the Pacific NorthWest LNG project

The first of the commentary from the Northwests political leaders has come in on the theme of the abandonment of the Pacific NorthWest LNG project by the Malaysian energy company Petronas, with NDP MP Nathan Cullen offering up his thoughts on the news out of Kuala Lumpur.

Earlier today, Pacific NorthWest LNG announced that after a lengthy review they would not be proceeding with their LNG terminal development proposed for Lelu Island near Port Edward.

In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Mr. Cullen focused on the risks the project had presented to the Flora Bank area of the North Coast as one of the greatest factor driving opposition to the project.

“I think the depth of sustained opposition, largely driven by project location, meant the writing was really on the wall for Petronas,”

Such had been Mr. Cullen's opposition to the project's focus on Lelu Island that he, along with North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice and newly installed Forests, Lands and Natural Resources and Rural Development Minister Doug Donaldson had signed on to the Lelu Island Declaration of January 2016, to express their opposition to the terminal plans at that location.

Another theme that the NDP MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley offered up on Tuesday was the need for any industrial development to seek out Social Licence  in the Northwest for full acceptance.

“The Northwest will always welcome well designed and locally supported projects that respect First Nations rights and title, provide local jobs, and are economically and environmentally stable,”  ... “Large resource projects can and do happen here. “Unfortunately, from the very beginning, Petronas just wasn’t able to offer these elements and gain the social license the project needed to proceed and succeed.”

Mr. Cullen's statement also reviewed the recent ruling from a Federal Court, calling for the National Energy Board to reconsider its findings related to the pipeline proposal that would deliver LNG to the project.

Mr. Cullen is so far the only political leader from the Northwest to comment on the cancellation of the project by Petronas, you can review the full statement here.

Neither Mayor Lee Brain of Prince Rupert or NDP MLA Jennifer Rice have to this point offered up any notes related to the end of a project which has dominated the North Coast political theatre over the last four years.

For more notes related to the Pacific NorthWest LNG story see our archive page here.