Three writs filed in Federal Court Thursdsay, seeking judicial review on Pacific NorthWest LNG approval

Calling the plans of Pacific NorthWest LNG and their proposed Lelu Island LNG project "dangerous and ill conceived", opponents of the site selected for the project filed three separate writs with the Federal Court in Vancouver on Thursday.

The thee documents are seeking a judicial review of the Canadian government's approval in September of the LNG project to be located in the Port Edward area.

We outlined the prospects of the court challenge on the blog on Wednesday, when the first indications began to come in about the quest of two First Nation groups and the environmental organization Skeena Wild to pursue legal action on the LNG approval.

Yesterday, following a filing ceremony held outside of the courthouse in Vancouver, the three writs were filed, putting in motion the potential review of the Federal decision. The three groups, among them the hereditary chiefs of the Gitanyow and Gitwilgyoots cited lack of Federal consultation as to the heart of the legal challenge:

“Despite repeated requests, the federal government has failed to properly consult with our people,” ....  “Justin Trudeau promised a new relationship with Indigenous communities. Instead, he added insult to injury by ignoring us, and giving the green light to a project that will destroy our way of life.” -- Chief Malii (Glen Williams), Chief Negotiatorforthe Gitanyow

“Once again, we are forced to ask courts to do what our politicians seem unable to do – to honor Canada’s obligations to its Indigenous communities, and to protect our environment from catastrophic harm,” -- Chief Yahaan (Donnie Wesley), of the Gitwilgyoots Tribe.

The third applicant to the court, was the environmental organization SkeenaWild with Executive Director Greg Knox, noting that their core concern is the impact on fish and fish habitat:

“The Agency gave the Environment Minister flawed information and conclusions about the project’s impacts on fish and fish habitat,” ...“We challenge the Agency’s conclusion that the project will have no significant impact on fish even though construction of the project could permanently destroy 35,000 square meters of crucial salmon habitat.”

In addition to the Court challenge, which came one month to the day from the Federal approval, an information statement was issued as the court filing was taking place.

The statement expanding on the path ahead for the opponents to the Lelu Island project, noting that in addition to the potential for a day in court, they will also be putting increased pressure on Petronas to reconsider its project. With plans to rally international opposition against the industrial development and continue with civil disobedience  to disrupt the plans to build the facility over the top of Flora Bank.

The three groups were not alone in expressing their concerns over the Federal Decision of September, with the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs also declared its opposition to the project on Thursday, issuing a statement from Grand Chief Stewart Phillip.

"This is a dangerous and ill-­‐conceived attack on our environment and our Indigenous rights,”  ... “Our courts have ruled that Canadian energy companies cannot run roughshod over FirstNations. Well,  foreign companies can’t either.”

Some background on the legal action can be found here.

The Federal government was quick to respond to the announcements of the court challenge, with Environment Minister Catherine McKenna issuing a statement on behalf of her department and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, that indicated that the Federal government stands behind its decision on the terminal project and that it had undergone a rigorous and thorough science-based process.

No timeline was revealed on Thursday as to how long it will take for the Federal Court to consider whether they will entertain the legal challenge, or advise if they will conduct the judicial review of the Federal Government's decision.

Some notes on yesterday's developments can be found below:


Ottawa defends Pacific NorthWest LNG decision as court challenges filed
Environment Minister defends cabinet approval of B.C. LNG project
Feds defend Pacific Northwest LNG decision as court challenges filed
Federal government standing behind Pacific NorthWest approval ahead of legal challenges
Feds 'stand behind' LNG decision brace for First Nations legal challenge
Federal Government responds to First Nations, environmental group court action over approval of Pacific NorthWest LNG project
Litigation launched against Federal approval of PNW LNG
Court challenges filed against Pacific NorthWest LNG project by First Nations leaders and environmental group
First Nations to sue federal government over Pacific NorthWest LNG Project

You can find more background on the current developments and some of the history of the Pacific NorthWest LNG project from our archive page here.

Mayor Brain hails success of Redesign Rupert Recharge event over the weekend

Mayor Brain provided a review of
Saturday's Redesign Rupert Recharge
event for Council

A short review of the Redesign Rupert Recharge event of Saturday made for some of the notes from Monday's City Council session, as Mayor Lee Brain provided a short overview of how the Saturday event went and the engagement found between residents and facilitators.

The event made for a fair bit of conversation at Monday's session, with both representatives of ecotrust Canada and Pacific NorthWest LNG making mention of the Recharge event and noting the efforts that had gone into organizing the project.

As for the Mayor's review of events, his comments came at the end of the Monday session and noted a few of the themes from the day that he had observed at the Saturday event at the Civic Centre.

Key to Mayor Brain's thoughts from Saturday morning was the participation of the community and how it's important to the recharge process.

"The really good thing about this whole process is that the entire community came out,  en masse to participate and that is just the beginning of something much bigger that is emerging here with this redesign process ... I do want to say, that I have been hearing a lot of feedback saying you know what's going to be different, we've had meetings, we've done these types of things before, what's really is going to change. The fundamental structure of Redesign Rupert process is actually built into the design process for action to emerge from this process. So it's not going to be some report that's generated that's just given to council with 100 list of things for us to now additionally do, on top of the 100  things we already have to do"

The Mayor also observed that the process moving forward will see residents take ownership over the issues and to start the process of becoming more involved in reshaping and redesigning this town.

Adding that interested residents should drop into the Redesign offices in the Community Futures office to learn more about what the process is all about.

The Mayor also paid tribute to the number of volunteers who assisted through the day, stating that hundreds of people from the community participated in the process and even observed that the newspaper reporter had taken on the duties of the balloon distributor at the event.

And while the weekly paper had the volume of participants at around the 150 mark, the attendance did indicate some interest in the theme for renewal for the community.

Though it should perhaps be noted, that the volume of those in attendance at the Civic Centre Saturday was no doubt assisted by the range of door prizes that were provided by local merchants for the event.

With an impressive list of items available for those that took the time on Saturday to participate.

Included in those incentives to head down to the Civic Centre on Saturday morning was a Main Prize of a Big Screen television set which was provided by City Furniture

Monday night, Mayor Brain also reminded Council of the upcoming November engagement session with the Planning Partnership, an opportunity that will allow residents to engage in redevelopment themes related to Third Avenue, Seal Cove and City held waterfront properties, adding that the economy of Third Avenue and the future for that commercial area will be part of those discussions.

He also called attention to some comments he has heard related to the funding of 75,000 dollars provided by Northern Development Initiative Trust towards the November session and further study.

"We did receive 75,000 dollars from NDIT and I will say that those who believe (and ask) how much 75,000 will do really, well I argue how much will zero dollars do, so it's better than no dollars and so we'll start with that and I'm very excited about it and I think it's going to be huge for the community"

Councillor Kinney had one note on the weekend event, reminding Council members he was unable to attend the Saturday session as he was taking care of the City's business as part of Regional District proceedings that day.

You can learn more about the work of the Redesign Rupert initiative from their website and Facebook page.

The full discussion can be reviewed from the City's Video archive starting at the one hour, five minute mark.





An extended look at the topic can be found on our City Council Timeline here.

Some of our past items related to some of the engagement plans from Redesign Prince Rupert can be found on our archive page here.

For more items related to Prince Rupert City Council see our Discussion Archive page here.

Councillor Cunningham raises questions on City's Community Enhancement Grant issues

Councillor Barry Cunningham had a
number of questions related to
Enhancement Grant Funding on Monday

A door was opened a little bit on Monday into some of the inner workings of council members outside of the public meetings of every second Monday, as Councillor Barry Cunningham raised a number of questions related to the Community Enhancement Grant process currently underway.

Speaking towards the end of Monday night's session Mr. Cunningham's observations involved a review of the issue of contracts for the Lester Centre, Museum and Library.  A process that he noted started in January of this year when Council gave direction to staff to approach the three organizations to engage in contracts to reduce the need for them to approach council for enhancement grants.

Adding that as he understands it, that while the contracts are in negotiation that they have not been completed ten months later and the three groups have been advised to apply for enhancement grant funding.

Making for a situation which Mr. Cunningham has some concerns about.

"If this is true, I think it's putting a big burden on these organizations that are just about driven by volunteers and it's taking time away from those volunteers to do their jobs for the institution, if they have to apply for enhancement grants and are told at the last minute that we're changing in mid stream for that. So, I would like to know if that's true and if so if there is not another alternative to them applying for enhancement grants at the last minute or giving them a definite extension"

Mayor Brain outlined the challenges being faced by City Staff to address the contract issue, suggesting that he doesn't completely agree with the argument that staff hasn't done anything for ten months.

The Mayor did however offer up some thoughts on the status of those talks and the nature of the shift to the process that the City is looking to achieve.

Mayor Brain outlining the new approach
to some Enhancement Grant Funding

"That is currently in discussion as you know, I think what the issue ultimately is, is that we're trying to set up a permanent arrangement and we're changing a process that was already in motion for many years under enhancement grants and we know that these people need operating grants. So there's a whole variety of questions there and we need to move from one train to another. And if we do it, we're going to do it right, make sure that the contract works for them and works for us and provides for long term certainty, which is what is in the motion now."

The Mayor also acknowledged that there is a possibility that the City won't get the process signed off in time and as a back up plan it was encouraged that the three groups make application for the enhancement grants, that way if the two sides don't capture the timeline of the contracts then they would still be able to go into funding until the contracts can be signed off on.

Councillor Cunningham followed up on those observations with a question for staff if those groups had been offered an extension to the deadline for the grants, the Mayor interjected at that point that he believed the applications for enhancement grants had already been submitted, something which was not known by staff on the evening, though the City's CFO noted she could find out the status of those applications.

City Manager Robert Long, who doesn't comment frequently at Council sessions, did step in for a few moments to provide some further background to the issue.

"We had started this program, this process following the resolution some time ago, but some of the parameters changed, there were requirements that Council wanted us to do in the last few meetings that have now put getting into the contracts and getting them complete much more difficult that it was before"

Councillor Cunningham further explored that theme, noting that he has only seen a finalization on figures to this point and that only came at the last meeting.

The Mayor interrupted that train of thought, explaining some of the challenges that have come up in trying to bring it all together.

"There has been changes Councillor Cunningham over the process on scope and those things as well,  with the Library, there's the Library Act, we have to ensure that the contract falls within the Library Act and our duties to that, how many years we are going to go and those types of things. This is something that staff is working on and I'm not sure it's a massive issue at the moment, I haven't had any issues with the organizations about that. But this is the first year that it's going to be changed, and once it has been changed, it's going to be  a great  process moving forward for all these groups"

Councillor Cunningham noted that he wasn't saying that staff hasn't been doing anything, but that he would like to see this come to an end as fast as possible, because the groups are looking for their funding for next year and how the do things.

And Cunningham is right, the timeline related to Community Enhancement Grants is moving quickly, City Council normally addresses the Grant funding issue in December, announcing the grant funding amounts and naming the successful applicants shortly after the Christmas break in January.

The theme of change when it comes to how the Enhancement Grants process works has proven to be controversial in the past.

In December of 2015 the first dip of the toe into the water provided for some spirited discussion and a number of concerns on how the process would be delivered. As we get closer to the awarding of the Grants for the year ahead, it would seem that there are still as many questions as answers when it comes to what the City has planned.

The full discussion on the theme from Monday can be reviewed from the City's Video archive starting at the 59 minute mark.




A look at last years Enhancement Grant levels and some of the discussion related to them can be reviewed here.

An extended look at the topic from Monday night can be found on our City Council Timeline here.

For more items related to Prince Rupert City Council see our Discussion Archive page here.

City's LNG resolution discussion deferred until November

The opportunity for Prince Rupert residents to get a better understanding on what positions the City's council members may have on the theme of the Lelu Island LNG project will have to wait at least two weeks, with Council members voting on Monday night to defer their discussion on the topic until November.

The decision to move the topic off of Monday's agenda came due to the absence of Councillor Joy Thorkelson, the sponsor of the resolution, who had taken sick on Monday and was not in Council Chambers for Monday's session.

Councillor Cunningham, noting the importance of the issue to Councillor Thorkelson, suggested that the proper approach to the agenda item would be to hold it over until Council's November 14th session.

"I know that this is very important to her and I think out of respect to her we should table this until the next meeting when she is here" -- Councillor Barry Cunningham moving that a resolution related to the Pacific NorthWest LNG project at Lelu Island be deferred until the next council session.

As we noted on the Blog earlier this month, Councillor Thorkelson first notified Council of her intent to raise the issue at the October 11th Council session. Her motion would have City Council discuss and vote on the resolution, which calls for the City to withhold its support for the proposed development, unless six conditions set out by the City of Prince Rupert are met by Pacific NorthWest LNG.

Those conditions included:

1. The project is relocated to another area not in the estuary of the Skeena River. One industry should not put another at risk of our City should remain with a diversified economy. 

2. The project must consult with the area’s local governments and our residents as well as with First Nations. 

3. The City’s water supply is monitored and a specific set of responses, agreed to by the City, are in place to rectify any increase in acidification or eutrophication. 

4. Negative economic or social consequences will be identified by the City and PNW LNG prior to the project going ahead and solutions agreeable to the City are identified. 

5. Adequate contributions, agreed to by COPR, for rebuilding and maintaining Prince Rupert’s infrastructure are identified and scheduled. 

6. Alternate forms of clean energy are identified and their development are committed to by PNW LNG.

Should all go as it should, the topic will return to the Council agenda on November 14th and Prince Rupert's council members will then be able to offer up any of their own thoughts related to the Pacific Northwest LNG proposal and put themselves on the record when it comes to Councillor Thorkelson's resolution.

The short discussion of the topic can be reviewed from the City's Video archive starting at the 59 minute mark.





An extended look at the topic can be found on our City Council Timeline here.

For more items related to Prince Rupert City Council see our Discussion Archive page here.

Prolific Podcasts of Prince Rupert

Plugging into the news of the North Coast is taking on new approaches every day it seems with the old days of waiting for an hourly newscast on the radio or the delivery of the newspaper giving way to more instantaneous and niche driven approaches.

Earlier this month we outlined the arrival of a new project for the weekly newspaper the Northern View, which debuted its Podcast project at the start of October.  Offering a mix of news items, video features and banter from the hosts who take time out of their day as sales reps at McCarthy GM to jump into the digital flow of information.

Of course the original podcast concept belongs to the Daybreak North team, which have been posting some of their favourite items from the show in audio file form for a long time now.

And while for residents of the North Coast a few more items directed towards their concerns and issues might be desired, the Podcast concept does give a sample of the morning magazine program that broadcasts out of Prince George and Prince Rupert five days a week.

CFNR regularly adds special features to their website broadcasting a range of events such as Hobiyee and the Annual All Native Basketball Tournament across their large radio network which reaches far beyond the Northwest.

CFTK TV doesn't go the Podcast route, but they do offer up a Video archive of recent news stories through their website, which allows Northwest residents the chance to see what's going on in all of the communities of the region.

Audiences for new digital projects
may not be as represented
in the photo above

The most recent shift to a niche programming concept comes out of the EZ Rock Studios at Cow Bay, as radio host Lucas Anders takes listeners to the edge of the waterfront, providing notes on the latest developments and items of interest from the Prince Rupert Port corporation.

The Harbour Headline which airs on Friday mornings, brings Michael Gurney the Port's Manager of Corporate Communications into the studio each week, providing some background to areas of the Port's operations that may not be commonly known, or offering up further detail on current topics in the news.

The booming voice of Gurney, who is perhaps just warming up for his annual Rotary Telethon duties later in November, certainly provides for a dramatic flair to the flow of information on ship movements and other items of interest out of the Port's Atlin Terminal offices.

The on air duo of Anders and Gurney have certainly got their timing down nicely, having recently teamed up for their production of Stones in his Pockets.

Of course, while you're exploring all these shiny options new and old that are out there to learn more about the North Coast, we do hope you'll check back to the blog from time to time.

We're just keeping busy looking for items of note and flagging newsworthy items through the day for you to review, both on the blog and through our twitter feed.

For more items related to the media of the Northwest see our archive page here.

City's Water Grant proposal applications are in the pipeline

Director of Operations Richard Pucci
providing a presentation on two
grants the City is seeking for the city's
water infrastructure

The theme of grant applications made for a portion of Monday's City Council session, with Richard Pucci, the city's Director of Operations providing Council members with some background related to a pair of grant applications towards Federal/Provincial programs that the City is working on as they head towards a November deadline for interested communities.

The first of the topics that were addressed involved the Woodworth Dam proposal, with Council offering their support to the City's quest to pursue that grant under the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund.

On the first grant option, Councillor Randhawa inquired as to whether this request would conflict with any other grant requests underway, with Mr. Pucci advising that there would be no conflict.

As part of his overview of the city's water supply concerns he added that that the City has already received funding for the first phase of the Water supply project, and would be putting that out for tender shortly.

Council heard of the plans from the City to apply for a grant to replace
the Woodworth Dam which provides the city's drinking water supply

The Woodworth dam issue was the subject of an information video by the City earlier this year, which outlined some of the challenges and upgrades needed.

The Mayor took advantage of the discussion on Monday evening to once again call attention to a recent article in the Northern View, which questioned whether the City had missed a funding opportunity at its recent visit to the UBCM convention.

As we noted on the blog in September, at that time, the province had rolled out a large number of infrastructure projects that were moving forward, with only a few destined for the Northwest, none for the North Coast.

Mayor Brain used a few minutes of the Monday night session to provide his own clarification for the record on the issue, noting that the projects that the paper had noted were already in motion and the City had not missed out on any funding opportunities, adding that the City is moving forward with this current application which has a deadline date of November 23rd.

On the theme of grant applications and how the city approaches them, Mayor Brain in somewhat of a cutting fashion, noted that the city does know how to apply for grants and that he believes that there will be a clarification issued on the subject in the Wednesday paper.

That may be a deadline that has yet to be met, as the only item of note from the Wednesday releases from the Northern View provided very basic information related to the grant requests, with neither a clarification, or notice of correction related to the original item indicated in the original article and accompanying editorial piece.

On the Second grant request, Mr. Pucci outlined the challenges that the city faces in bringing its water supply to the population on Kaien Island, observing that the underwater pipes have only a forty year lifespan and to address those issues the City will apply for a grant to replace the submarine line making use of the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund opportunity available at the moment.

Council also  offered their support towards that motion to make an application. As noted by Mr. Pucci, the deadline for the applications is November 23rd, however Council was provided no timeline as to when the final decision on their grant applications will be delivered.

The full discussion can be reviewed from the City's Video archive starting at the 48 minute mark.





An extended look at the topic can be found on our City Council Timeline here.

For more items related to infrastructure issues can be examined here, while more background on items of interest from Prince Rupert City Council can be found on our Discussion Archive page here.

Project benchmarks the key to Pacific NorthWest LNG presentation to City Council

Tessa Gill and Derek Baker from
Pacific NorthWest LNG appeared
at Prince Rupert Council on Monday
with an update on the proposed project

One of the most discussed proposals for the North Coast in recent years was once again on the Agenda for Prince Rupert City Council on Monday night, with Tessa Gill and Derek Baker on hand for the night to provide an update on the path of the Pacific NorthWest LNG terminal project so far.

Derek Baker carried the bulk of the presentation to Council on the night, noting some of the milestones that Pacific NorthWest LNG has reached with their project.

Starting with some background on the path towards their recently gained Federal Environmental Approval. He noted that the company has successfully incorporated many of the contributions from the public into their mitigation notes on the project.

Mr. Baker called attention to the 190 legally binding conditions that make up the Environmental Approval process and how it demonstrates that the project can proceed on Lelu Island without significant adverse affect to fish population and fish habitat.

He then turned towards the future prospects for the project, noting the need to address those 190 conditions and receive the range of permits before construction can take place.

Baker also examined the issue of Financial viability of the project, providing a look at some of the factors that Pacific NorthWest LNG's shareholders are considering at this time, including the market conditions today and projections for the future.  He noted that while they have announced an Conditional investment decision in the summer of 2015 for the project, there have also been some significant changes in the markets since then. 

He outlined how the project and its shareholders are taking the opportunity to take some time to conduct a complete review of the project, examining the conditions and the global markets to ensure that it is a viable project.

The process of decision making for the Pacific NorthWest LNG project
was outlined for Council on Monday evening

While the LNG market has softened in recent months, the long term forecast
for Supply and Demand worldwide is a bit more positive

Among some of the elements of the 190 conditions that the company explored for Council were the areas of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Air Quality issues, Report generation, mitigation requirements and issues of eutrophication. A look at fish and fish habitat and the conditions required on that theme was also provided, with such mitigations as bubble curtains designed to dampen noise in the waters nearby during the construction phase.

Mr. Baker also made note of the Environmental monitoring process that will be conducted by two local First Nations as part of the project development phase.  

"Another important condition is the creation of an environmental monitoring committee, this committee will be made up of the Metlakatla, the Lax Kw'alaams, the Provincial and Federal governments. This is important, this is the first time that an agreement of this nature puts the environmental authority in the hands of a First Nation, or Local First Nations in this case  ... In addition to this there will be environmental monitors who will be in the field all around the construction activities and they will be monitoring the environmental conditions, those individuals will have the authority to direct the project to stop, or to implement additional mitigations if they have any reason, any justified reason to do so."

Two local First Nations will be participating in the Independent Environmental
Monitoring process for the Pacific NorthWest LNG project

Another area that was examined was the approach Pacific NorthWest LNG will bring to Socio-Economic Effects Management for the region and how they will develop mitigations, looking at such areas as health care services, and how they engage with local government, Aboriginal groups and social agencies. He noted that Pacific NorthWest officials have been meeting with the City of Prince Rupert on these issues since the approval was granted. 

The approach towards community engagement was explored as well, with a snapshot of the work of the company to this point, with Mr. Baker issuing an invitation for members of the public with questions or concerns to stop into their offices. He also paid tribute to the recent Redesign Rupert Recharge event and noted that it was an initiative that Pacific NorthWest was very excited in being a contributor towards and participant with that kind of engagement with the broader community.

One final look at the next steps for the project brought the presentation to an end, with members of Council then offering up a few questions on a range of themes.

Councillor Cunningham inquired as to the nature of the testing if any in the area of the city's drinking water and items related to greenhouse gas issues. 

Mayor Brain then suggested that the company representatives might want to explain the monitoring process when it comes to greenhouse emissions.

Ms. Gill outlined the ratios and requirements that the Pacific NorthWest project will have to meet as outlined by the province of British Columbia, noting that the submissions will be independently verified.

She also addressed a question from Councillor Cunningham related to Air Shed issues related to the project and whether the company has any plans in the future to switch from gas turbines to electric; she advised him that any future expansion would address the issue as to the reliable options available at the time.

On the question that is on the minds of most residents of the region, Councillor Randhawa inquired as to any timeline that might be in mind by Pacific NorthWest LNG when it comes to delivering any Final Decision to move ahead with the project

On that theme, there were no new developments to report, as Mr Baker had little new information to share with Council.

"To date our shareholders haven't provided a specific timeline, other than to say that they are going to take some time now to review all aspects of the integrated project. So I can't personally speculate on what sort of timeline might be there and our shareholders haven't identified one for us either"

To bring the presentation to an end, Mayor Brain noted that the City is still engaged in discussions with Pacific NorthWest LNG over an impacts benefits agreement on a range of topics and that process will continue into the future.

The full discussion can be reviewed from the City's Video archive starting at the fifteen minute mark.





An extended look at the discussion from Monday evening can be found on our City Council Timeline here.

There are more items of interest on the Pacific NorthWest LNG project available on our archive page.

For more items related to Prince Rupert City Council see our Discussion Archive page here.