The Globe and Mail: B.C. First Nations Likely to Reject Petronas LNG Project

A hereditary chief says Lax Kw’alaams members are poised in the final round of voting to reject a $1-billion cash offer dangled by a major liquefied natural gas project, posing a setback for the venture led by Malaysia’s Petronas.

Donnie Wesley of the Gitwilgyoots, one of nine allied tribes of the Lax Kw’alaams, said the tribes are united in their opposition to the Pacific NorthWest LNG project near Prince Rupert, B.C.

Pacific NorthWest LNG offered the cash over a 40-year period in its quest to secure aboriginal consent for the $36-billion project that is seeking to export natural gas in liquid form to Asia.

In the first two of three rounds of voting, eligible Lax Kw’alaams voters unanimously spurned Pacific NorthWest LNG’s offer. Mr. Wesley said the stage has been set for the final vote in Vancouver on Tuesday to make it three rejections in a row.

He has been advising Lax Kw’alaams voters living in the Vancouver area to remember the importance of Flora Bank – in the estuary near the proposed site of the terminal – for nurturing young salmon in the estuary of the Skeena River. “Keep your heads intact and think with your heart. Make sure that you’re putting this vote for the future of your children,” the Gitwilgyoots hereditary chief said in an interview in Lax Kw’alaams, a remote community accessible by ferry or float plane. MORE