FortisBC claimed Metro staff submitted an inaccurate and imbalanced report recommending Metro Vancouver oppose the Tilbury LNG expansion plant in Delta, B.C.
Metro Vancouver’s board of directors moved to defer a vote on the future of a liquefied natural gas facility proposed to be built on the shore of the Fraser River.
The company says the expansion project would support 6,000 full-time construction jobs and 110 full-time operations jobs to keep the plant running. The marine jetty project, which would serve as a docking facility for refuelling and loading LNG transport vessels, is two weeks away from the end of the provincially run environmental assessment review. Federal and provincial ministers will then have 45 days to reject, approve or order more assessments of the project.
Metro staff estimate yearly operations of the facility would release 15,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. But if upstream and downstream emissions are counted, that figure rises to over 11 million tonnes of emissions per year, more than 733 times higher. “Leading global organizations, such as the IPCC, IEA, and the World Bank, note that LNG plays a limited role in a net-zero future and that expansion of LNG infrastructure carries considerable risk with respect to locking in GHG emissions,” wrote Metro staff in a recommendation to the Climate Action Committee July 13.
He also pointed to how the project aligns with the province’s CleanBC Roadmap and the federal transport minister’s mandate letter calling for the conversion of ships from heavy bunker fuel to “environmentally friendly fuels like LNG.” “Tilbury is powered by renewable hydroelectricity, and it's designed to be one of the cleanest LNG facilities in the world.”