Kitimat, B.C.- The Kitimat LNG facility has taken another step forward with the  Governments of Canada and British Columbia, KM LNG Operating General Partnership (KM LNG) and the Haisla Nation signing the Interim Regulatory Agreement.

 

The agreement establishes the BC Oil and Gas Commission as the regulator for the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on the Haisla Nation reserve near Kitimat. This will enable the BC Oil and Gas Commission to begin the regulatory and engineering review of the proposed Kitimat LNG facility. The agreement will also enable the project to move forward while federal regulations are established under the First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act (FNCIDA).

 

The Kitimat LNG facility is one of two initiatives in B.C. that will utilize FNCIDA to regulate large projects on reserve lands. This legislation allows the federal government to produce regulations for complex commercial and industrial development projects on reserve that replicate provincial regulatory regimes.

 

"Recognizing how very important KM LNG is to the economic future of the Haisla people, we initiated this process in 2009," says Chief Councillor Ellis Ross. "We are pleased to see this Interim Agreement signed and we now look forward to joining Canada and British Columbia in the FNCIDA tripartite agreement early in 2012. This process has been key to the Kitimat LNG project, and the economic benefits it is bringing the Haisla, moving ahead. We share Premier Clark’s interest in seeing approval processes move more quickly where projects are environmentally sound and where Aboriginal consultation and accommodation has been completed."

 

The Kitimat LNG facility is being constructed on reserve lands at Bish Cove. Initially, it will have the capacity to produce approximately five million metric tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year. That is the equivalent of nearly 700 million cubic feet per day, enough to heat roughly 1.3 million average homes.