Canada: Halt pipeline project with outdated permit

An environmental assessment certificate for the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) liquified natural gas pipeline project expires on 25 November 2024. In 2014, the government approved the certificate even though it found that the project would have significant adverse effects and increase greenhouse gas emissions. Since then, the pipeline route, which goes through several Indigenous Nation’s unceded, ancestral territories, has changed. The indefinite extension of the certificate puts everyone’s right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and Indigenous Peoples’ ways of life at risk. We call for a new assessment to be conducted, in full consultation with the Indigenous Peoples along the pipeline route.  

Here’s what you can do:

Write to the Premier of British Colombia urging him to:

• Conduct a new environmental assessment of the PRGT project. 
• Urgently implement a transparent consultation process with all impacted Indigenous Peoples along the pipeline route. 
• Ensure the consultation process fully complies with both domestic and international human rights laws and standards. 

Overview of the PRGT project

The Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) project is a proposed 900-kilometre pipeline. It would transport liquified natural gas (LNG) from Hudson’s Hope in northeastern British Columbia to a still-undefined location on BC’s northwestern coast. The pipeline is owned by Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Ltd., a partnership between the Nisga’a Nation and Western LNG LLC. 

The project received its environmental assessment certificate in 2014 from the BC Environmental Assessment Office (BC EAO), despite findings of significant adverse effects on caribou and greenhouse gas emissions. At that time, the pipeline’s endpoint was the Pacific Northwest LNG terminal on Lelu Island, but the terminal project was canceled in 2017. In 2024, PRGT Ltd. requested to change the endpoint to the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG terminal on Pearse Island. This terminal is still under environmental review, meaning the PRGT pipeline currently has no approved endpoint. 

If this new endpoint is approved, the pipeline’s route will change, rendering the original environmental assessments from 2014 outdated. This raises serious concerns about the validity of the project’s current environmental approvals. 

Environmental and regulatory concerns

Circumstances have shifted significantly since the 2014 environmental assessments. British Columbia has introduced stricter air quality standards and greenhouse gas reduction targets. Climate change has worsened, with warmer rivers, reduced fish and wildlife populations, and more frequent wildfires. Local ecosystems, such as salmon habitats, face heightened risks. 

Despite these changes, the BC EAO granted a one-time extension to the PRGT project’s environmental assessment certificate. This extension allows the certificate to remain valid if the project is “substantially started” by November 25, 2024. Some forest clearing for the pipeline began in August 2024, but the project still lacks an approved endpoint, and its environmental review does not reflect the current route or updated conditions. 

Indigenous opposition and legal obligations

The pipeline’s proposed route crosses unceded, ancestral territories of several Indigenous Nations, including the Gitanyow, Gitxsan, and members of the Nisga’a Nation. Many Indigenous groups oppose the project, citing the use of outdated environmental assessments. Blockades have been set up along the proposed route, and multiple court cases have been filed against both the PRGT project and the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG terminal. 

Both the Canadian and BC governments have a duty to halt projects that extract fossil fuels without proper environmental and social impact assessments. Indigenous Nations must be fully consulted in good faith through their representative institutions, with the goal of obtaining their free, prior, and informed consent. This consultation should be ongoing, from project planning to implementation and follow-up, ensuring meaningful dialogue and negotiation throughout.   

Please take action as soon as possible until November 25, 2024! The UA will be duly updated should there be the need for further action.