Pacific Northwest LNG Sees Little Support for Their Billion Dollar Deal
The debate around Pacific Northwest's LNG project on Lelu Island rages on. Last week the Lax Kw'alaams First Nation were offered one billion dollars if the band consents to the Petronas proposed project. Meetings are being held this week in Prince Rupert, Vancouver and Lax Kw'alaams to vote on whether to go through with the deal.
T.Buck Suzuki Spokesperson Luanne Roth says,
"It's like offering money to hurt your kid or something, you don't make a deal to hurt the salmon."
Local residents are turning to social media to make sure their concerns are heard says Roth.
"The companies have so much money for advertising and we're getting one side all the time in the radio and the ads and so I think it's important people hear about both sides."
The environmental impact to the Flora Banks region is one of the biggest issues with this project says local biologist Dr. Barb Faggetter
"We should just basically be saying this is a no go zone because we don't have enough science to guarantee that we won't be impacting Flora Banks. Should they ever have a spill or an accident there, there will be probably unmitigatable damage to flora banks."
The Lax Kw'alaams band has six days to make a vote on the billion dollar deal. According to Roth, at the Prince Rupert meeting last night zero hands were raised in support of the project.
Pacific Northwest LNG Spokesperson says this,
"It's incumbent upon projects to consult with First Nations and coopoeratively assess impact and propose compensations so if you know you're building a project like ours."
However Roth argues,
"They just chose the wrong site. There's no way to do it carefully. There's no way. It's just too difficult and even if they're trying, they had plenty of chance to find another site and they wouldn't look at an alternative."
Roth goes on to say the company shouldn't just value salmon as money...it's more than that. Another meeting is set to be held tonight at Chances by the proponent.