Documents obtained by University of Victoria air quality researcher Laura Minet reveal that the amount of gas flared at the LNG Canada plant on British Columbia’s North Coast from October to January significantly exceeded the permitted levels. The reports detail that warm/wet flares surpassed the allowed volumes by 45 times, cold/dry by 40 times, and storage and loading by five times during this four-month period.
Located in Kitimat, B.C., the plant receives natural gas through pipelines, which is then cooled into a liquid form for transportation to Asian markets via specialized tankers. According to a spokesperson from LNG Canada, the plant is currently in the early operational phase, leading to increased flaring as a normal occurrence. However, they assured that flaring activities would reduce significantly during regular operations.
The company emphasized that flaring is a safety measure regulated by the province to ensure the controlled combustion of natural gas during specific operational stages. Publicly available data from monitoring stations in Kitimat indicates consistently low levels of key pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide over the past year, with some areas showing levels at or near zero.
LNG Canada, owned by Shell and four Asian companies, is considering expanding its capacity in a second phase, which has been fast-tracked for review under the new federal major projects office. The project’s initial phase saw its first cargoes depart last summer, with ten community notifications issued regarding flaring events since March.
Environmental and health organizations have expressed concerns about the potential health impacts of pollutants released through flaring. Minet’s research on flaring at LNG export facilities globally prompted her to seek data from Canada’s inaugural project. She emphasized the need to account for high flaring volumes in environmental impact assessments due to the startup phases of LNG facilities typically characterized by significant flaring lasting around two years on average.