A consortium of mayors from the northern region jointly signed a letter of support for the LNG industry. Prince George mayor Lyn Hall's name was not on it.
Hall clarified on Tuesday that this was only due to timing. The letter did not arrive on his desk in time to properly discuss it with his council colleagues before the consortium sent the message off to the intended recipients.
The letter was addressed to the West Coast Environmental Law Association and an opponent of the recently halted Petronas/Prince Rupert Gas Transmission/Pacific NorthWest LNG project.
It would have sourced natural gas in the Hudson's Hope vicinity, piped it across northern B.C. (passing near Mackenzie and Fort St. James) on its way to a liquified natural gas shipping facility near Port Edward/Prince Rupert.
The signatory mayors issued the letter out of concern for the next LNG project that is nearing its final investment decision.
"We recognize it is your right to file a jurisdictional challenge with the National Energy Board against LNG Canada's feed supply pipeline, TransCanada's Coastal GasLink," the mayors said.
"We would also like you to know that our communities are in support of the proposed LNG Canada export facility and associated pipeline. We believe that the development of this LNG export facility will bring tremendous benefits to our communities, region, province, entire nation, and even the broader global environment.
"If the LNG Canada project moves forward, it will create thousands of person-years of work for all walks of people across the North, B.C., Canada, and beyond. The development of this project would create billions of dollars in taxes for all levels of government; which will support programs that are important to all of us, such as education, healthcare, infrastructure, and funding for environmental sustainability initiatives. If this LNG export facility is developed, it will also bring remarkable benefits to many First Nations including contract and employment opportunities, and benefit agreements."
Mayor Hall did not disclose his personal feelings for the project, or the overall LNG industry, but said he wanted any message with his name on it, purporting to be on behalf of the community, to have all of council's input, not just his own.
"We got this just a couple of days before it was sent out, and we got a subsequent addendum press release that said that not all communities had sufficient time to make a decision whether to participate, so we were one of those communities," Hall said.
"We will deal with this as a council. It has been my practice that when we get requests like this, to sign onto things, that I take it to council, so that's what I'm going to do with this one."
The mayors who did sign onto the letter include those representing Mackenzie, Burns Lake, New Hazelton, Chetwynd, Pouce Coupe, Dawson Creek, Taylor, Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, Terrace, Fort St. John, Tumbler Ridge, Houston, Kitimat and Vanderhoof.
The letter closed by saying, "We stand united in our support for seeing the development of LNG Canada, and we will continue to voice our support for this project."
