B.C. company wants to open $300M made-in-Canada sand mine to fuel anticipated fracking, LNG boom
Proposal comes as province focuses on new developments, igniting worry among climate groups
A B.C.-based company wants to open a sand mine north of Prince George to provide a made-in-Canada solution to an anticipated boost in liquefied natural gas production.
Vitreo Minerals' proposed silica sand mine, about 60 kilometres north of the city, near Bear Lake, would produce sand used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to prop open the fractures that are created during crude oil and natural gas extraction.
Right now, the company says, most of that sand is imported from Wisconsin, but amid a "Buy Canadian" movement, CEO Scott Broughton believes that should apply to the industrial sector, as well.
"We should make that locally. We should capture that market," he said while speaking at the Minerals North conference held in Prince George this week.
Broughton said the project has an estimated value of $300 million and would include an industrial mine, quarry and finishing plant and provide approximately 150 ongoing jobs, while vice-president of operations Cullen McCormick characterized it as a "glorified sand and gravel pit" in terms of appearance and process.
B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Office is currently seeking public feedback on the project and will be hosting an open house at the Bear Lake Community Hall on May 13, but the proposal comes as the province is promising to fast-track select new industrial developments — and as conservation groups are sounding the alarm about B.C. falling behind on its environmental goals amid the rush to diversify the economy away from the United States.
Push for development
If it moves forward, sand from the mine would be sold into the Montney oil and gas basin bordering northeast B.C. and Alberta, where industry is anticipating increased demand as the LNG Canada facility comes online in Kitimat, on B.C.'s North Coast, later this year.
That project will take gas shipped by pipeline from near Dawson Creek, B.C. and cool it for storage and export to Asian markets overseas.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been identified by both the federal and provincial governments as a key way to reduce Canada's reliance on the United States as a market for energy exports amid a trade war initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump's threats of economic annexation.
And it's not alone: there are five potential LNG projects in British Columbia at various stages of approval, and the province's NDP government has promised to move quickly to get them through the queue.
But while advocates for the industry say LNG is the cleanest-burning fossil fuel in the world and helps replace emissions worldwide, critics point out that its production is resource-intensive and argue it is contributing to, rather than mitigating, the climate crisis.
Climate concerns from LNG, fracking
Dr. Melissa Lem, a family physician and president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, has spoken out against the expansion of the LNG industry, saying that increasing demand for fracking worsens health outcomes by increasing emissions.
"Producing and burning fossil fuels have serious human health implications, especially for those living near fracking and LNG infrastructure," she said in a statement.
"Expanding LNG exports ties B.C. to a volatile, polluting industry [and] will drive up health-care costs, insurance rates and the cost of living while worsening health, air and water quality, and climate impacts."
In its own Climate Change Accountability report released this week, the province conceded that it is not on track to meet its own targets for cutting emissions, anticipating an emissions decrease of 20 per cent below 2007 levels by 2030, as opposed to its goal of 40 per cent.
The largest source of emissions is transport, specifically road travel, followed by the industrial sector, including oil and gas. Though the report indicates the industry has managed to reduce the intensity of emissions, it also shows spikes associated with an increase in gas extraction, driven in part by the expansion of the LNG industry.
Speaking to reporters this week, Energy and Climate Solutions Minister Adrian Dix said it was clear the province was not on track in its goals, but touted the overall emissions reductions seen in the report and promised to bring new clean energy projects powered by renewable sources online.
Government needs to make 'hard decisions': B.C. Greens
The B.C. Green Party, however, criticized the response, arguing the NDP has been focused on getting headlines by announcing new resource projects instead of making "hard decisions" needed to tackle climate change.
"Investments in clean energy projects won't get us back on track when their purpose is to power oil and gas extraction for export," Interim Leader Jeremy Valeriote said in a statement, referencing reports that new electricity projects could go toward powering LNG production facilities.
Hazel Thayer, a content creator focused on climate change based in Victoria, told CBC's All Points West this week that she's been frustrated to see concerns about the environment take a back seat to industrial development during the current political moment, referencing the lack of discussion around emissions during the recent federal election.
"It was sort of an argument of who likes pipelines more," she said.
B.C. speeding up approvals
Meanwhile, on Thursday B.C. Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma said the province would be introducing new legislation that would speed up major public and private projects, including mines and other natural resource enterprises.
Ma says the legislation gives cabinet the power to designate projects as significant on a case-by-case basis, and that they could originate from Crown corporations, local governments, First Nations or the private sector.
The minister says the legislation will speed up permitting through an alternative environmental assessment process and other streamlining tools, promising that none of these will change the quality of assessment or obligations to First Nations under the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
As for the current proposal north of Prince George, the proposal is still in the early stages of development, but McCormick said as long as fracking and LNG development are happening in Canada, it should create as many local jobs as possible.
"We're estimating a $300 million project development," he said. "Let's keep all that money and business and opportunity for locals here in the region rather than shipping that up from the U.S."
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With files from Hanna Petersen