Our newsletter: 07 December 2023
Our Alliance chair, Karen Ogen, began with a short interview on Indigenous Peoples Day at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.
It included this: “The Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation and the work that they’re doing in Alberta with the First Nations, in terms of equity ownership . . . (are) paving the way for other provinces and nations throughout Canada to help us to get to that point of equity ownership and loan guarantees for First Nations who live on reserve.”
She also checked in with the First Nations Climate Initiative delegation at the event. ”They are working with different countries, and want to start looking at ways of helping other countries get off of coal, which is the message that we come to bring, so we share in the same messaging.”
- This video: https://ow.ly/nWJt50QfGBt
Karen then spoke on a panel hosted by the Clean Resource Innovation Network. Among her points: “In the last 10 years, I think that a lot of government, industry, realized that they need to get consent from indigenous people throughout Canada (for resource projects). . . . Anywhere you go, you’re going into somebody’s Indigenous territory.”
And: “We want to preserve and protect our environment so that means that we want to have the highest environmental standards possible. So when approving projects or looking at projects, we get consent from, ‘How is this sustainable for our environment?’
- Video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zH02pMqiLZw
She also spoke on a panel with Energy for a Secure Future Canada but, alas, encountered some sound problems. Be patient, and you’ll catch her at 09:35 introducing the Alliance, and saying: “First Nations have gotten involved in LNG projects because we believe it will bring lasting benefits for our people in getting out of intergenerational poverty. We are already seeing benefits from employment, training, contracting, procurement, and benefit agreements.”
- This video: https://youtu.be/PIBjbNpb50Y
Karen clearly told COP28 listeners: “We have the cleanest LNG in the world. China wants Canadian LNG to help displace coal. We need to start sending our LNG over to China, to Asia so we can help reduce global emissions, while advancing economic reconciliation in Canada.”
And in an interview with CBC News in Dubai: “‘In Canada, we have economic reconciliation, but at the same time, too, we have climate initiatives that we need to be very cognizant of and be very diligent in how we’re going to mitigate those. . . . Our First Nations are continuously having to manage poverty and we want to be able to start to manage prosperity.
Pipeline ‘new era’ for Indigenous people
Karen Ogen sees potential First Nations equity in the Coastal Gas Link pipeline as “economic reconciliation at work.”
She said in a guest column in Business in Vancouver: “Today, after over a decade of LNG development – with the Coastal GasLink pipeline complete, and the LNG Canada facility in Kitimat nearing completion – we have entered an era where Indigenous, opportunity and ownership can be spoken together, with a proof point.
“Over the last decade, Indigenous people across northwestern B.C. have been working closely with TC Energy, trying to ensure our place at the table, not just as advisors or as workers, but as equity partners.
“The Coastal GasLink project is Canada’s first pipeline to tidewater in nearly 70 years. Perhaps more importantly, for Indigenous people, it was the first project of this scale and size that offered equity ownership. The option for First Nations communities to purchase a 10-per-cent equity interest in the pipeline was and is historic.”
- Read it in full: https://ow.ly/HmHh50QeO5i
Gas to LNG Canada by year-end?
The Coastal GasLink pipeline now has commissioning activities in full swing “so that we are poised to deliver commissioning gas to the LNG Canada facility by the end of this year.”
CGL has completed its five-year construction phase, during which “workers, contractors, Indigenous and local communities collaborated to complete Canada’s first pipeline to the west coast in 70 years.”
Meanwhile, LNG Canada is preparing to test thousands of pieces of equipment at its Kitimat site, including a period of gas flaring planned for the second quarter of 2024.
Installation of the flaring system has already begun, and the new vapour and liquid flare derricks are now visible from Kitamaat Village and Kitimat.
- CGL’s final construction update: https://ow.ly/vYNa50QeO8x
- LNG Canada prepares for tests: https://ow.ly/xC6750QeOeX
- TC Energy video on CGL completion: https://ow.ly/fviB50QeObb
Can Canada get credits for LNG exports?
Could we apply international carbon-credits to our own greenhouse-gas emissions?
It is (at least in theory) possible under Article 6 of the international Paris Climate Agreement of 2015.
And Ottawa is still expressing interest in this.
Over 1,000 new coal-fired power plants have been announced or permitted or built, with 90% of them in Asia. Canada could help by replacing coal with LNG.
But right now, if Canada produces LNG, the emissions from the production count toward Canada’s national greenhouse-gas inventory. Our exported LNG may reduce an importing country’s GHG numbers, but the difference in emissions affects the importer’s official GHG count, not Canada’s.
Could that change with new rules on carbon-credits from the COP28 conference in Dubai?
- Read more: https://ow.ly/tz2p50QeNVf
Indigenous clean-energy news
- Métis Nation of Alberta solar farm could power 1,200 homes: https://ow.ly/po4O50QeOhQ
- Fort Nelson First Nation developing geothermal energy on site of depleted BC gas wells: https://ow.ly/8o5m50Qcxh7
- Mowachaht/Muchalaht Nation in BC hopes to revive ancestral Yuquot village through ocean wave-energy plan. CBC video: https://ow.ly/UHkL50Qcy34
- New guide shows how “the energy transition is underway and is being led by Indigenous communities.” https://ow.ly/5Qkn50QeOiA
- Ontario increases funding for First Nations energy projects: https://ow.ly/F1jI50Qb1Tc
- First Nations Power Authority calls for proposals for a national database of Indigenous nuclear suppliers: https://ow.ly/kF8g50Qe9vR
- Indigenous leaders join Newfoundland and Labrador rally in support of wind-to-hydrogen project: https://ow.ly/uW6F50QeOjv
ALSO IN THE NEWS
- Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are good potential markets for BC LNG (and for hydrogen and ammonia). New report from the First Nations Climate Initiative: https://ow.ly/NM7l50QbXVS
- Indigenous Resource Network launches report on Indigenous equity deals in Canada: https://ow.ly/54f450QeOpQ
- Woodfibre LNG selects Bridgemans to provide “floatel” accommodation for project workforce: https://ow.ly/zcmm50Qccje
- Chris Sankey: Indigenous loan-guarantee program must include oil and gas: https://ow.ly/TKYj50Qc2sn See also https://ow.ly/p1wJ50Qc2so
- Canada Infrastructure Bank launches $1-billion program to support Indigenous communities in acquiring equity stakes in clean-energy and mineral projects: https://ow.ly/2EF650QbJbh
Coming up Thursday Dec. 14, our free webinar on the B.C. government’s CleanBC program — and what it will cost British Columbians. Don’t miss this one!
Register here: https://ow.ly/thjQ50QeMFQ
2024
- The 21st annual BC Natural Resources Forum, Prince George, Jan. 16-18: https://ow.ly/YokA50PIsAW
- National Coalition of Chiefs Clean Energy Summit, Feb. 15-16, Tsuut’ina Nation, near Calgary: https://ow.ly/KRF250PTvVy
- The First Nations Major Projects Coalition’s 7th annual conference, Toronto, April 22-23: https://ow.ly/4nw750PHYCf
- The 8th Indigenous Resource Opportunities Conference, Nanaimo: April 24 – 26. https://ow.ly/f1bl50PvYnx
- The International Gas Research Conference, Banff, May 13-16: https://ow.ly/YCMV50Q9E6j. (And our Alliance CEO, Karen Ogen, is on the national organizing committee. https://igrc2024.org/)
- Forward Summit: Empowering Indigenous Economies, May 14-15, Tsuut’ina Nation, near Calgary: https://ow.ly/kXA050Q2OaQ
- Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase, June 5-6, Vancouver Convention Centre: https://ow.ly/bCJM50Q9qvF
- National Coalition of Chiefs Energy and Natural Resource Summit, June 9-10, Tsuut’ina Nation, near Calgary: https://ow.ly/ch9u50PTw7X?
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