Did everyone notice the Steelhead LNG ad that appeared in the paper last week – the one Stephen Roberts – the Liberal candidate for Saanich North and the Islands told us at the all candidates meeting also last week that “it isn’t going to happen”?
Why would a smart company like Steelhead waste money on ads for something that is not going to happen? So let’s debunk the ad which says: safe, clean, non-toxic, non-flammable and non-explosive. Wow, really?
LNG may be safer than some of the fossil fuel alternatives, but LNG is NOT “safe.” The explosion at Williams Co. LNG plant in Washington State three years ago, injuring five workers and threatening to level a 1 km “lethal zone” around the plant, is clear evidence.
LNG is not “clean.” It may be cleaner than coal, but it is not cleaner than solar or wind. And it is mostly made up of methane which is 70 to 100 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Letting three per cent escape anywhere between the well head and your furnace makes it as dirty as coal.
And pipelines leak all the time, sometimes they even rupture.
If LNG is “non-toxic”, why does the datasheet on LNG require self-contained breathing apparatus and protective clothing if exposed to LNG?
And I think we already covered the “non-flammable/non-explosive” criteria with the LNG explosion in Washington.
LNG under pressure at -150°C is not likely to be explosive, unless the vapours are contained – like they probably will be in a liquefaction plant proposed for Saanich Inlet.
Granted that there have only been about two dozen catastrophic accidents with LNG pipelines and terminals, but these killed almost 300 people and one incident engulfed 27 square kilometers in fire. And there have been many more accidents with natural gas pipelines like the one which would feed the LNG plant in Saanich Inlet.
Since the ad was paid for by Steelhead, it does not point out that fracking gas permanently contaminates groundwater just as we are facing a global water shortage due to climate change. Nor does it mention the devastating effects on the traditional lands of First Nations who signed a treaty with Canada in good faith, trusting this would protect their ability to hunt and fish “as formerly.”
The vast network of roads, pipelines, wells and increased human populations working (and hunting and fishing) in the area already compromise those treaty rights. And we are doing this at a time when natural gas prices are so marginal that companies must convince governments to accept deals which return nothing (or less than nothing) to the citizens of B.C.
By looking back to the “good old days” of oil and gas we have run headlong into the wall of climate change. And if we refuse to embrace that new reality, there will be no future for our children and grandchildren. Even if you are a wealthy executive of Steelhead, do you want that to be your legacy for your family?
Nancy and Gary Searing, North Saanich