Billion dollar fracking project pitched to B.C. First Nations

PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. — A $1.15−billion dollar benefits package is being offered to a British Columbia First Nation in a bid to win members’ support for a proposed liquefied−natural−gas terminal and pipeline.

Details of the offer to the Lax Kw’alaams (LACKS’−qwah−LAMBS’) from the provincial government and project owners, including Malaysia’s Petronas, have been published on the band’s website.

The band would receive a one−time payment of nearly $28 million, annual payments over 40 years totalling about $1 billion, land, targeted funding for fisheries, scholarships and training, as well as jobs.

Pacific NorthWest LNG, a majority of which is owned by Petronas, plans to build an export terminal near a Prince Rupert−area island on the northern coast where members currently harvest plants and medicines.

The pipeline, which has yet to receive regulatory approval, would deliver natural gas from near Hudson’s Hope in northeastern B.C. to the island, passing through the band’s territory.

Band leaders will ask members to support the projects during upcoming votes in Lax Kw’alaams, Prince Rupert and Vancouver.