LNG Canada's export terminal under construction in Kitimat, B.C., in January, 2021.Supplied
The company behind the Coastal GasLink liquefied natural gas pipeline across northern British Columbia says it is nearing 65 per cent overall completion of the project.
A statement from TC Energy says workers have completed two of eight sections of the 670-kilometre pipeline running from the Dawson Creek area to the LNG Canada processing and exporting facility being built in Kitimat.
The statement says all pipe is installed on section 1 west of Dawson Creek and section 4 north of Prince George, with those sections to be filled with pressurized water to ensure they are sealed and safe for operation.
The monthly construction update for April shows pipe installation is between 30 and 60 per cent complete on all but one of the remaining six sections of the line.
No pipe has been laid along a disputed 78-kilometre segment through unceded Wet’suwet’en territory in central B.C., although Coastal GasLink says 96 per cent of that portion has been cleared and more than 10 per cent has been graded.
The company says it has reached partnerships with members of the Skin Tyee, Wet’suwet’en and Witset First Nations for construction of the disputed section of the pipeline, marking Coastal GasLink’s third Indigenous collaboration on the project.
Many Wet’suwet’en elected chiefs support the pipeline’s economic benefits, but the nation’s hereditary chiefs oppose the project on their lands, leading to confrontations and arrests as an injunction against blockades is enforced.
The statement from the company says it is focused on completing remaining sections of the pipeline by next year.
It says it looks forward to this “new chapter” in its long-standing relationship with First Nations as it works to advance progress on the project.
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