[quote=“bthedog”]Today is a key day for this area…the BC Legislature will resume today at 12PM and this is to likely be the 1st day that major talks in regards to LNG taxation and what the Liberals have come up with for their LNG tax plan.
Should be an interesting week in BC politics and Rupert eyes should be very much focused on it as it will greatly impact this area, whether your are for or against this regions LNG plans.[/quote]
I fear BC will pretty much have to give it away at this point. The Libs have pretty much painted themselves into a corner with all their LNG promises/dreams. I am 100% in favour on LNG but do believe BC Libs have mortgaged so much of BC’s future dreams on LNG they will forward with it at almost any cost.
[quote=“TerriblePerson”]
There a lot of people on the city’s west side who aren’t happy the pellet terminal went through. But yeah, the city dropped the ball by deciding to sit out that game.[/quote]
The Pinnacle Pellet EA was conducted by the Port as the “responsible authority” under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act . That’s usually how it goes for projects on federal land. The standards under the Act and regulation are comprehensive and subject to oversight by the Agency.
The federal Minister can refer an EA to an independent review panel, and usually does if a proposed project is very large, but can also refer it if there are “public concerns”. See section 38 < laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts … ml#docCont .
The City could have requested that the Minister refer the EA to an independent review, but instead the Mayor and council opted for the politics of protest by boycotting the EA.
The City could have also asked for a joint review by the feds and the Province, which would have made sense since the Province regulates activities that impact air quality, which appears to be the major concern of Graham-Atlin residents. The City dropped the ball in more ways than one.
The Petronas proposal, in contrast, will be independently reviewed and the Flora Bank issues will no doubt be considered. It will be interesting to see what they decide.
I fear BC will pretty much have to give it away at this point. The Libs have pretty much painted themselves into a corner with all their LNG promises/dreams. I am 100% in favour on LNG but do believe BC Libs have mortgaged so much of BC’s future dreams on LNG they will forward with it at almost any cost.[/quote]
The issue will be whether the Province comes up with a tax regime that is internationally competitive. That doesn’t mean that they have to give it away.
I think that Rich Coleman proposed a sensible approach when he said at the UBCM conference that taxes on LNG plants have to be “fair but limited”, ie with a cap on municipal tax rates like what applies to Port facilities.
The Prince Rupert council opposes caps on Port lands and thinks that they should be able to set taxes according to what they think is fair, ie without limits.
I could see that approach scaring aware LNG investment. Who would want to invest billions of dollars when a significant expense - municipal taxes - is left entirely to seven people around a table who are fond of writing protest letters and talk about ‘kicking asses’, ‘laying the boots’ and ‘hauling them in’?
There’s been a flurry of announcements relating to Petronas over the last few hours, too many to summarize here; best to refer to this article on North Coast Review for details: northcoastreview.blogspot.ca/201 … ncial.html
It’s clear that Petronas is moving in a concerted manner on various fronts, but they’ve also set some critical deadlines.
That’s pretty good that they’ll be dropping the dredging plan. I am going to see what they plan to do instead. It appears they are listening, which is pretty cool to see. That said, you don’t have to be a tree hugger to think food on the plate comes first, bthedog.
And had it not been for those pesky local enviros you like to admonish, this project would never have recieved the type of scrutiny and necessary change it so needed. That’s how it’s supposed to work. Now go cry in your choco milk because this time the enviros were right.