Help or Hindrance?

摘要

British Columbia is making good on various regulatory reforms designed to ease the way for Royal Dutch Shell's massive LNG Canada,in the process greasing the skids for export projects to come.But is the federal government in Ottawa going to upset provincial efforts by revising Canada's Environmental Assessment Act(EAA)in ways that will make the review process so onerous and expensive that new LNG projects could be strangled at birth? At the federal level,the regulatory regime has already been a”mixed bag-uneven in approach but not all negative,”a longtime observer says.”I wouldn't say it's gone out of its way,but it has issued major approvals for LNG projects in a timely fashion.Woodfibre and LNG Canada went fairly smoothly,”he says.”But for future projects,the jury is still out.”Shell took a final investment decision on the 14 million ton per year LNG Canada last October;this week,Japan's Jera agreed to buy up to 1.2 million tons/yr from the project(WGI Mar.27'19).The 2.1 million ton/yr Woodfibre LNG may not be sanctioned for years-if ever.But neither faces the kind of scrutiny that would result from a makeover of the country's signature resource development law.