Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday approved a US$27 billion liquefied natural gas project on British Columbia’s northwest coast in a decision that is considered a litmus test for a government that has vowed to do more for the environment.
It is Trudeau’s first decision on a major energy project. It comes ahead of some important pipeline decisions that will cause him problems from either industry, or environmentalists and Aborigines.
“Helping to get Canada’s resources to market is a key responsibility,” Canadian Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said, announcing the decision alongside two other Cabinet ministers in Richmond, British Columbia. “At the same time, we said that economic prosperity must go hand in hand with environmental responsibility.”
The proposed liquefied natural gas processing plant by Petronas and other partners near Prince Rupert, British Columbia, plans to ship 19 million tonnes of frozen, liquefied natural gas a year to markets in Asia, but the project has drawn criticism both for the carbon emissions it would cause and for the possible impact that the export terminal would have on the wild salmon habitat in the Skeena River estuary.
Trudeau still faces decisions on Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline proposal that would transport oil to the Pacific Coast for shipment to Asia, as well as Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain pipeline expansion from Alberta to British Columbia.
The Canadian government put 190 conditions on the Pacific NorthWest LNG project, including environmental and fish protection.
The conditional approval does not mean the project will be built. An increasing supply of natural gas has depressed international prices, making the economics of the project less certain than they were.
A spokesman for Pacific NorthWest LNG said that any decision to begin construction would still have to go to the firm’s shareholders.
“It sure would be a great boost for the country if we can get these projects going,” British Columbia Premier Christy Clark said. “I don’t know when the market conditions might improve enough for these projects to go ahead, but I do know that in China, India and Japan people are really hungry for a cleaner alternative to coal.”
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
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