British Columbia鈥檚 liquefied natural gas might not be as clean as it first appeared. It鈥檚 all in the words. Premier Christy Clark, who has staked her government鈥檚 future on developing a liquefied natural gas industry in the province, has repeatedly said that sa国际传媒鈥檚 will be the cleanest LNG in the world. She even included it in her letter of instruction to new Environment Minister Mary Polak.
It鈥檚 a bold promise, even though the naysayers point out that natural gas still produces greenhouse gases when it鈥檚 burned, so it will never be a 鈥済reen鈥� fuel.
It turns out, however, to be a little less bold than many believed. In a news report on Wednesday, Clark is quoted as saying that the clean promise only applies to the LNG manufacturing plants, not to the whole process of getting the gas out of the ground and shipping it to the plants.
The key is the word 鈥渓iquefied.鈥� Until the plants process it, it鈥檚 still a gas, and she says her 鈥渃lean鈥� promise doesn鈥檛 apply.
A report by Tides sa国际传媒 says the plants will account for one-third of the carbon emissions, while extracting and shipping the gas to the plants accounts for two-thirds.
A Tides sa国际传媒 report says there are ways to reduce the carbon footprint of the 鈥渦pstream鈥� stages 鈥� such as storing carbon dioxide at the wellhead 鈥� but they are not required in sa国际传媒 And Clark鈥檚 comments suggest they won鈥檛 be required.
She already has her work cut out for her to keep her promise about the plants. The two leaders in the world produce one-third as much carbon as conventional plants.
Beating them won鈥檛 be easy.
