Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/294363
www.resourceworld.com 13 A P R I L / M A Y 2 0 1 4 review of expected taxes and royalties from LNG plants in Australia and BC over 20 years of operations. It found Australia has an edge on the low end of returns, collect- ing about $151 billion in taxes and royalties compared to $152 billion in BC. But at the high end, after 20 years, BC wins across all jurisdictions, charging $270 billion in taxes compared to $320 billion in Australia. Certainly, the competition will increase. The first US plant, Cheniere Energy's facil - ity on the Gulf Coast, is scheduled to export a billion cubic feet of gas a day by the end of 2015 or early 2016, and BC is behind other developments in Nigeria, Qatar and Australia. Meanwhile, two Oregon LNG proposals – the Jordan Cove Energy Project and the Oregon LNG Project – are before regulators and could be shipping by 2019, a year before the best guess for the BC proj - ects. Six other US projects already have approvals in place. Ironically, both Oregon proposals involve natural gas shipped from BC and Alberta. All this is playing out against a myriad of concerns from environmental groups, First Nations and others are worried about the impacts of the network of gas wells, pipelines, processing facilities and other equipment needed to feed the LNG plants if they go forward, with some suggesting the carbon pollution involved could rival that of the Alberta oil sands by 2020. First Nations appear divided, with some wel - coming the prospect of jobs for their people while others oppose further encroachment on their traditional territories. The solution may lie in a proposal from the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, that aboriginal groups share in tax revenues. The government is involved in discussions to that end, noting it already provides First Nations with about $50 mil - lion annually from resource revenues. But some are concerned with the increase in fracking that goes with exploration expansion. Fracking is an extractive pro- cess that involves drilling holes deep into the ground and pumping them with high- pressure chemical fluids to release natural gas from shale rock. West Moberly First Nation Chief Roland Willson says 40,000 fracking wells are already operating in the north, and there could be up to 80,000 more if the LNG proposals become reality. While BC Minister of Natural Gas Development, Rich Coleman, declined to be interviewed, a spokesman for his office said the province is "on track" to see three LNG plants operational by 2020. "We are creating lasting, responsible economic development and are working hard to build an entirely new industry in our province," the spokesman said. "By the time our facili - ties go into production global demand for LNG will have more than doubled." He said government is working closely with each proponent and the earliest any could be expected to make a FID would be later this year, with others coming in 2015 or 2016. Asked how important LNG would be to the provincial economy, the spokesman upped the estimate of plants to be built to five from three and said they would gener - ate $1 trillion in GDP. Based on five plants, he maintained that 39,000 construction jobs would be created annually over a nine- year period, even though industry experts say plants can contnued on page 23