B.C.'s Natural Gas Industry
Natural gas is already widely used to heat our homes and generate power in North America.
B.C.'s natural gas industry is already the second largest in Canada, but further expansion depends on getting the gas to new markets in Asia.
To do that the gas must be extracted in the province's interior and moved down pipelines to Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) plants on the coast.
Once at the LNG plants, the gas would be loaded on ships heading to Asia where prices are currently four times higher.
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Natural gas deposits
B.C.'s natural gas is found in shale and other sedimentary rocks far below the earth's surface.
The Horn River Basin holds an estimated 78 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Estimates for the size of the other basins in B.C. have yet to be compiled.
Currently B.C. produces 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas each year.
The province wants to expand production to three trillion cubic feet per year by 2020.
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Extraction and pipelines
B.C.'s natural gas is extracted from deep underground by fracturing the shale rock with high pressure water and chemicals, allowing it to seep out from cracks in the rock.
Once it is extracted, it is refined to remove impurities and then transported by pipelines to ports and markets.
Currently 16 per cent is consumed in B.C., 41 per cent is exported to the U.S. and 43 per cent is used in the rest of Canada.
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LNG Plants and shipping
To export natural gas by ships, special LNG plants would cool it to -160 C to turn it into a liquid.
Then it could be loaded on tankers equipped with giant insulated tanks to transport it to markets in Asia.
The province hopes to have the first Liquid Natural Gas plant open in Kitimat by 2015, and three plants in operation by 2020, including the Douglas Channel LNG Plant.
Environmental concerns
Energy produced using natural gas creates significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than coal or oil.
But critics point out it takes a large amount of water, chemicals and energy to extract, refine and ship the gas to market.
People who live near natural gas wells using fracking technology have also expressed concerns about toxic gases releases.
B.C. Premier Christy Clark's proposal to raise $130 billion to $260 billion from liquid natural gas royalties and taxes over the next 30 years is raising many questions among her critics.
Yesterday during the speech from the thone, Clark said the money raised from expanding the province's natural gas export could be use to pay down the debt through a new B.C. Prosperity Fund.
But not everyone thinks the scheme is viable. Opposition parties say the Liberal's plan to pay down the province's $56 billion debt using revenues from gas exports to Asia is wishful thinking.
NDP Leader Adrian Dix said It will be at least 2015 or 2016 before the first liquid natural gas export terminal is up and running on B.C.'s coast, and it could take years after that for the industry to hit its stride.
Independent Cariboo MLA Bob Simpson says the government's plan to generate hundreds of billions in revenue from the exports sounds great, but ignores the many environmental risks associated with increasing gas drilling.
"We have to pollute, permanently, trillions of litres of fresh water every year to achieve that; fragment the land base the likes of which we've never seen; put people's health and safety at risk. None of the environmental implications of this economic strategy were addressed in the throne speech."
Simpson says the plan would also cause the government to miss its own greenhouse gas reduction targets.
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