B.C. company pressures feds to pave way for $750M gas export facility in Prince Rupert

Andrew Kurjata · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 11, 2025 5:38 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 hours ago

A large B.C. exporter has announced it is acceptable to put $750 cardinal successful a caller liquefied petroleum state (LPG) export installation successful Prince Rupert, B.C. — though it inactive faces a ineligible conflict against the Port of Prince Rupert successful bid for it to determination ahead.

Additionally, Trigon Pacific Terminals CEO Rob Booker is urging the federal authorities to expedite the support process for the project, arguing it is successful that nationalist involvement against the backdrop of a commercialized warfare with the United States that has Canada seeking caller markets for its lipid products.

Booker says the company's committee has fixed afloat spending support for the project, which could beryllium operational arsenic soon arsenic 2029 and would absorption connected selling merchandise to Japan, South Korea and India, alternatively than the United States.

If it moves ahead, it would person an yearly capableness of 2.5 cardinal tonnes per year.

"I deliberation this task intelligibly aligns with national priorities with respect to Canadian vigor security, Canadian export absorption distant from the U.S.," helium said. "It's a win-win-win, in that it's shovel-ready and acceptable to spell and has the wealth to bash it."

Trigon operates the largest export terminal astatine the Port of Prince Rupert, the third-busiest larboard successful Canada. Its absorption is chiefly connected metallurgical ember but it is seeking to diversify into liquefied state and different products destined for overseas markets.

The task is backed by some the Lax Kw'alaams and Metlakatla First Nations, who person equity positions successful Trigon, arsenic good arsenic the Albertan government, wherever overmuch of Canada's petroleum is produced.

Brian Jean, Alberta's curate of vigor and minerals, called the concern determination "great quality for Canada and Alberta."

Project could beryllium blocked by exclusivity deal

However, speech from regulatory hurdles, Trigon is besides facing a ineligible conflict successful bid to proceed.

Last year, the institution sued the Port of Prince Rupert, arguing the larboard is blocking its effort to alteration its concern exemplary to see liquid state exports.

WATCH | Competing lawsuits implicit the aboriginal of vigor exports astatine Port of Prince Rupert: 

However, the larboard has an exclusivity woody with the exporters AltaGas and Vopak who person approved their ain $1.35 cardinal export installation successful Prince Rupert and who accidental portion of that determination was based connected the deal, which provides them with information successful speech for the concern of clip and wealth needed to beforehand the project.

The Port of Prince Rupert, for its part, has filed a countersuit against Trigon, claiming the archetypal suit is damaging the port's estimation arsenic a reliable spouse and that violating exclusivity could harm aboriginal deals.

Asked astir those lawsuits, Booker said helium is "confident determination are respective paths the national authorities tin instrumentality to marque this a triumph for everyone."

Emissions from fossil substance accumulation rising

The national authorities has not weighed successful connected the project, but past week the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney introduced caller authorities aimed astatine fast-tracking large projects, with 5 criteria to find whether they are successful the "national interest."

Those criteria see the project's likelihood of success, whether it would fortify the country's resiliency and beforehand the interests of Indigenous Peoples, and whether it would lend to economical maturation successful an environmentally liable way.

However, immoderate biology groups person expressed interest that the threats from the United States are being utilized arsenic a mode to unit done projects that would antecedently person been blocked owed to their biology impacts.

Those concerns travel arsenic overmuch of western Canada, including parts of B.C., are erstwhile again blanketed by fume from wildfires that person worsened, successful part, due to the fact that of rising temperatures.

While Canada's emissions person dropped slightly, the astir caller investigation from the Canadian Climate Institute recovered the advancement was mostly offset by an summation successful emissions from lipid and state production, which arsenic of past year's analysis, made up 31 per cent of Canada's nationalist total.