The lead developer of the Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas (LNG) project planned for the West Coast has announced benefit agreements with three First Nations in northern British Columbia, two of which it says have withdrawn legal challenges against the $10-billion plant and export terminal. 

Houston-based Western LNG distributed three separate press releases Tuesday announcing agreements with the Metlakatla First Nation, Lax Kw’alaams Band and Gitxaala Nation. 

The Metlakatla and Lax Kw’alaams filed separate judicial review applications in Federal Court last fall, alleging Ottawa ignored their concerns about the adverse impacts from the $10-billion project planned for Pearse Island, by the border with Alaska. 

The Lax Kw’alaams news release said as part of the benefit agreement, which includes procurement opportunities, it has withdrawn its challenge. A spokeswoman for Western LNG later confirmed the Metlakatla had withdrawn its lawsuit as well. 

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“This agreement reflects the importance of working together to create opportunities that benefit both our members and the broader northwest region,” said Metlakatla Chief Councillor Robert Nelson in the news release sent by Western LNG. The Metlakatla agreement includes climate initiatives and business opportunities, it said. 

“Continuing to advance these foundational agreements with Indigenous Nations helps to build prosperity for communities in northwest B.C. and continues to be a key priority for Ksi Lisims LNG and PRGT,” said Davis Thames, head of Western LNG.

“Collaborating with Nations has been the core of this project since its inception and a major part of what we see as making Ksi Lisims LNG a successful initiative.” 

The other Ksi Lisims partners are Rockies LNG, a consortium of Canadian natural gas producers, and the Nisga’a Nation, on whose land the project would be built. 

“We have always envisioned the Ksi Lisims LNG project as economically important for the entirety of northwest B.C., and we are pleased to see this vision materializing,” said Eva Clayton, president of the Nisga’a Nation.

Prince Rupert gas pipeline still facing challenges

Tim Hodgson, the federal natural resources minister, touted the agreements in remarks to the Global Energy Show in Calgary. 

“These agreements show that when government’s proponents and Indigenous communities engage seriously in good faith, we can find solutions that benefit everyone,” he said. 

“They show that in 2026, we can and should go beyond consultation and invest in real, meaningful partnerships with Indigenous peoples.”

Western LNG also announced the nations had either updated or signed new agreements regarding the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, which would feed gas into the Ksi Lisims project, where it would be chilled into a liquid state, enabling it to be shipped overseas. 

Ksi Lisims has recently announced preliminary supply deals with German utilities and the partners aim to make a final go-ahead decision this year. 

However, the project is still facing several political and legal challenges from groups concerned about the environmental impacts increased gas production and shipping will have on the area.

A Gitxsan Nation hereditary chief is challenging the B.C. government’s decision to allow a pipeline to go through what he calls “pristine wilderness,” on the strength of a 12-year-old environmental review while disregarding traditional Gitxsan governance by declining to attend feast hall meetings.

Two B.C. Supreme Court petitions were filed over the provincial government’s decision last year to deem the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline “substantially started,” meaning it wouldn’t need a new environmental assessment.

The liquefied natural gas pipeline’s construction, which was authorized in 2014, and a deadline to start it was extended to 2024, spurring the court challenges from Gitxsan Hereditary Chief Charlie Wright and environmentalist groups opposed to the project.