What’s making news in British Columbia

VANCOUVER – —

PACIFIC NORTHWEST LNG PROJECT CANCELLED

A controversial liquefied natural gas project that B.C.’s former Liberal government said would transform the provincial economy has been cancelled.

Pacific Northwest LNG says it will not be proceeding with the $36-billion megaproject, which included a liquefaction terminal near Prince Rupert.

The consortium led by Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas says it made the decision due to prolonged depressed prices and shifts in the energy industry.

The project had won conditional federal approval last September but faced court challenges and divisions among First Nations leaders.

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HORGAN AND TRUDEAU DISCUSS OPIOIDS AND WILDFIRES

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier John Horgan met in Ottawa on Tuesday and focused on areas where they agree.

Trudeau said afterwards that he plans to visit B.C. next week to assess the damage left by wildfires and that the federal government stands ready to do everything it can to help people who were forced from their homes.

The two leaders also discussed the opioid crisis, the softwood lumber dispute with the U.S. and affordable housing.

For now, they avoided discussion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion that Ottawa has approved and Horgan has vowed to fight using every legal tool available.

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WILDFIRE DAMAGE EXPECTED TO COST BEEF PRODUCERS MILLIONS

The B.C. Cattlemen’s Association predicts wildfires in the Interior will end up costing nearly 1,200 beef producers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Association manager Kevin Boon says ranchers are still in the process of tallying the damage.

But he says fires in the Cariboo and Chilcotin regions are estimated to have charred about 1,000 square kilometres of ranch land, destroying livestock, feed, fences and other infrastructure.

Boon says federal and provincial governments have promised they will be providing assistance to producers but no details have yet been offered.

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WELLS GRAY PARK REOPENS AFTER WILDFIRE RISK CLEARED

Wells Gray Provincial Park north of Kamloops reopened to campers and hikers this morning after being closed because of a soaring wildfire risk earlier this month, but officials say other closed parks and trails in the central and southern Interior won’t be opened for now.

Kamloops interim mayor Arjun Singh says there’s no end in sight to hot dry conditions so the city’s parks will remain closed until further notice.

Sixty-nine other provincial parks and protected areas across the Chilcotin and Cariboo remain closed due to the extreme fire risk.

A ban on campfire’s and other open burning is also in effect across B.C.

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MP CAMPAIGNS IN SUPPORT OF BILL DEALING WITH ABANDONED VESSELS

A Vancouver Island member of Parliament has tabled a private member’s bill aimed at closing a loophole she says still exists in dealing with abandoned vessels.

A new federal program was announced last month to address the problem but New Democrat Sheila Malcolmson says it appears municipal and provincial governments will still largely be left dealing with hundreds of abandoned vessels.

Malcolmson says her bill is modelled on legislation in Washington state, which has an advanced registration system to help track down owners of abandoned vessels to make them responsible for cleanup costs.

She campaigned Tuesday in Nova Scotia in support of the bill, which would also make the coast guard responsible for directing the removal of all abandoned vessels.

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CHINOOK ARRIVAL IN YUKON RIVER RIGHT ON SCHEDULE

The first Yukon River chinook salmon of the year are beginning to reach Whitehorse.

The supervisor of the Whitehorse Fish Ladder, Ross McBee, says the first chinook, a female, was spotted with an underwater camera at the base of the ladder on Sunday and, since then, several male fish have arrived.

McBee expects the salmon should begin passing the ladder’s viewing platform Tuesday or Wednesday and says the return is right on schedule when compared to previous years.

He says higher chinook returns have been reported in lower sections of the Yukon River through Alaska, and officials expect to see more fish than the nearly 1,600 that relied on the ladder to reach spawning grounds last year.

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(The Canadian Press)