Quebec City, September 5, 2019 – With the federal election campaign soon to be underway, a petition against the GNL Québec project has been signed by over 40,000 citizens from across Quebec. Citizen and environmental groups want to make GNL Québec, an enormous project to transport and liquefy fossil natural gas, a pivotal issue in the federal election.
The GNL Québec project, which seeks to export natural gas from Western Canada to European and Asian markets, involves the construction of a 780-km pipeline across Quebec, from Abitibi to the Saguenay Fjord. It also includes construction of the Énergie Saguenay plant, where the gas transported through the pipeline would be liquefied before being transported via supertanker through the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic Ocean. These ships would cross the only area in the St. Lawrence that is protected for belugas, as well as major feeding grounds for the blue whale and other endangered species.