The Canadian Press says Chevron’s request is the equivalent of about
18 million tonnes of gas per year, nearly double the 10-million-tonne,
20-year licence it originally received. That permit is due to expire at
the end of 2019.

Stalled by squeamish investors — undoubtedly worried about opposition to fracking, legal challenges, resistance to pipelines on Indigenous land and global efforts to reduce emissions — it seemed for a while as if B.C.’s grandiose vision for LNG might fall apart altogether.

But that all changed as the B.C. government began proposing major tax incentives to entice a wayward LNG industry.

On March 25 those proposals were
transmitted into new legislation that bundles tax exemptions and cheap
electricity rates into an incentive package worth an estimated $5.35
billion to LNG Canada, a consortium of some of the most profitable
multinationals in the world.

This seemingly innocuous sounding new
“fiscal framework” is being sold to British Columbians as a way to
protect the province’s air, land and water all while creating 10,000
jobs and $40 billion in investment.