A liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant might be coming to Sarita Bay courtesy of a partnership between the Huu-ay-aht First Nations and Steelhead LNG.
Steelhead LNG executives and John Jack, an elected councillor from the Huu-ay-aht First Nations made a joint presentation of what they termed an “Opportunity Development Agreement” at a special meeting of council at 2:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon.
The facility, which would be in operation in seven or eight years, would liquefy the natural gas that would be moved along the pipelines from northern B.C. Steelhead told council that Port Alberni was a good location for this development due to its deepwater port.
According to Steelhead, this could eventually lead to an investment of $30 billion from the facility over its 25-year lifespan.
Jack said that the Huu-ay-aht agreed to consider the LNG project because Steelhead has been open with them as to what it would entail and has taken their thoughts into consideration.
According to Jack, the Huu-ay-aht want to increase economic development as well as the standard of living in their community and that “when we do well, everyone else tends to do well [too.]”
Steelhead still has a plethora of studies to complete before the project can get underway, but Jack is hopeful that the project will get the final go-ahead. It’s projected to create 3,000 jobs during construction and 300 jobs afterwards.
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