BC Business
Back to Mars The unfamiliar haze over Vancouver may beget a familiar solution: the Martin Mars water bombers, which doused B.C. wildfires for four decades, may make a return. On Monday, the Alberni Vallery News reported that the provincial government, which retired its use of the bombers in 2013, was in communication with the fleet’s current owner, Coulson Group, over their potential use. That news followed the rocket rise of an online petition that called for the return of the Martin Mars bombers—despite the government’s insistence that they are expensive, inefficient to operate and accounted for only half a per cent of the flights by firefighting aircraft in the five years before they were retired.
Almost finalThe provincial government is touting its 140-page project development agreement—released Monday—with Pacific NorthWest LNG, which hammers out how the project will be taxed, its eligibility for tax credits and the carbon emissions standards to be applied at the Prince Rupert plant.The agreement, which set the stage for what seems to be one of many final investment decisions, was signed in May. You can read the full agreement here.
LNG weigh-inThe Gitga’at First Nation is taking the B.C. government to court over its decision to exclude them from the consolation process for Pacific NorthWest (PNW) LNG plant, planned for Prince Rupert. The nation—whose territory is 125 kilometres south of the proposed facility—cites oral records as evidence that the Gitga’at have fished and hunted in Prince Rupert before colonization. The nation’s chief councillor, Arnold Clifton, also cited a more immediate concern: two-thirds of nation members live in Prince Rupert.