Fort Nelson First Nation wins fracking appeal

Fort Nelson First Nation has won a legal challenge against the BC government and a CNOOC unit, Nexen, an upstream oil and gas company.

The first long-term water license granted in the Horn River Basin for shale gas fracking has been canceled, effective immediately, by the Environmental Appeal Board, FNFN said in a statement.

The license, issued to Nexen in 2012, authorized the company to pump millions of cubic meters of water from Tsea Lake, a small lake in FNFN territory, each year until 2017.

“Granting this license was a major mistake by the province,” said FNFN Chief Liz Logan.

“After three weeks of hearings involving expert reports, scientific literature, and other evidence, the EAB said that BC government officials showed a lack of good faith in their dealings with FNFN on the license, and that the consultation process was “seriously flawed.” The EAB found that the province breached its constitutional duty to consider the potential adverse effects on FNFN,” according to the statement.

“The EAB also rejected the province’s conclusion that the license would have no significant environmental impacts, finding that the license was fundamentally flawed in concept and operation. It found that the company’s water withdrawal scheme was not supported by scientific theory or adequate data as it was based on incorrect, inadequate, and mistaken factual information and modeling results,” the statement added.

By canceling the license, the EAB has set a precedent for future provincially supported fracking and LNG exports.

Licenses will not be able to pass, unless the following standards are met:

• meaningful consultation with FNFN and other affected First Nations on water and land use;
• basing natural resource decisions on valid scientific models and adequate data; and
• upholding the public interest in preserving BC’s lakes, rivers and land for future generations.

Image: EAB