British Columbia Premier David Eby says his government is “counting” on the Nisga’a First Nation to help “increase the level of support” among other nations that opposed a massive liquefied natural gas export facility soon to float off the northwestern coast.

“There is still work ahead” to get other area First Nations on board that opposed the Ksi Lisims LNG project which has a limited window to get off the ground, Eby said Tuesday. 

“So, we’ve got to move, but we also are committed to working with neighbouring First Nations in partnership with the Nisga’a to be able to increase support as much as possible,” Eby said. 

Both the provincial and federal government have signed off on the facility that is an agreement with the Nisga’a, Rockies LNG Limited Partnership and Texas-based Western LNG, but four of six other First Nations asked to provide consent did not grant it, and numerous environmental groups are also opposed. 

Eby said he has “great faith” in the Nisga’a and its president Eva Clayton to deliver that support through an “open spirit of engagement” with the other First Nations, adding that the project was designed to minimize environmental impacts.   

Federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson hailed the streamlined approval of the project that he said represents one of the largest private sector investments in Canadian history.

Hodgson said from Ottawa that the project is an example of the “one project, one review” system in which the Canadian government has relied on the province for an assessment.

He said the project represents the “culmination of years of advocacy” by the Nisga’a as led by Clayton.

Eby, who was speaking in Vancouver on Tuesday, said his government needs to work in partnership with those nations that are opposed however possible to accommodate their concerns about the LNG project.

The project to build two floating facilities off Pearse Island in northwest B.C. is huge, designed to process two-billion cubic feet of gas per day and export 12-million tonnes of LNG per year. It is said to be valued at around $17 billion. 

Eby said his government is going to “stand” with the Nisga’a because their decision to identify this project as a priority makes it “meaningful” for the government. 

Hodgson said the world “is relying on Canada for clean energy,” and he looks forward to the project being built.

A group of environmental organizations said in a news release that the plan is a “failure of environmental leadership and a direct contradiction” of provincial and federal commitments to climate action. 

Lawyer Imalka Nilmalgoda from the group Ecojustice said it “is fundamentally at odds with B.C.’s claims to be a climate leader,” while Isabel Siu-Zmuidzinas of the Wilderness Committee said the province was “green-lighting LNG projects that trample over communities and torch our climate goals.” 

However, Eby said the project will help drive down carbon pollution by producing some of the “cleanest, low-carbon LNG anywhere” in the world, which is in high demand from major trading partners like Japan and South Korea.

Interim B.C. Green leader Jeremy Valeriote said in a statement that the project represents a “30-megaton carbon bomb” that will cause “devastating” and “lasting” harm to the environment. 

“LNG is not a clean fuel,” Valeriote says. “It is not a bridge to renewable energy—it is a bridge to nowhere. This project props up a dying fossil fuel industry while the premier greenwashes the false idea that clean energy isn’t possible or profitable right now.” 

While the facility is being developed by the Nisga’a, Rockies LNG and Western LNG, documents show the project’s assets will be constructed, owned and operated by wholly owned subsidiaries of Western LNG, based in Houston.

That aspect has also drawn criticism from environmentalists and the Greens. 

“The NDP has approved a foreign-owned, foreign-built fossil fuel project that will enrich U.S. billionaires while leaving British Columbians to bear the costs,” Valeriote says.

When asked about the U.S. connection in the midst of tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, Eby said “welcoming and encouraging international investment” in B.C. is a key part of the government’s strategy to create more jobs in the province. 

“Those investors, regardless of their political affiliation, could invest anywhere,” he said. “They could bring their money to other places.” 

The project will be supplied by the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline that is being built in northern B.C.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2025.