A target of mid-2025 has been set for native-owned Cedar LNG to start overseas shipments of natural gas from the northern Pacific coast of British Columbia.

Haisla Nation in government filings predicted the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export outlet for 400-500 MMcf/d can be built for C$1.8-2.5 billion ($1.4-1.9 billion) on its tribal territory at Kitimat, 650 kilometers (390 miles) northwest of Vancouver.

The Haisla disclosed the project in a formal project description filed with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC). The proposal is also being presented to the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office.

The sponsors in 2015 obtained a 25-year license from the former National Energy Board, now the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), to export 7.6 Tcf/year at a rate of about 800 MMcf/d.

The native industry site is about five miles from the bigger terminal under construction by the Royal Dutch Shell plc-led LNG Canada project already sanctioned and underway. The Haisla want a link for Cedar to LNG Canada’s related Coastal GasLink supply pipeline, which is being built to carry up to 5 Bcf/d

No gas supply agreement has been announced for Cedar. However, LNG Canada’s partners that also include Petronas, Mitsubishi Corp., PetroChina Corp. and Korea Gas Corp., has deals with BC natives, including an August contract award to the Haisla for tugboat service.

The Haisla filing at the IAAC parts company with claims by fossil fuel opponents that native ways and beliefs are in unalterable conflict with industrialization.

“The project is a key element of the Haisla Nation economic and social development strategy,” the IAAC filing indicated. Cedar LNG “will further advance reconciliation by allowing Haisla Nation to — for the first time ever — directly own and participate in a major industrial development in its territory.”

The project is forecast to employ 350-500 construction workers starting in 2022 with permanent positions for 70-100 terminal operators. Natives are to fill the payrolls for the project on the Douglas Channel, the ocean passage to Kitimat.

“The Haisla people have lived off the land and water resources of the Douglas Channel and the traditional territory for thousands of years, and protection of those resources for future generations is an important objective,” said the filing.

“Haisla Nation seeks opportunities that are consistent with this objective but that will also provide material economic development for Haisla people. LNG development has been identified as one such opportunity.”

The plan includes adaptation to national and provincial climate change policies. Cedar’s annual greenhouse gas emissions would be cut by 80% to 168,000 tons from 840,000, if BC Hydro agrees to connect the plant to its northern BC power dams, according to the Haisla.

Ocean tanker traffic to Kitimat for the tribal LNG project is forecast to be 40-50 vessels per year. The Haisla also may apply to the CER for a 15-year extension of Cedar’s current gas export license to 40 years.