Billionaire Trump allies win: British Columbians, the cost-of-living and the climate lose

Vancouver | Unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-waututh) Nations | September 15, 2025 — Civil society organizations are responding to the BC Government’s approval of the Ksi Lisims LNG export project, pointing out that the project is owned by Texas-based Western LNG and that the BC government’s decision will worsen the climate crisis and its growing economic impact on British Columbians and Canadians. 

Documents submitted to BC’s energy regulator show the project has three proponents: the Nisga’a Nation, Rockies LNG and Western LNG. However, these documents specify “that the entity that will construct, own and operate the assets of the Project” is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Texas-based Western LNG that was formed in 2021 to develop the project.

Western LNG is funded by U.S. private equity firms, led by Wall Street giants Blackstone and Apollo Global Management. The CEO of Blackstone, Stephen Schwarzman, is one of Donald Trump’s top 10 donors – personally contributing nearly $40 million last year to elect MAGA candidates. Leon Black was the Chairman and CEO of Apollo when it invested in Western LNG to develop the Ksi Lisims project. Black resigned in 2021 after investigations found he paid at least USD $170 million to Jeffrey Epstein – money that was used to fund Epstein’s global child sex trafficking ring. These financial ties are currently under investigation by the United States Senate Committee on Finance. Black remains a major shareholder at Apollo.

The American-owned Ksi Lisims LNG export terminal is slated to be built in Korea by Samsung Heavy Industries, ensuring the primary economic benefits of building this project would flow to the Korean economy. Cost estimates for the Ksi Lisims LNG export project have more than doubled to $26 billion from $10 billion in 2022, according to industry experts. The project is reliant on construction of the 900-km Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline, which was granted a substantial start by the BC government in June.

The federal government recently suggested that a number of LNG projects are likely to be deemed in the national interest, exempting them from key regulations under federal Bill C-5. In British Columbia, similar legislation – Bills 14 and 15 – now provides the provincial government with extraordinary powers to fast track a wide array of projects, including LNG.

In July, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned global leaders that clinging to fossil fuels – as the BC Government continues to do – sabotages economies. Guterres’ comments were made as the UN released new global data that shows Asia, the intended market for BC LNG, accounted for 71 percent of new renewable energy capacity developed in 2024, which will impact the region’s demand for costly imported gas. China’s LNG imports are set to decline for the 10th straight month, and China has inked a deal with Russia for a new gas pipeline, further adding to the market oversupply dynamics facing all Canadian LNG projects.

This summer, Canadians are enduring the second worst wildfire season in the country’s history and British Columbians are already paying for the climate crisis through rapidly mounting costs of fighting wildfires, recovering from floods, health impacts and healthcare costs and insurance premiums. In 2023, the B.C. government spent $1.1 billion dollars fighting wildfires, on par with what it projects to earn in gas royalties.

A recent report by Bloomberg Intelligence indicated that the United States spent USD$1 trillion on disaster recovery and other climate-related needs over the 12 months ending May 1, equivalent to half of the entire Canadian economy.

Quotes

John Young, Senior LNG Strategist, Climate Action Network

“The climate crisis was a grave existential threat to humanity before Donald Trump was president and it will be even more grave by the time he’s gone. Using the menace Trump poses as an excuse to do the bidding of the fossil fuel industry—in the name of trade diversification—is a cynical choice that flies in the face of the world’s most respected scientific and economic expert advice.”

Tracey Saxby, Executive Director, My Sea to Sky

“Premier Eby has again disregarded the immense cost to communities and people in B.C. by welcoming this U.S.-owned LNG project, even though it is going to be people in British Columbia who will be paying the price, while U.S. billionaires profit. Frontline communities, like ours, are being forced to prop up the shaky economic viability of foreign-owned LNG export projects. In our case, we’re experiencing all of the impacts of LNG construction, while the proponent contests paying community contributions in BC Supreme Court, alleging it would cut too far into project profits.” 

Thomas Green, Senior Climate Policy Adviser, David Suzuki Foundation

“Approving another LNG project means more pollution, higher climate risks, and greater harm to our health. With wildfires and extreme weather worsening across Canada, it would only add fuel to the fire. It’s a risky economic gamble—global demand for fossil fuels is peaking, and this project could become a rusting hulk on the coast. We don’t need more fossil fuel infrastructure when clean energy and electric technologies can power our lives, cut costs, and create better jobs here in B.C.”

Kai Nagata, Communications Director, Dogwood

“These American billionaires don’t care about our communities, or the costs inflicted on B.C. families. Our leaders are using our tax dollars to subsidize foreign projects that will make life in B.C. even more expensive. Premier David Eby isn’t standing up to Trump—he’s enacting Trump’s ‘drill baby drill’ agenda while enriching Trump’s biggest donors.”

Shannon McPhail, Co-Executive Director, Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition

“When the Premier says that LNG projects make us all better off, he’s either not being honest or he’s delusional. This LNG expansion will benefit American corporations but it is going to cost everyday people through higher domestic energy costs, healthcare costs, local infrastructure costs, and loss of revenue for the economies and businesses in this region that are dependent on an intact ecosystem. And there are huge climate costs with wildfires, drought and loss of biodiversity. This LNG terminal will harm the marine environment and irreplaceable Nass River salmon while the pipeline will dig through hundreds of salmon bearing streams in both the Skeena and Nass watersheds. Local, robust economies are being sacrificed for extractive foreign-owned LNG projects. Premier Eby is socializing the costs and ensuring local harm, while the profits go to private corporations.”

Dr. Melissa Lem, Family Physician and President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment

“Research shows that people living in communities near polluting fracking operations, which feed LNG projects with natural gas, face significantly higher risks of lung and heart disease, childhood cancer, birth defects and premature death. Within BC, Indigenous and rural populations are disproportionately exposed. Yet governments continue to ignore these serious health harms—including the real impacts to the healthcare system of doctors moving away from northeast BC because of their concerns about fracking. This may be why a majority of British Columbians support pausing LNG development until the comprehensive, independent and cumulative health impact assessment we urgently need is funded and completed.”

Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), spokesperson for Gidimt’en Checkpoint

“Forcing projects through unceded Indigenous lands without Free, Prior, and informed consent has proven to cost industry and government billions of extra dollars. Due to the blatant disregard for traditional governance systems, private industry, like Coastal Gaslink and the PRGT pipeline, have and will be forced to use militarized police and private security forces to complete their projects. The CGL pipeline cost millions in tax payers dollars and degraded human rights for all citizens. These behaviours are reminiscent of the Trump administration’s complete denial of democratic processes and the path toward a police state. This will affect everyone in our territories and destroy critical ecosystems we all depend on.” 

Emiko Newman, BC Climate Emergency Campaign Coordinator

“Premier Eby is heeding the call for “elbows up” by linking arms with President Trump and the oil and gas sector, while sacrificing the health and economic wellbeing of British Columbians. This approval is just the latest example in an accelerated pattern of the BC government steamrolling Indigenous rights, deepening the climate crisis, and strengthening BC’s ties to MAGA billionaires.”

Andrew Dumbrille, Co-Director, Equal Routes

“It seems Premier Eby wants to buoy public support for fossil fuel expansion with inaccurate facts about made-in-BC LNG. A recent fact checking report on industry and government claims about Canada’s LNG life cycle emissions point to a GHG footprint that was no better than other global sources, and even higher in some cases. Exporting Canadian LNG could significantly raise the fuel’s overall emissions, largely due to methane leaks during LNG tanker transport. Leveraging projections that assume renewable-energy powered facilities, excluding methane emissions from tankers, and sidestepping real-world scenarios is misleading.”

The spokespeople quoted are available to do media interviews.

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About the Ksi Lisims LNG project:

The Ksi Lisims LNG project proposes to build a liquified natural gas processing plant and marine terminal, located on the northern end of Pearse Island on the northwest coast of B.C. It involves constructing and operating up to two floating liquid natural gas structures which together would receive up to 2 billion cubic feet per day of pipeline grade natural gas and export 12 million tonnes per year of natural gas. The project is reliant on construction of the 900-km Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline, which was granted a substantial start by the BC government in June.

Media contact:

Reykia Fick
Communications Director | Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
647-762-9168
media@cape.ca