SQUAMISH B.C. – B.C. Green leader Sonia Furstenau today called on the B.C. NDP government to pause plans for Woodfibre LNG based on recent research that reveals pregnant people living near fossil fuel facilities that use flaring are at a 50% higher risk of premature birth than those without exposure. Flaring refers to the practice of burning off excess gas for various reasons, including pressure variations in pipelines, economic valuation, waste management and facility maintenance.

“I have very serious concerns for communities near the proposed Woodfibre LNG facility in Howe Sound, particularly for pregnant people and their newborns,” Furstenau said. “If Woodfibre LNG goes ahead as planned, pregnant people exposed to its flaring could face up to a 50% increase in preterm births. This is a shocking revelation that should spark immediate action from the B.C. government, including putting a pause on plans for Woodfibre LNG. We need immediate, independent research on the health outcomes of flaring in B.C. and close monitoring of communities near existing oil and gas sites where flaring takes place.

“Government has a responsibility to look out for British Columbians. Continuing to expand fossil fuel infrastructure that poses a risk to human health and exacerbates the climate crisis is the opposite of the leadership we need right now. By going ahead with these developments, Minister Heyman and Premier Eby are demonstrating to the public that the potential health impact on pregnant British Columbians is an acceptable risk in the BC NDP's pursuit of fracked gas and LNG."

The research was conducted by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (USC), and published in Environmental Health Perspectives in 2020. While it has not been evaluated in relation to proposed fossil fuel facilities such as Woodfibre LNG, experts believe the impacts would be similar (see subject matter expert quotes and backgrounder below). 

The B.C. government issued Woodfibre LNG’s environmental assessment certificate (EAC) in 2015, before research on the health impacts of flaring existed. In 2020, B.C.’s Chief Executive Assessment Officer renewed Woodfibre LNG’s EAC without having evaluated the then-new research on the health impacts of oil and gas flaring.

“While this research out of UCLA and USC is relatively new, physicians in B.C. are already concerned about the health impacts of fracking and the government needs to take that seriously,” added Jeremy Valeriote, an environmental engineer and B.C. Green candidate for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky. “Woodfibre LNG’s maximum estimated flaring frequency roughly matches the flaring evaluated by the 2020 study. Evidence of a 50% higher risk of premature birth is deeply alarming. Alongside its impact on climate change and associated local wildfire and flooding hazards, a precautionary approach to infant health is another reason for serious reconsideration of the B.C. government’s promotion of fracked gas and LNG.”

Woodfibre LNG is set to begin construction in September and finish in 2027. The LNG Canada facility in Kitimat is currently under construction and projected to open in 2025. The B.C. NDP government recently approved another LNG facility, Cedar LNG, in March of this year.

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Attached:

• Quotes from nonpartisan subject matter experts (below)

• Media contacts (below)

• Backgrounder on Cushing et al study and Woodfibre LNG (below)

Media contacts

Backgrounder - LNG flaring

Impact of flaring

• The study “Flaring from Unconventional Oil and Gas Development and Birth Outcomes in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas” in Environmental Health Perspectives by Lara J. Cushing, Kate Vavra-Musser, Khang Chau, Meredith Franklin, and Jill E. Johnston (July 15, 2020) found that “Exposure to a high number of nightly flare events was associated with a 50% higher odds of preterm birth… and shorter gestation… compared with no exposure.”

• The study explains, "incomplete combustion during the flaring process releases a variety of volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons along with carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, heavy metals, and black carbon."

• The study’s co-lead, Dr. Lara Cushing, Presidential Chair in Health Equity and Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA, explained via email that “the flare events in our paper can be roughly interpreted as (living within 5 km of) 10 days of 1 flare operating continuously during pregnancy.”

• The study explains that this is the first known study of the impact of flaring on humans, and that these impacts are likely to be found at other oil and gas development (OGD) sites. More research is required to determine how other populations will be impacted by oil and gas development:

Our findings hold broader implications for other populations exposed to flaring from OGD [oil and gas development]… The health impacts of flaring therefore warrant additional study, and our findings require replication in other populations. Prior work has demonstrated associations between flaring and increased risk of stillbirth among cattle as well as increased risk of calf mortality (Bamberger and Oswald 2012). However, we are unaware of any previous studies assessing the health impacts of flaring from OGD among humans.

Flaring at Woodfibre LNG

• According to a post on Woodfibre LNG’s website, their facility will flare fossil gas for “less than 3 per cent” of the time, which means up to 262 hours, or 11 days and nights per year.

• Woodfibre LNG’s 2014 Environmental Assessment Certificate application shows the facility is 5.8 km from Britannia Beach, which currently has fewer than 400 residents but will eventually have an estimated 2,500, plus a school of up to 200 children if Tiger Bay’s multi-year South Britannia project is approved. The facility is also just over 8 km from Furry Creek and 7 km from downtown Squamish. (See map below).

• Cushing et al (2020) evaluated effects within a 5 km radius of OGD flaring in Texas, in a geography significantly different from the Atl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound fjord. The Howe Sound airshed is more confined and subject to seasonal temperature inversions that trap air at low levels within the airshed.

• Below is a map from the Woodfibre LNG 2014 Environmental Assessment Certificate application - page 4, Appendix 5.4-1  “Appendix 5.4-1, Atmospheric Sound Baseline Study”, showing the regional assessment area at a radius of 8 km from the site.

Flaring at other LNG sites

• The only LNG plant currently under construction in B.C. is the LNG Canada Phase 1 plant near Kitimat, which is scheduled to be completed in 2025. The province has approved Phase 2 of that project. Upon completion, the plant will have five flare stacks emitting a total of 79,398 tonnes of C02e per year. 

• According to the 2021 census, Kitimat has a population of 8,236. These documents show  populations that reside within 5 km of the plant. That 5 km radius includes two schools, two child care centres and a hospital. 

• Another, smaller plant, Cedar LNG, was recently approved to be built 10 km from Kitimat’s city centre and 3 km from Kitimaat Village, which is home to 700 members of the Haisla Nation. The Pembina Pipeline Corporation entered into a profit-sharing agreement with the Nation and the elected Chief Councillor, Chrystal Smith, has spoken and written about seeing LNG as the only way out of poverty for a Nation still “chained to the Indian Act.”

• It is unclear how often the proponents of these two plants expect to flare fossil gas once in operation. Cedar LNG’s human health risk assessment, filed in 2022, makes no mention of maternal health, and LNG Canada’s human health risk assessment was written before the research on the risks of flaring to maternal health was published.

• Given the lack of transparency on flaring from these companies, it is difficult to determine if their anticipated flaring meets the high-risk criteria in the preterm birth study.

Other health implications

• We also know that living near emissions from natural gas flaring has a number of other negative consequences for all humans, including exacerbation of asthma and effects on the respiratory, cardiovascular and nervous systems, as well as cardiopulmonary problems and cardiovascular mortality.