Aurora LNG would ship 24 million tonnes a year from the proposed berthing terminal at the entrance to Prince Rupert Harbour. The project would feature up to four trains for liquefaction of natural gas, storage facilities, power plants, up to three LNG loading berths, a marine offloading facility, a floating pioneer facility (400 men), 5000 man work camp, a pipeline and related infrastructure to bring gas to the facility. Q­flex (larger than standard) LNG tankers would be shipping LNG, up to 320 tankers per year. The LNG tanker berthing would be only 500 metres from the centre of the main marine navigational channel, putting all vessel traffic entering and exiting Prince Rupert Harbour within the Sandia hazard zones.

The Aurora LNG project is still going through a BC Environmental Assessment [1] , a substitution for a federal environmental assessment. In April of 2017, Nexen asked for the Assessment of their application to be paused. Possibly before the end of 2017, the BC ministers will have voted to approve or deny the Aurora LNG project.

This project would require dredging sediment in the Skeena River Estuary which will release toxic dioxins and furans (from historical lumber mill activity) into surrounding waters. Exposure to these chemicals can result in a wide range of adverse impacts on wildlife and human health. Digby Island is home to many species of special concern, including nesting colonies of Great Blue Herons, essential habitat for the Western Toad, a nationally important Pacific Flyway for migrating birds and a DFO Important Area (IA) for Humpback Whales and other marine life, including Pacific Herring and salmon.

Aurora LNG will burn approximately 7 million cubic metres of gas per day to process 97 million cubic metres of gas into LNG. This will have a direct negative impact on the Prince Rupert Airshed, dumping thousands of tonnes of harmful emissions on Dodge Cove, Prince Rupert, and other surrounding communities. Cumulative impacts for the already approved PNW LNG and the proposed Aurora LNG (both in the Skeena River estuary) is one of the areas of major concern. Aurora LNG is precedent setting because of its proximity to Canadian citizens and the human health impacts that would result from it.” [2] Independent environmental reviews of the proposed Petronas LNG export facility on neighboring Lelu Island identified how the alteration of the water flows from the massive facility would destroy the Flora Banks Eel grass habitat, essential to the life cycle of the salmon of the Skeena River, the 3rd largest salmon run in the world. The Nexxen Aurora project is likewise proposed on top of essential eel grass habitat and the potential alteration of water flows from the project have not been adequately studied to know their impacts on Flora Banks itself.

One of the largest terminals proposed for BC.

This would involve over 300 oversize LNG tankers per year.