The certificate is in. Steel is still a later decision
British Columbia said Monday at 2:00 p.m. that Environment and Parks Minister Tamara Davidson and Energy and Climate Solutions Minister Adrian Dix issued an environmental assessment certificate to FortisBC for the Tilbury Phase 2 LNG expansion on Tilbury Island in Delta. The Environmental Assessment Office said that certificate is required before the project can proceed to permitting. The Energy ministry said the assessment was a necessary step before FortisBC makes a final investment decision.
The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada posted at 5:54 p.m. ET that Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin issued a federal decision statement. The project, proposed by FortisBC Holdings Inc., would expand the existing land-based Tilbury plant. Ottawa said potential adverse effects within federal jurisdiction are justified when the benefits are taken into account. The federal note says B.C. ran a substituted assessment under the Canada-B.C. cooperation agreement, the third completed under the amended Impact Assessment Act and B.C.'s 2018 Environmental Assessment Act.
The provincial certificate has 18 legally binding conditions on air quality, wildlife, greenhouse-gas reduction, health and emergency planning, and monitoring of impacts to First Nations. The EAO sought consensus with 12 participating Indigenous nations and notified 13 other groups at key milestones. Quick facts on the B.C. release put a large new storage tank and equipment capable of producing as much as 7,700 tonnes of LNG a day inside the existing footprint. A later Energy ministry note puts the tank at 142,400 cubic metres and liquefaction at as much as 2.5 million tonnes a year, plus a natural gas receiving facility. FortisBC projects $3.1 billion of capital over six years, $1.7 billion of provincial GDP during construction, and about 100 permanent operating jobs.
FortisBC is the B.C. utility unit of Fortis Inc. (TSX: FTS, NYSE: FTS). The EAO said the Tilbury Marine Jetty, certified in 2024, is a separate file. This is an assessment decision. It is not an FID, not first gas, and it is not an LNG Canada cargo. It does not move the Fortis hybrid notes that priced September 9.