Kitimat LNG Plant Asks for Massive Flaring Permit Increase

Racked by technical problems, LNG Canada has applied to be allowed to flare far more gas into Kitimat's airshed. … Article written by Zoë Yunker.
LNG Canada is asking for permission to continuously flare vastly more natural gas than its current permit allows, The Tyee has learned.
The country's first major LNG operation wants B.C.'s energy regulator to increase its flaring limit tenfold for the next three years.
Having consistently breached its permitted flaring limits since it began production last fall, the company is seeking approval to continuously flare twice as much gas than its average output of routine flaring between September 2025 and March 2026.
The requested limit would not include the much larger volumes of "non-routine" flaring that have dwarfed the facility's continuous flaring levels since production began in Kitimat last fall. There is no regulatory limit for this category of flaring.
LNG Canada has not released public documents on its forthcoming request for a more permissive routine flaring permit, but the company's deputy chief operating officer, Teresa Waddington, disclosed the plans during a March Kitimat council meeting and at a recent presentation to Kitimat residents. If approved, the new limit would allow the company to continually flare up to 300 tonnes of gas per day, an increase from its current limit of 28 tonnes per day.
The company said the new, more permissive flaring limit would help accommodate operational problems that have led to higher-than-anticipated flaring volumes.
The problems have included a malfunctioning flare tip and a series of leaking valves.
"When we started up, we thought this might be a learning curve," Waddington said during her presentation to council.
According to modelling from a previous company report, increased routine flaring volume could lead to a tenfold increase in emissions of volatile organic compounds, including harmful pollutants, into the region's airshed.
Meanwhile, the company's non-routine flaring stems at least in part from ongoing malfunctions requiring the facility to purge its gas to quickly relieve potentially dangerous pressure levels within the plant.
The pending application is the latest signal that LNG Canada's ongoing emissions will be higher than previously reported. Before flaring began in August 2024, a promotional video said early flaring events would "decrease significantly over several months" as the company began operations. Years later, elevated flaring rates now seem likely to continue throughout normal operations.
"First it was 'It'll only be three months,'" Kitimat Coun. Gerry Leibel said. "Now we're looking at three years."
"The community is starting to realize now this is a bit of a Trojan horse."
Leibel said Kitimat residents are reporting growing alarm about the flaring and its impacts on the community. Local social media posts depict black smoke billowing from the company's stacks, and Leibel said he has heard residents near the facility compare its noise to a freight train.
In an email to The Tyee, an LNG Canada spokesperson said the facility's current permit levels were "based on long-term, stable operating conditions" and "did not reflect the higher flaring volumes typically seen during start-up and early operations at an LNG facility."
However, recent reporting from the Narwhal suggests that LNG Canada's flaring is not typical. According to estimates based on satellite data, LNG Canada may have flared more gas last year than any LNG facility worldwide.
Ahead of its upcoming permit request, LNG Canada delivered a "pre-submission package" to the regulator in November.
LNG Canada has not submitted its final application package, a spokesperson for the BC Energy Regulator told The Tyee.
"Should an application be submitted, it will be subject to public notification and engagement requirements in accordance with the Public Notification Regulation," a spokesperson for the regulator wrote in an email, adding that "the BCER does not g...