Environment Minister Mary Polak and Natural Gas Development Minister Rich Coleman have issued a conditional Environmental Assessment Certificate to Quicksilver Resources for the Fortune Creek Gas Plant, located in the vicinity of the Horn River Basin, 110 kilometres north of Fort Nelson.

The decision was made after considering a review led by British Columbia's Environmental Assessment Office. A record of the factors that the ministers considered in making their decision can be found in the Reasons for Ministers' Decision at: http://tinyurl.com/lla3kkp

The Environmental Assessment Certificate includes 52 conditions, which together with the design specified in the Certified Project Description will mitigate potential impacts of the project. Each of the conditions is a legally binding requirement that Quicksilver Resources must meet to be in compliance with the certificate. It is also a legal requirement that Quicksilver Resources build and operate the project in accordance with the Certified Project Description.

Key conditions and design features for the Fortune Creek Gas Plant include that Quicksilver Resources must:

• Design the project to be carbon-capture ready, which would allow for a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by capturing and indefinitely storing emissions underground;
• Use gas turbine generators with heat recovery to produce electricity for use at the project site;
• Participate in a pilot project for development of a "Best Available Techniques Economically Achievable" guideline by the Province to be used to reduce air emissions, including GHGs;
• Minimize the burning of salvageable timber to lower GHG emissions; and
• Develop and implement a Caribou Mitigation and Monitoring Plan and a Wildlife Protection and Monitoring Plan with involvement from First Nations and Aboriginal groups.

Quicksilver Resources has committed to consult with Treaty 8 First Nations and other Aboriginal groups during the life of the project regarding development and implementation of all management plans and monitoring of mitigation measures.

Consistent with its enhanced compliance and enforcement program, the Environmental Assessment Office will co-ordinate compliance management efforts with other ministries to ensure that the office is satisfied that certificate conditions are met.

The plant will remove hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide from raw natural gas to produce treated gas for transport to market. Quicksilver Resources is proposing to develop the facilities in phases, with the initial phase having a processing capacity of 4.25 million standard cubic metres (Sm3/day) and one or more subsequent phases bringing the total processing capacity up to 16.9 million Sm3/day.

British Columbia's environmental assessment process involves a rigorous, thorough review that provides for significant opportunities for First Nations, government agencies and the public to provide input on the potential for environmental, economic, social, heritage and health effects from a proposed project.

Media Contact:

Communications
Ministry of Environment
250 953-3834