Flaring gas towering high over Kitimat is a regular sight as the LNG Canada export terminal — considered a nation-building project — comes online, but some residents are concerned about possible health impacts.

The flaring is a safety measure to combust natural gas during operational phases, and is not expected to be routine during regular operation, LNG Canada said. 

Ten community notifications have been posted by the company since the beginning of March, including one on Wednesday. It said unplanned flaring occurred the day before, lasting about eight hours with a flare height of 10 metres along with “associated noise and visible emissions.” 

“What I’m generally seeing is that residents are reporting that they’re having more respiratory difficulties in the face of this flaring,” said local nurse Ankur Patel.

“More symptoms of coughing, difficulty breathing, lung irritation. And they are saying this is happening around the same time this flaring is occurring.” 

Patel said he would like to see a more comprehensive health impact assessment of the facility on local populations, and more robust contaminant monitoring. 

“I feel there is a large sense of concern living in the community, and a large need for more information to understand what’s really going on,” he said. 

In a statement to CBC News, LNG Canada said the facility has been commissioned and is currently in its early operations phase. Increased flaring during this phase is expected, it added, and flaring activity reduces significantly in regular operations.

“Publicly available data from monitoring stations in Kitimat show that levels of key pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, have remained consistently low over the past year,” said the statement.

Nitrogen dioxide levels at monitoring stations near Riverlodge Recreation Centre and in Kitamaat Village have been at or near zero, it added. 

“We remain focused on safely operating the facility and minimizing disruptions to the community.”

First-of-its-kind project

LNG Canada’s phase two expansion has been designated a national interest project by the federal government as part of a broader initiative to speed up approvals for energy projects.

At a cost of $40 billion, the Canadian government says the project is the “largest single private sector investment in the history of the country,” with backing from Shell, Petronas PetroChina, Misubishi Corporation and the Korea Gas Corp.

Recent freedom of information records obtained by a University of Victoria air quality researcher showed the volume of gas flared at the plant between October and January far surpassed permitted limits. 

Laura Minet obtained monthly air emissions reports filed by LNG Canada to the B.C. Energy Regulator.

The reports break down the flaring source into three categories: warm/wet, cold/dry and storage and loading.

During the four months covered in the filings, warm/wet flares exceeded permitted volumes by 45 times on average, cold/dry by 40 times and storage and loading by five times.

“Under the current conditions, yes, the air quality monitors around the facilities so far haven’t reported really high concentrations,” said Minet.

“But they don’t record concentrations in every single location of the city … and not all urban air pollutants are monitored. It’s limited to criteria or contaminants such as particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides,” she said.

Short-term discomfort, long-term gain: mayor

Flaring has subsided in recent months, according to local officials. 

Kitimat Mayor Phil Germuth says the general consensus in the district is that the flaring is short-term discomfort for significant long-term gain.

“There’s no doubt there are concerns from some of the people in Strawberry Meadows,” he said, referring to a neighbourhood in Kitimat.

“But again there’s a lot of people that clearly aren’t complaining, because they realize this is just a minor inconvenience at this time for the greater good of 40 years of jobs and economic opportunities.” 

WATCH | A video produced by LNG Canada on flaring: