This Just In: Rabaska LNG Project Moves Along

The Quebec provincial government has jumped into the controversy over the Rabaska liquid natural gas project in order to push the LNG port closer to construction. It has taken the file out of the hands of the commission charged with protecting agricultural land, the Commission de protection du territoire agricole (CPTAQ.) The commission was charged with studying the re-zoning of protected farm land necessary before building the port.

Natural resources minister Claude Béchard said in a press conference that time is pressing, and competition mounting, so the Rabaska project--to be constructed across the St. Lawrence river from Quebec City--must be speeded along, given the province's strategic plan for energy. Béchard's announcement comes a week after the consortium behind the nearby Gros Cacouna LNG project announced that development will take two years longer than expected, pushing back completion to 2012.

No one's talking about energy conservation, though.

Note: more recent information at: http://marysoderstrom.blogspot.com/2007/10/rabaska-gets-go-ahead-while-california.html