The Coastal GasLink pipeline is a TC Energy natural gas pipeline in British Columbia, Canada. The pipeline entered commercial in-service in November 2024. Starting in Dawson Creek, the pipeline's route crosses through the Canadian Rockies and other mountain ranges to Kitimat, where the gas will be exported to Asian customers. Its route passes through several First Nations peoples' traditional lands, including some that are unceded. Controversy around the project has highlighted divisions within the leadership structure of impacted First Nations: elected band councils support the project, but traditional hereditary chiefs of the Wetʼsuwetʼen people oppose the project on ecological grounds and organized blockades to obstruct construction on their traditional land. Wetʼsuwetʼen people opposed to the pipeline argue that they have a relationship with the land that the Coastal GasLink pipeline construction threatens.
A court injunction against protesters blocking the project in an effort to defend their unceded land was granted twice by the BC Supreme Court, in 2018 and 2019. In 2019 and 2020, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) entered the blocked area and cleared road access for construction using the threat of lethal force, arresting several of the protesters. The 2020 arrests sparked widespread protests across Canada in solidarity with the original protests. Protests targeted government offices, ports and rail lines. A protest in February 2020 by the Mohawk First Nation people of Tyendinaga in Ontario blocked a critical segment of rail, causing Via Rail to shut down much of its passenger rail network and Canadian National Railway (CNR) to shut down freight service in eastern Canada for several weeks.
Coastal GasLink (CGL) resumed construction after the RCMP cleared Wetʼsuwetʼen from the access road; however, the pipeline project is still opposed by the Wetʼsuwetʼen hereditary chiefs. The Wetʼsuwetʼen asked CGL to halt construction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, over concerns about spreading the disease. Construction has largely continued, though several stop-work orders were issued by the provincial government in June 2020 following an environmental assessment. The Wetʼsuwetʼen also had concerns about the threats of violence that Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people face resulting from man camps along the pipeline construction path. The Wetʼsuwetʼen filed for judicial review on the CGL's request for a pipeline environmental permit extension on the grounds that CGL had over 50 non-compliance orders and due to the findings of Canada's National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
When CGL attempted to drill under the Morice River, further conflict erupted as Wet'suwet'en defenders erected blockades and destroyed construction equipment. These blockades were removed in November 2021. By September 2022, CGL had equipment in place to drill under the river; the company said they had completed eight of ten river crossings required for the project and were nearing 70% completion at that time. In May 2023, CGL completed all ten river crossings, including micro-tunnelling under the Morice River south of Houston.
In March 2022, CGL signed agreements with 20 elected First Nation band councils supporting the project, including 17 signing on to purchase equity in the project. However, Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs state that the band councils are political entities created by the federal government, and thus do not have authority over land beyond reserve boundaries.
Project description
The pipeline's route starts near Dawson Creek and runs approximately south-west to a liquefaction plant near Kitimat. The route passes through the traditional territories of several Indigenous peoples, including the Wet'suwet'en. The natural gas transported by the pipeline will be converted into liquefied natural gas by the LNG Canada plant in Kitimat and then exported to global markets. In particular, the company expects the primary market for the natural gas will be Asian nations planning to convert from coal-fired power plants.
The initial estimated cost to construct the pipeline was billion. The project is owned and will be operated by TC Energy. LNG Canada selected TC Energy to design, build, and own the pipeline in 2012. In December 2019, investment management firm AIMCo and private equity firm KKR entered into an agreement to buy a 65% equity interest in the project for an estimated . The deal was closed May 25, 2020, and by August 2020, construction of the pipeline was underway. By the end of July 2022, approximately 70% of the pipeline had been completed, and the cost of the project had increased to CA$11.2 billion.
In October 2023, pipeline installation on the project was 100% complete.
Controversy The project is opposed by the hereditary chiefs of the Wetʼsuwetʼen, some other First Nations, and environmental activists.
Hereditary chiefs claim jurisdiction over and responsibility to protect traditional Wetʼsuwetʼen territory. They said in 2020 that the jurisdiction of elected band councils, established under the Indian Act, is limited to their reserves.
The Wetʼsuwetʼen people were traditionally governed only by hereditary chiefs. However, the Indian Act created another form of governance: the elected band councils. Environmental scholar Avital Meira van Meijeren Karp said that “the Wet’suwet’en First Nation has the elected chief and council which is the colonial governance system that approved the CGL pipeline, a key distinction in this case”. Though the elected band councils agreed to the CGL pipeline construction, the hereditary chiefs opposed the project. The hereditary chiefs said that Wet'suwet'en territory was never ceded to the federal government and that not all Wet'suwet'en people are governed by the decisions made by the elected chiefs and councils created under the Indian Act.
The hereditary chiefs said that of Wetʼsuwetʼen territory was never ceded to the Government of Canada. When this took place, British Columbia was still a colony, and it did not enter into treaties with the Wetʼsuwetʼen people before joining Canada. Therefore, the chiefs claim that aboriginal title over the Wetʼsuwetʼen peoples' traditional land has not been extinguished. The Supreme Court of Canada affirmed hereditary chiefs' land claims in the 1997 Delgamuukw v British Columbia decision, which affirmed Aboriginal title rights and recognized that the Wet'suwet'en have a system of laws that predates colonialism.
Hereditary chief Freda Huson, an organizer of the Unist'ot'en Camp, a protest camp and indigenous healing centre in northern BC, said in 2019 that "Without our land, we aren't who we are. The land is us and we are the land," and also that the energy industry wanted to, "take, take, take. And they aren't taking no for an answer."
Some Wet’suwet’en people have taken a stance against the CGL pipeline project due to environmental and cultural concerns. The Wet’suwet’en rely on their land for food, water, and to support their way of life and relationship with the land. Huson said, “Our people’s belief is that we are part of the land. The land is not separate from us. The land sustains us. And if we don’t take care of her, she won’t be able to sustain us, and we as a generation of people will die”. The CGL pipeline's potential for creating problems around water use, chemical leakages, greenhouse gas emissions, and other impacts on climate change and public health are concerns for the Unist’ot’en Camp. Further, Indigenous groups are increasingly more vulnerable to climate change and are disproportionately affected by its impacts.
Spokesperson for the hereditary chiefs, Chief Na'Moks, said, “We need them [CGL] to understand that what they are doing is destroying our lands, our ecological sites, our burial sites…They have no comprehension of how important it is to our people". According to environmental and Indigenous Studies scholar Kerstin Reibold, many Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs opposed the CGL pipeline project construction as it destroyed traditional Wet’suwet’en cultural sites that were vital to the cultural longevity of their communities.
Others oppose the pipeline on environmental grounds. The CGL project is expected to increase British Columbia's carbon footprint by 8 to 9 megatons. This number is predicted to stop the province from achieving their climate goals. "When burned, this natural gas (transported through the completed pipeline) is equivalent 585.5 million pounds of a day...13 percent of Canada's daily greenhouse gas emissions in 2017." In 2018, environmental activist Michael Sawyer challenged the approval of the pipeline, filing a formal application to require the federal National Energy Board to do a full review. The NEB ruled that the project fell under the jurisdiction of British Columbia, and its British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission. The pipeline also may have an impact on Wetʼsuwetʼen waterways. Sleydo' Molly Wickham, a Gidimt'en clan chief said in 2021, "You could swim in that lake and just open your mouth and drink the water, it's so pristine, and the river is so clear that you can see these very deep spawning beds that the salmon have been returning to for thousands of years." Outside the pipeline itself, construction activities near and around waterways like blasting and riprap armouring could harm the fish population.
According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the CGL pipeline project also affects human and non-human lives. The project had been issued over 50 warnings of repeated non-compliance violations and was flagged for multiple infractions on environmental regulation. British Columbia's Environmental Assessment Office (BCEAO) found that the CGL pipeline project was responsible for the release of pollution into Fraser Lake. The BCEAO said that a release of water towards Fraser Lake created a plume of sediment in the water that could be seen from the air. Fraser Lake is home to 1,000 people and is a critical habitat for endangered white sturgeon and trumpeter swans. Coastal GasLink's 670-kilometre pipeline crossed 625 fish-bearing streams, creeks, rivers and lakes. The CGL pipeline project has been issued warnings due to its failure to protect sensitive waterway and wetlands from sediment erosion. This erosion harms fish habitats, water quality, and people who depend on these waterways for survival. According to CBC journalist Betsy Trumpener, the Coastal GasLink pipelines repeated non-compliance offences are a violation of the project's environmental assessment certificate.