IUOE News December 2014
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How important is<br />
Liquified Natural Gas?<br />
How important is the potential Liquified Natural Gas [LNG] industry to<br />
British Columbia’s economy—and to jobs for <strong>IUOE</strong> Local 115 members?<br />
There is much debate and constant<br />
news about LNG plants in B.C. under<br />
consideration, in planning stages and<br />
sometimes being put on hold temporarily<br />
but just one statistic may give<br />
members some idea of how significant<br />
LNG can be.<br />
If just one large LNG plant is<br />
constructed to export gas to the Asian<br />
market, it will require 15,000 beds to<br />
accomodate all the workers needed for<br />
the project!<br />
Between the liquefaction facility and<br />
the pipeline that would be created to<br />
send natural gas to the west coast, a<br />
recent report from FirstEnergy Capital<br />
corporation estimated that a single LNG<br />
project could require as many as 15,000<br />
beds.<br />
Not 1,500 but 15,000 beds—that<br />
represents more than one bed per every<br />
existing member of our local!<br />
And that’s with only one plant—the<br />
B.C. government hopes for three to five<br />
LNG plants to proceed in the next<br />
several years.<br />
“When you visualize that, you realize<br />
that LNG represents an enormous<br />
opportunity for <strong>IUOE</strong> Local 115—not<br />
just current members<br />
but thousands of potential<br />
new members,” says<br />
Business Manager Brian<br />
Cochrane.<br />
“LNG could be the<br />
biggest boost our union<br />
and B.C.’s economy has seen in decades<br />
— that’s why we have to work hard to<br />
make sure LNG proceeds,” Cochrane<br />
says.<br />
If five LNG plants were operational<br />
by 2020 the benefits would be huge—for<br />
B.C. and our membership.<br />
“LNG could be the<br />
biggest boost our union<br />
and B.C.’s economy has<br />
seen in decades.”<br />
Studies indicate five LNG plants<br />
could mean:<br />
• Up to 75,000 permanent new jobs;<br />
• More than 39,000 average annual<br />
jobs over a nine-year construction<br />
period;<br />
• Over $98 billion in new capital<br />
investment; and<br />
• Potential new government revenues<br />
in excess of $100 billion over the next<br />
30 years.<br />
We know there are no guarantee—<br />
and each private company involved will<br />
make its own decisions based on the<br />
price and market for LNG while<br />
competing globally with other producers,<br />
the cost of construction and<br />
operations and other<br />
factors well beyond<br />
our control.<br />
But one thing we<br />
can control is creating<br />
public support to<br />
proceed with LNG<br />
plants.<br />
And <strong>IUOE</strong> Local 115 is asking its<br />
members across the province to help<br />
create a positive response to the LNG<br />
industry.<br />
Unfortunately, some environmental<br />
groups oppose LNG, particularly<br />
because of the hydraulic fracturing or<br />
24 <strong>News</strong> <strong>December</strong> <strong>2014</strong>