MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - The First Nations of British Columbia, Canada, said the provincial government should choose between a dam or liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, as they cannot have both, according to Huffpost British Columbia.
"I've said you can't have both,'' West Moberly First Nation chief Roland Willson was quoted as saying by the website. "If you want to push Site C [the dam], we're not going to be in favor of any LNG projects, any of the pipeline projects up there. We don't want to be there but if that's the case, we don't have any other choice.''
Willson said his community was entitled to the Peace River valley, where the dam is planned to be situated, according to a century-old treaty and had a say in industrial developments on the territory.
Willson said the area would not be able to bear the environmental impact of both LNG projects and the dam, which would be the third dam on the Peace River in British Columbia, flooding 5,550 hectares of the land.
He was in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, earlier on Wednesday intending to deliver the ultimatum to the federal government but did not meet any federal officials.
The Peace River region is responsible for 60 percent of the province's resource revenue. In May, a joint federal-provincial environmental assessment was produced but failed to make any clear recommendation on the issue.
Announcements on environmental certificates are expected next month from the federal government and the Environmental Assessment Office in British Columbia. Should Site C be approved for further development, a final decision from the province could be made in November.
