The Klappan Coalbed Methane Project is a gas project owned by

Shell Canada Shell Canada Limited (french: Shell Canada Limitée) is the principal Canadian subsidiary of British energy major Shell plc and one of Canada's largest integrated oil companies. Exploration and production of oil, natural gas and sulphur is a majo ...

(a subsidiary company of

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

) that looks to develop the

coalbed methane Coalbed methane (CBM or coal-bed methane), coalbed gas, coal seam gas (CSG), or coal-mine methane (CMM) is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds. In recent decades it has become an important source of energy in United States, Canada, Au ...

from an area in northern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, near the source of three rivers: the

Skeena River The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada (after the Fraser River). Since ancient times, the Skeena has been an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan—whose n ...

Nass River The Nass River is a river in northern British Columbia, Canada. It flows from the Coast Mountains southwest to Nass Bay, a sidewater of Portland Inlet, which connects to the North Pacific Ocean via the Dixon Entrance. Nass Bay joins Portland Inl ...

, and

Stikine River The Stikine River is a major river in northern British Columbia (BC), Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States. It drains a large, remote upland area known as the Stikine Country east of the Coast Mountains. Flowing west and south f ...

, and also the namesake

Klappan River The Klappan River is a major tributary of the Stikine River in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It flows north from an area known as the Sacred Headwaters, which is the source not only of this river but also of the Nass, Skeena, Spatsizi a ...

. The area is known in environmental politics and native lore as the

Sacred Headwaters The Sacred Headwaters is a large subalpine drainage basin centred around Klappan Mountain of the Klappan Range in northern British Columbia. It is the source of three wild salmon rivers: the Skeena River, Nass River, and Stikine River. It is also ...

or ''Kablona''. The project is the source of controversy and is opposed by

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

s groups and

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s. If developed, the project will include a network of gas wells connected by roads and pipelines, as well as a pipeline to deliver the gas to market. The British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources estimates that the Klappan coal deposit could contain as much as of coalbed methane gas.

History

2004-2005

In 2004, the government of British Columbia granted Shell Canada a 400,000 hectare (4,000 km2) tenure of land for

development. In June 2004, Shell signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tahltan Central Council, the Chief of the Tahltan Band and the Chief of the Iskut First Nation, for coalbed methane development of the Klappan Coalbed Methane Project. In the winter of 2004, Shell drilleds three exploration wells, and detected the presence of coalbed methane gas. The company also conducted a seismic survey over an stretch of existing railway bed.

Opposition

2006

Shell canceled its 2006 drilling program in response to opposition from First Nations groups. In April 2007, Royal Dutch Shell acquired Shell Canada making it a wholly owned subsidiary. Tahltan elders from Iskut and Telegraph Creek blockaded Shell's road access to the area. Shell would unsuccessfully seek a

court injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...

that would allow them to have the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

arrest the blockaders. Shell's crews manage to access the area and begin road repairs.

2007

On July 27, 2007, a group of 13 environmental non-governmental organizations wrote a letter to Shell's executives in

the Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, urging them to suspend drilling plans in the Sacred Headwaters. Signatories to the letter include

Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

Friends of the Earth International Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...

ForestEthics Stand.earth (formerly ForestEthics) is a grassroots environmental organization founded in 2000. The organization protects endangered forests by transforming corporate policy and governmental laws in the United States and Canada. Stand.earth uses p ...

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

, and the

David Suzuki Foundation The David Suzuki Foundation is a science-based non-profit environmental organization headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with offices in Montreal and Toronto. It was established as a federally registered Canadian charity on Jan ...

. On August 31, 2007, Rallies were held across British Columbia, including one outside the Vancouver Courthouse where Tahltan blockaders and Shell were scheduled to appear at an injunction hearing with

David Suzuki David Takayoshi Suzuki (born March 24, 1936) is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster, and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a PhD in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department at th ...

speaking at the rally. In September, Friends of the Earth International, Greenpeace and other Non-governmental organizations ran advertisements in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' with the headline "This Time It's Canada" and a photo of the Tahltan road blockade.

2008

The Chiefs of the Gitxsan Nation, located downstream in the Skeena watershed, called for the immediate suspension of coalbed methane exploration in the Sacred Headwaters. In April, the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC included the Sacred Headwaters in its annual listing of British Columbia's most threatened rivers. In May 2008, the Sacred Headwaters Summit attendees pledge to stand together to stop Shell's project "Coalbed methane foes pack heated meeting"
Prince Rupert Daily News, May 28, 2008 and concerned citizens from British Columbia traveled to Shell's Annual General Meeting in the Hague to protest the company's activities in the Sacred Headwaters. A resolution opposing Shell's drilling plans was officially endorsed by the Kitimat-Stikine Regional District, Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District, United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union, the village of Hazelton, British Columbia, the Town of Smithers and more than half a dozen First Nations band councils. A four-year exploration moratorium was imposed by the province in 2008, to be reviewed in 2012.

2012

On December 13th, the government of British Columbia ended the prospect of natural gas development in the region as part of a tripartite agreement with the Tahltan and Shell. It acknowledged that the Klappan has been identified by the Tahltan as having significant cultural, spiritual and social values, and also includes the vital salmon-bearing Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers. Shell Canada president Lorraine Mitchelmore said the company would be focusing its B.C. development strategy in the province's northeast.
The Vancouver Sun, Dec 18, 2012

References

{{Shell oil Shell plc Shell plc controversies Natural gas fields in Canada Stikine Country Environmental issues in Canada 2004 establishments in British Columbia Environmental history of Canada