Lelu Island is an island of the

Range 5 Coast Land District Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

, of

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, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, located in the Skeena Estuary between Smith and Ridley Islands. Historically it has been inhabited by area First Nations. Immediately southwest and associated with the island is the

Flora Bank Flora Bank is a bank in British Columbia, Canada, located at the edge of Chatham Sound, between Lelu and Kitson Islands at the north entrance to Inverness Passage, south of Prince Rupert. The bank was named after Miss Flora MacDonald, daughter o ...

, a unique

geomorphic Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or ...

feature supporting a critical

fish habitat Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) was defined by the U.S. Congress in the 1996 amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, or Magnuson-Stevens Act, as "those waters and substrate necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, ...

Proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG export facility

Petronas made a proposal for a

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...

export facility on this island in 2013. In September 2015, members of

Lax Kw'alaams Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

Nation began occupation of a camp on the island in opposition to the facility. In April 2016, the

Prince Rupert Port Authority The Port of Prince Rupert is a seaport managed by the Prince Rupert Port Authority that occupies of land and water along of waterfront. The port is located in Prince Rupert Harbour in the North Coast Regional District of British Columbia. The P ...

ordered a stop to construction of the camp. In September 2016, the Canadian federal government approved the project with 190 conditions, but members of the Lax Kw'alaams nation maintained their camp opposing the project. The proposal had previously been opposed by unanimous vote but then supported by John Helin the mayor of the Lax Kw'alaams First Nation while still finding opposition among its hereditary chiefs, and is supported by

Premier of British Columbia Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Christy Clark Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a former Canadian politician who was the 35th premier of British Columbia (BC), from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female ...

. On July 25, 2017, Petronas announced they were abandoning the proposed export facility. The reasons for ending the project included market factors as well as political opposition.

References

{{Reflist Islands of British Columbia Range 5 Coast Land District