A Coastal Village Embraced Natural Gas. Now It's Trying to Outrace the Consequences | The Walrus

"About fifteen kilometres northwest from Kitamaat is Kitimat, the industrial town that the global mining group Alcan (acquired by Rio Tinto in 2007) carved from the rainforest in the 1950s to house workers and support the needs of its aluminum smelter."

"Kitimat sits (with Kitamaat) at the head of the Douglas Channel, which, at its mouth, opens into the Hecate Strait and the wider Pacific Ocean. It is the kind of place energy companies and politicians mean when they talk about 'getting our product to tidewater.'"

"Kitimat is home to the country's first large-scale liquid natural gas export facility, owned and operated by LNG Canada. As I arrived in town, the facility was expecting to send off its first load of LNG any day."

Kitimat and Kitamaat Village represent a complex intersection of industrial development and Indigenous communities on British Columbia's North Coast. The region, accessible via Terrace, features dramatic coastal geography with fjords and glaciers. Kitimat was established by Alcan in the 1950s as an aluminum smelting center carved from rainforest. The town now hosts LNG Canada, the country's first large-scale liquefied natural gas export facility, positioned at the head of Douglas Channel with direct Pacific Ocean access. This strategic location makes it essential infrastructure for energy companies seeking to export products to global markets. The area reflects tensions between resource extraction, economic development, and environmental concerns, evident in local bumper stickers expressing both support for and skepticism about industrial activity.

Read at The Walrus