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Province, First Nations, Kitimat LNG Inc. come together to celebrate milestone

Kitimat LNG Terminal President Rosemary Boulton, flanked by Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Richard Neufeld (left) and Haisla First Nation Chief Counsellor Steve Wilson, sign documents recognizing the role the Province and the Haisla have played in moving the Kitimat LNG Terminal project forward. The signing ceremony was held in Vancouver Monday, where Kitimat LNG had brought together more than 30 LNG industry representatives interested in supplying gas to the facility once operational in 2009.

Environmental approval and First Nations partnership agreement gives $500 million project green light to proceed.

VANCOUVER, June 26, 2006 – Kitimat LNG Inc. President Rosemary Boulton was joined today by Chief Steve Wilson of the Haisla First Nation, and British Columbia Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources to celebrate two major milestones in the company’s quest to locate the first Liquefied Natural Gas terminal on the Pacific Northwest coast.

In May, Kitimat LNG Inc. and the Haisla First Nation signed a joint partnership agreement that will provide the project Aboriginal certainty through construction and operation of Kitimat LNG Terminal. And on June 6, the company received a British Columbia environmental assessment certificate for the project, clearing a major hurdle on its path to construction and commercialization. Federal environment approval is imminent. Today’s signing ceremony recognizes the role the province and Haisla First Nation have played to date in launching a new industry into the province.

`This is a big day for Kitimat LNG Terminal and a big day for the future of LNG in Canada and the Pacific Coast of North America,` says Kitimat LNG President Rosemary Boulton. `Environmental approval and Aboriginal certainty are critical steps in allowing us to move forward with construction this year, and a major step in allowing us to have fruitful discussions with supply partners in the Pacific Basin.`

`Our agreement with Kitimat LNG is a good example of reconciling Haisla Aboriginal rights and title interests with the business interests of the company,` says Chief Wilson. `We believe we have created an entire process on consultation and accommodation that sets the standard for how relationships between First Nations, industry and government should be defined.`

`Sustainable environmental management is a Great Goal of our government, and the project balances that with another goal of increasing economic opportunity and jobs,` said Minister of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum Resources, Richard Neufeld. `Reducing barriers to investment and increasing land certainty will help us continue to attract investment such as Kitimat LNG to our Province.`

Site preparation for the $500 million terminal and regasification facility will begin in the fall of 2006, with operations scheduled to commence in 2009. Seven hundred construction jobs will be created, as well as 50 permanent high-skilled jobs once the terminal is operational.

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