Steelhead LNG, a Vancouver - based gas company, has signed a preliminary agreement with Williams for the construction of a 128 km natural gas pipeline from Sumas, Washington to the proposed Malahat LNG Project in the Saanich Inlet, British Columbia (B.C.).

52.8 km of the pipeline will be onshore; 75.2 will run under water to the gas field in the Stanch Inlet. Environmentalists are concerned that an undersea pipeline would run through B.C. waters and particularly the sensitive Saanich Inlet. “Particularly along the coastline it is hard on the kelp forest, salmon, and marine mammals so we’re just really concerned about that” says Bob Peart of the Sierra Club BC.

Nigel Kuzemko, Steelhead LNG CEO, disputed this saying “They (Williams) know exactly what they’re talking about in design, in construction and operation of pipelines, they do it every day they’ve got hundreds if not thousands of people doing this, they’re one of the best companies in the world to do this."

The deal would have to be approved by regulatory boards both in the United States and Canada.