(Alliance News) - Construction of a controversial gas pipeline in western Canada has been completed, its developer TC Energy announced Monday, after years of work and crippling protests.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline aims to bring natural gas from eastern British Columbia province to be liquified in a facility on the Pacific coast, before being exported – but the project has long stirred dissension in Canada.

"Coastal GasLink has achieved 100% pipe installation across the entire project route, connecting northeastern B.C. to LNG Canada's facility on the west coast," the energy company said in a statement. 

TC Energy, based in Calgary, Alberta, said it was "well on track for our year-end target." 

Completion of the pipeline comes after demonstrations broke out in 2020 over unresolved land claims and environmental concerns by Indigenous Canadians. 

The Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs' vocal opposition to a natural gas pipeline cutting through their ancestral lands in northern British Columbia sparked nationwide protests in support of their plight.

Some blocked rail traffic for weeks, leading to job shortages and layoffs before the government finally announced a deal with Indigenous leaders to end the stoppage.

Protests continued even after the deal, with police investigating a "violent confrontation" that involved protesters armed with axes attacking parts of the construction site in 2022. 

The pipeline is a joint venture project developed by oil and gas firm Shell PLC with Malaysia's Petronas Group, China's PetroChina, Japan's Mitsubishi and South Korea's Korea Gas Corp.

source: AFP

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