British Columbia, natural gas field. If and when completed, LNG Canada should become the first Canadian LNG export ocean terminal, which will compete with other LNG terminals in the US, either existing or planned on the West (Alaska, Washington, Oregon), Gulf (Louisiana, Texas) and Atlantic coasts (Maryland, Virginia). This new terminal to be built in the port of Kitimat will be connected to the Pacific Ocean via the existing Douglas Channel. This development will add new sensitive ship traffic when the LNG Canada natural gas storage and liquefaction terminal will be completed and operational, which is estimated to be in 2025. The LNG Canada terminal project will see large LNG carrier ships loading liquefied natural gas at the future Kitimat LNG terminal, and sailing along the Douglas Channel to carry it to export destinations, mainly in Asia. Geography Kitimat is located south of Terrace on Highway 37. Prince Rupert is northwest, and Prince George is to the east. Climate Kitimat has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) with mild summers and cold, snowy winters (much warmer than inland) with significant snowfall averaging 128 inches (325 cm) each year. The rainiest season is fall, with the wettest month, October, having 320 mm of rainfall. There is also a significant drying trend (Mediterranean pattern) in summer, but it’s too rainy to classify as such. Cloud cover is significant, especially in winter, and less than 30% of possible sunshine occurs each year. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Kitimat had a population of 8,236 living in 3,604 of its 4,381 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 8,131. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Ethnicity Religion According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Kitimat included: Irreligion (4,220 persons or 51.4%) Christianity (3,690 persons or 44.9%) Islam (110 persons or 1.3%) Hinduism (45 persons or 0.5%) Buddhism (35 persons or 0.4%) Sikhism (20 persons or 0.2%) Indigenous Spirituality (10 persons or 0.1%) Other (75 persons or 0.9%) Controversies The Alcan project was not free from controversy. Politicians, aboriginal groups, farmers and residents of the Nechako Lakes District opposed the contractual release of provincial resources with the profits going to a private firm. Many individuals and groups protested the flooding caused by the creation of the new reservoir, with the destruction of homesteads, villages, burial grounds,