This article was published by The Energy Mix on Oct. 1, 2025.
Most environmental assessments ignore start-up flaring at LNG export facilities, but the waste gas emissions in this phase emit far more pollution than reported and threaten nearby communities, a new study concludes.
“Our real-world analysis shows that start-up flaring is among the highest-emission phases of an LNG plant’s life cycle and can last for up to two years,” Dr. Laura Minet, the study’s lead researcher and head of the Clean Air Lab at the University of Victoria, told the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE).
“There is a false assumption that the commissioning phase is short, with regulators in Canada, and beyond, satisfied with relying on industry-provided flaring assumptions for environmental permitting that do not include modelling for the start-up phase.”
The LNG Canada facility in Kitimat, British Columbia—which was still under construction during the study period and so excluded from the analysis—“has been flaring in its commissioning phase for more than a full year,” Tracey Saxby, executive director of the environmental organization My Sea to Sky, said in a media release emailed to The Energy Mix.
Saxby called the overlooking of start-up flaring emissions “a glaring loophole” that has direct impacts on B.C. communities. “We’re calling on the BC government to immediately require full modelling and accounting of flaring emissions in the LNG commissioning phase, including for projects that have already been approved.”
The Narwhal has a deep dive into the health impacts of LNG expansion in Kitimat.
The recent study offers a first-of-its-kind global analysis of flaring, combining satellite observations with data from 48 LNG export terminals identified by the World Bank and the U.S. Environmental Defense Fund. Roughly half of the facilities began operations before satellite flaring data was available in 2012, so only newer plants could be analyzed for start-up conditions.
Researchers recorded flaring events under start-up and normal operating conditions and compared their observations against industry-reported datasets. They found major discrepancies: reported data underestimated flared gas volumes at two-thirds of the facilities, while others required further investigation. None of the environmental assessments the researchers reviewed quantified start-up flaring or modelled its impact on local air quality.
The start-up period is often portrayed as “a short phase with negligible air pollution emissions,” write the researchers. But the study shows that start-up can last up to two years, with high flaring activity persisting well beyond the first year. For a 30-year facility, start-up flaring could account for 1 to 16% of total lifetime flared gas.
“While these percentages may appear low, flaring emits pollutants, such as benzene, that can cause acute health effects even over short exposure periods,” the researchers write. They say the proximity of many LNG projects to residential areas make it essential to include start-up flaring in environmental assessments.
CAPE writes that start-up flaring is not “truly modelled” in environmental assessments for Canada’s LNG export facilities, including the planned Woodfibre LNG, Cedar LNG, and Ksi Lisims LNG projects.
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