"Ethereal Carbon": legitimizing liquefied natural gas in British Columbia

This paper examines the provincial government of British Columbia's recent proposal of building a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) industry, in which natural gas extracted through hydraulic fracturing will be liquefied and then exported to Asian markets. Drawing upon the growing literature on energopower, petro-state, and petro-culture, selected texts and images from "LNG in BC"-the project's official branding website-were analyzed through a multimodal critical discourse analysis. The results reveal two primary strategies of legitimation: the first emphasizes the economic benefits of LNG development in terms of employment and taxation revenues; the second defines LNG as a means of strengthening B.C.'s environmental leadership. The second narrative depends heavily upon the symbolic values of natural gas, contrasting its "clean" appearance (as a colorless and odorless gas) with the material density and "toxic sensuality" of other "dirty" fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and bitumen). The website also presents a linear and simplified "storyline" of the generation of LNG which emphasizes the simple, "clean" process of liquefaction to distract attention from the ecological and health risks of hydraulic fracturing.