The members of the Northern Economics Student Society at UNBC are hosting a forum this week on the liquefied natural gas industry.
They will engage the audience on the information they researched but they will also have specialists from the industry join them for further discussion.
"It's a timely topic," said NESS president Adam Vickers. "Bring questions. Anything you want to know we will try to answer them at the symposium."
Four of the group's senior students - Joshua Mann, Deng Manyang, Claire Stechishin, and Vickers - will sit together as a panel. Each of them was responsible for writing a report on a specific aspect of the LNG industry: global markets, domestic markets, environmental impacts, and social concerns. Vickers said it was important to gather a diversity of views on the LNG sector and not just focus on the potential money to be made or the potential hazards to nature.
UNBC spokesman Matt Wood said this event is annual, but the topic changes each year. Funding sponsor FortisBC suggested this year's subject.
The biggest name on the list of expert guests is keynote speaker Michal Moore, professor of energy economics at the University of Calgary. Moore is a former regulator for the California energy industry and previously served as chief economist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. His speech title is LNG In British Columbia: A Viable Option or a Hail Mary Pass?
"He just released a new paper on LNG, so the timing was perfect," said Vickers.
Other guests include: Kelly Hawes, president of Cold Star Freight; Marc Lee, senior economist for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; and Karyn Sharp, the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council's traditional knowledge co-ordinator .
"Organizing a symposium is a good way to get into the community, network with people, and create an experience for students to take leadership roles and learn about different issues," Vickers said. "We get to engage in the material and go beyond the text book, meet faculty and work with them a little, and it also connects the community to UNBC."
The symposium is free of charge and open to the general public. It runs Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in UNBC room 6-205/211 (Conference Centre).
