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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
December 2008

Vol. 13, No. 51 Week of December 21, 2008

North in a rage

NWT leaders lash out at latest regulatory delay in Mackenzie Gas Project

Gary Park

For Petroleum News

Canada’s northern political leaders may have finally snapped over the unending regulatory delays in dealing with the Mackenzie Gas Project application.

Word that the Joint Review Panel, responsible for examining the environmental and socio-economic aspects of the C$16.2 billion venture, needs another year to complete its work has pushed those hoping to benefit from Arctic resource development past the breaking point.

Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland told the Globe and Mail he is “really quite concerned. … It’s a delay on another delay and we’ve not got a clear answer as to why. It has shaken the confidence of the business community.”

He said JRP needs to bring its work to a rapid conclusion so that the various stakeholders can get on with their work and the MGP partners can proceed with a “huge investment that benefits the rest of Canada.”

Nellie Cournoyea, a former NWT premier and now chairman of the Inuvialuit Regional Corp., said the latest splutter is “devastating. … It’s incomprehensible that a process like this would take so long.”

She said jobs and contracting opportunities are coming to a total standstill, leaving everyone to shake their heads.

Cournoyea went as far as suggesting that “indirectly” the JRP is “probably killing the pipeline and the activity that is taking place in our region.”

The Inuvialuit Regional Corp. said in a statement that residents in its region and the Beaufort Delta communities “have once again been let down by the process that was created to ensure the timely environmental review” of the project.

Inuvik requests termination

The Inuvik Town Council on the Delta demanded that members of the JRP should be fired, with the town’s senior administrative officer Sara Brown saying she is not aware of anyone who isn’t “frustrated at this point.”

In one of the strongest condemnations yet of the JRP she said there is “certainly quite a high degree of incompetence” on the panel, echoing the Inuvik council which accused the JRP of “gross incompetence.”

The council resolution read: “Therefore be it resolved that the Town of Inuvik calls on the Inuvialuit Game Council, the Mackenzie Valley Impact Review Board and the Honorable Jim Prentice (Canada’s environment minister and the cabinet member entrusted with handling the MGP application), to repeal the Joint Review Panel agreement and terminate panel members.

“Be it further resolved that the necessary steps be taken by the above-named authorities and the National Energy Board take the necessary steps to ensure the panel report is completed in a timely fashion.”

Brendan Bell, the former NWT industry minister, said the mood among northern residents is one of “disappointment and outrage” and said they had come to the conclusion that the JRP is either “incapable of or uninterested in ever producing a final report.”

He said the MGP is a “natural fit” for Canada at a time when infrastructure spending is urgently needed to stimulate the economy, but “this regulatory distress is jeopardizing the whole thing.”

There was no immediate response from the Canadian government, which may see the dismissal of JRP members as a further delaying tactic. But Ottawa does have the option of cracking the whip, to ensure the MGP maintains its shrinking, but critical edge over an Alaska gas pipeline.






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