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Foothills upbeat on pipeline
Producer decision on route selection now expected no later than mid-2002, says Foothills official Gary Park PNA Canadian Correspondent
Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd., backed by the Yukon government, is unwavering in its belief that its proposed Alaska Highway gas pipeline will be built and expects a positive decision by North Slope producers no later than mid-2002, company officials told public meetings in the Yukon.
Yukon Premier Pat Duncan said her government will support the project with C$750,000 in next year's capital budget as it “aggressively promotes that route.”
Earlier in October, Duncan had cautioned that current natural gas prices do not help “pipeline feasibility,” when North Slope producers are aiming for a 15 percent return on investment, although she is confident gas prices will rise over the longer term.
Brian Love, Foothills' recently appointed northern affairs manager, told a series of open houses that he does not believe the producers will meet their commitment to announce a route selection this year, but is certain a decision will be made in the first half of 2002.
No decision this year “It is not going to happen as soon as everybody would like it to, but there are factors that make for a favorable decision,” he said. In support of his argument, he cited this year's series of U.S.-based takeovers of gas-weighted Canadian producers, especially Duke Energy Corp. C$13.3 billion takeover bid for Westcoast Energy Inc., a joint owner of Foothills with TransCanada PipeLines Ltd.
Love and Daniel Begley, Foothills' Calgary-based director of northern affairs, both predicted that producers will both develop Arctic reserves and choose the long-standing right of way secured in the 1970s by Foothills.
Begley said Foothills is adamant that the highway route is the best because of existing permits that offer the greatest flexibility and timing to deliver Arctic gas to market with the least environmental impact.
“We have examined the other routes,” he said. “If the other routes were better, we would be going for them.”
Foothills now focused on implementation He said Foothills is now focused more on implementation, which includes full consultation with communities, aboriginal communities, governments and non-government organizations which would be affected by a pipeline.
Others from a team of Foothills managers said the 520-mile pipeline leg through the Yukon could generate 1,500 jobs during peak construction, which would stretch through the fifth and sixth years after a decision to proceed with the project.
Meanwhile, in delivering the Yukon's 2002 capital spending budget, Duncan told the legislature her Liberal Party is the only party in the territory “that truly supports the Alaska Highway pipeline project,” having pledged C$2 million for pipeline analysis alone since winning election in April 2000.
She said both the New Democratic Party and Yukon Party have spoken out against the pipeline.
Liberal spokesman Ken MacGillivray said the New Democratic Party has described the pipeline as a “flop that could leave the territory in ruins,” while the Yukon Party has repeatedly said the government is putting too much emphasis on the pipeline at the expense of other areas of the economy.
The two opposition party leaders, Peter Jenkins (Yukon) and Eric Fairclough (New Democratic Party), angrily rebutted Duncan's claims that they did not support the pipeline, despite their calls for detailed assessments of the social and environmental impacts of the project.
In another development, Duncan announced that legislation tabled in Canada's Parliament will allow for the transfer on April 1, 2003, of control over the Yukon's land and natural resources from the federal to the territorial government.
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