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Mackenzie line is litmus test Environmentalists demand ‘state of the art’ hearings for gas project Gary Park Petroleum News Calgary correspondent
Environmentalists have emerged from hibernation to challenge the resolve of the new Canadian government under Prime Minister Paul Martin.
The Sierra Club of Canada, the Canadian Nature Federation and the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee are all demanding a full public assessment of the C$5 billion Mackenzie Gas Project.
In coordinated news releases Jan. 15, the three groups staked out their positions on the 800-mile pipeline in advance of an impending decision by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency on a hearing procedure.
They expressed concern that there is not yet a coherent plan to weigh the impact of a pipeline, which they claimed could be international in scope.
Sierra Club Executive Director Elizabeth May said the pipeline is Canada’s biggest mega project since plans for a multi-billion dollar hydroelectric scheme at Great Whale in Quebec were aborted a decade ago.
She said Martin must assure Canadians that the Mackenzie review will be “state of the art” and at least up to the standards set for Great Whale. Groups say project transforming Canada’s Arctic Karen Wristen, executive director of the Arctic resources committee, said the project is already “transforming the landscape of Canada’s Arctic” as the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development invites proposals to develop oil and natural gas resources in the Mackenzie Valley and Delta and the Beaufort Sea to “feed this pipeline for decades.”
She said the Martin government needs to provide a clear outline of what the pipeline review process will examine “in terms of long-term, cumulative effects.”
Wristen said it’s clear the industry plans “extensive exploration throughout the region and we need to consider what that is going to add up to over the 50 or more years that this pipeline will be operational.”
Nature Federation President Julie Gelfand said that although northerners must have every opportunity to participate in the environmental process “the environmental, social and economic impacts of the pipeline go far beyond the north.”
She insisted Martin must make the assessment of the Mackenzie project a national priority.
Wristen said six northern non-governmental organizations laid out their expectations in October 2001 when they called for processes that are “rigorous (and) examine the need for and alternatives to energy projects, including a ‘no-go’ option ...”
She said the Bathurst caribou herd, which is vital to aboriginal subsistence, is already under “enormous pressure” and would be endangered by gas drilling, feeder networks and processing facilities. Specific concerns about pipeline effects The three groups listed their specific concerns about the various adverse environmental effects of a pipeline:
• Greenhouse gas emissions from construction and operations;
• Loss of capacity of boreal forests and bogs to store carbon;
• Impact of climate change in the Mackenzie Valley, as reflected by permafrost melting and Arctic ice thinning, on pipeline operations;
• Fragmentation of wildlife habitat, especially critical habitat for species at risk;
• Loss of habitat for 8,000 lesser snow geese and 80 other bird species in the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary, where the Taglu and Niglintgak gas fields (two of the Delta’s three anchor fields) are located;
• Damage to fish and fish habitat resulting from increased sediment loads from pipeline construction; and
• Risks of pipeline breaks in areas of permafrost/non-permafrost transition areas such as 500 river and stream crossings.
They insisted on identifying large self-regulating ecosystems and key wildlife habitat areas to qualify for legal protection before a pipeline is approved.
Hart Searle, a spokesman for Imperial Oil, the lead partner in the Mackenzie project, told Petroleum News that discussions are taking place with regulators to “make sure things are well in hand” for the environmental review.
He said the proponents are now waiting for the terms of reference for the assessment.
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