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NWT regulatory chairman in the hot seat Controversial appointee under siege as politicians call for his removal; board would handle assessments, permits for Mackenzie gas line Gary Park Petroleum News Canadian Correspondent
A three-month rift is rapidly widening as demands grow to remove the chairman of a key Northwest Territories regulatory board agency before it is faced with handling hundreds of permit applications for the C$7 billion Mackenzie Gas Project.
Since the Canadian government named Todd Burlingame to head the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, ignoring the board’s own nominees, Northwest Territories and federal politicians have called for the appointment to be revoked.
The board handles assessments and permits for the Mackenzie pipeline and related energy projects, along with all industrial development in the Western Arctic.
Burlingame, a former oil and gas consultant, arrived under a cloud and has turned into a lightning rod.
He had a turbulent stretch from 2002 until February this year as chairman of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board — also a job he was appointed to over that board’s recommendations — and is again under fire for his handling of board members and project applications. Industry-friendly appointment, says Acorn Joe Acorn, an environmental consultant who was fired from the environmental board, said he suspected Burlingame got the land and water board posting because of the Mackenzie project.
“If you want to make a board that’s more industry-friendly, that’s the way to go,” he said, suggesting Burlingame was the “guy to go to” to ensure the gas project got a “cleaner ride through the regulatory process.”
In the subsequent fallout, Jane Groenewegen, a member of the Northwest Territories legislature, circulated a letter among northern leaders asking Prime Minister Paul Martin to cancel Burlingame’s appointment by Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Andy Scott. Burlingame sets up new panel In April, the federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser concluded that federal review boards in the Northwest Territories were not working well, putting investment in resource development at risk.
To that, NWT Premier Joe Handley said it was time to turn over administration of the boards to his government.
Controversy boiled over in May when Burlingame shuffled panel members to get stalled applications for work at the Hay River airport, mining exploration near Yellowknife and a bridge across the Mackenzie River moving again.
Unable to fire panel members, who are nominated by claims groups and the federal and NWT governments, he exercised his authority to set up a new panel. Time for a change, says Handley Handley said that if Burlingame was unable to work with the board it was time for change.
“He seems to be very strong-willed about what he wants to do,” Handley said. “He appears to have a strong loyalty to the minister of the federal government (Scott).”
Handley said he has told Scott the board is not working and “you have to fix it.”
He said resolving the problems is crucial before the board will be asked to issue hundreds of permits for the Mackenzie project.
Jim Prentice, Indian and Northern Affairs spokesman for the opposition Conservative party, waded in June 16 arguing in the House of Commons that Burlingame has destroyed the board’s effectiveness and is damaging the credibility of its environmental review process.
Releasing internal board documented, he said Burlingame is “engaged in personal vendettas, board business has been unilaterally suspended and other members say the board has subverted (its) fairness, independence and transparency.”
Prentice tabled an internal memo from board member Jack VanCamp who accused Burlingame of sidelining members who disagreed with him and of ignoring previous commitments with aboriginal groups on the handling of reviews.
VanCamp said Burlingame was appointed “over the objection of the elected leaders of the NWT.” Blondin-Andrew says Burlingame right man for job Ethel Blondin-Andrew, the Member of Parliament for the Western Arctic and Minister of State for Northern Development, insisted Burlingame is “absolutely the right person for the job.”
But Prentice described Blondin-Andrew as a “friend and associate” of Burlingame.
Bob Wooley, a director of the land and water board, told the Canadian Press, that the board’s work is proceeding and is not impeded by “what is going on.”
He said Burlingame’s decision to twice suspend operations delayed applications by no more than six days.
Wooley said the board is conducting its businesses “efficiently and effectively … the sooner this goes away the easier it’s going to be to do that job.”
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