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Battle lines drawn Deh Cho deliver on threat to use courts to block review of Mackenzie gasline Gary Park Petroleum News Calgary Correspondent
Already grappling with a timetable that is trailing its most optimistic targets, the Mackenzie Gas Project is now faced with a problem it can’t control and one that has no end in sight.
When the Deh Cho First Nations filed a lawsuit Sept. 2 trying to stop the work of a joint environmental review panel, one of the worst fears of proponents was realized.
Just in case anyone missed the message, Deh Cho Grand Chief Herb Norwegian made it clear that his organization is deadly serious.
“The battle lines have been drawn,” he said, indicating the Deh Cho are ready to bring the whole project to a halt to achieve control over their traditional land, which covers 40 percent of the proposed 850-mile Mackenzie Valley pipeline route.
“This is the biggest development project ever to hit the Deh Cho,” said Keyna Norwegian, chief of Liidli Koe First Nation. “It has the potential to totally change our lives. We need a voice in this process.” Deh Cho have been holdout A holdout from the plans to develop Arctic natural gas since the idea was brought back to life four years ago, the Deh Cho First Nations, an umbrella group representing 7,000 people and 13 Dene and Metis communities, have seen the Mackenzie project as a way to gain leverage in their attempts to negotiate land claims and self government agreements.
The Sahtu, Gwi’chin and Inuvialuit communities, with a combined population of just over 4,000, have settled their claims and become full partners in the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, the limited partnership that hopes to secure a one-third equity stake in the pipeline.
But their pacts with the Canadian government included a blending of ownership of some land in the Mackenzie Delta and Central Mackenzie Valley and cash compensation for surrendering title to the balance.
The Deh Cho want nothing to do with such an arrangement, insisting instead on co-ownership of their 80,000 square mile territory with the federal government. Lawsuit asks court to stop review The lawsuit asks the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories to stop the pipeline environmental review and, failing that, to issue an order invalidating any decision reached by the review panel.
What the Deh Cho have sought is the right to name two representatives to the seven-member panel, the same allowance given to the Inuvialuit Game Council.
The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, which is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, insists the Deh Cho and Norwegian were invited twice earlier this year to nominate a representative to the panel, but ignored the request, demanding the right to automatically appoint two members.
The Canadian government named Percy Hardisty, a Fort Simpson resident, on behalf of the Deh Cho — a choice the Deh Cho have refused to recognize.
How long the Northwest Territories’ Supreme Court will take to issue a ruling is not clear. Neither is it possible to know whether the case could find its way to the Northwest Territories’ Court of Appeal, or the Supreme Court of Canada. Legal process could stretch for years What the Deh Cho have tossed into the mix is the possibility of a legal process that could stretch out over many years — although no-one in the Mackenzie consortium will concede such a quagmire could derail their plans.
The uncertainties that accompany litigation underlie a warning in July by Hal Kvisle, chief executive officer of TransCanada, that Mackenzie delays could be overtaken by a pipeline from Alaska or a wave of liquefied natural gas projects across North America that could return the Mackenzie project to the backburner.
“We are always looking for more certainty rather than less and this (lawsuit) doesn’t help,” said Hart Searle, a spokesman for Imperial Oil, the lead company in the Mackenzie partnership.
Taking the most philosophical view, he said the Mackenzie is a big project that covers a broad spectrum of historical, political and cultural issues.
The consortium has “devoted a good deal of time and energy” to hundreds of meetings with communities along the pipeline route and opened negotiations with aboriginals on work benefits and land access, he said.
In addition, millions of dollars have been spent on environmental studies, geophysical programs and engineering-related work that has included jobs for aboriginals and northern businesses — all part of the “substantial opportunity” presented to the aboriginal communities.
“Ultimately it is up to the Deh Cho people to decide whether they want to participate,” Searle said. “Our door is never closed.”
Otherwise, the Mackenzie partners will continue to work on the major regulatory filings, including 6,000 pages for the environmental panel, “until someone tells us to change our plans,” he said.
Northwest Territories Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development Minister Brendan Bell urged the Canadian government and Deh Cho to find a way to resolve their differences out of court, warning that a drawn out lawsuit could delay pipeline construction.
“If things are proceeding before the courts, they likely won’t be proceeding at the negotiating table and that’s a bad trade off,” he said.
Kvisle suggested one way to break the deadlock might be to set different timetables for building the Mackenzie pipeline and settling the Deh Cho land and government claims, but acknowledged “that’s a big if.”
The Deh Cho have shown no desire to compromise to that extent.
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