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Mackenzie natural gas line regulators seek comment
Gary Park Petroleum News Calgary Correspondent
Regulators charged with handling the Mackenzie Gas Project are seeking public comment on a draft agreement for an environmental impact review of the C$5 billion venture.
They have set a July 15 deadline for comments on two documents as the regulatory pace starts to quicken, in anticipation of formal applications in the second half of the year from the Mackenzie Delta Producers Group, comprising Imperial Oil, ConocoPhillips, Shell Canada, ExxonMobil Canada, owners of the three anchor gas fields on the Delta, and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group.
The draft terms were released June 3 by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board and the Inuvialuit Game Council.
The agreement spells out how the environmental assessment processes for the project may be harmonized with the creation of a joint review panel process that meets the requirements of both the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act.
It also ensures the joint review panel will include unique measures related to wildlife impact assessment as provided for in the final Inuvialuit land claim deal.
The draft established how the joint review panel would be formed, the scope of its review and the factors it would consider. Deh Cho still involved in land claims As well, there are guidelines for the preparation of an environmental impact statement for the Mackenzie project. That statement would serve as the basis for the joint review panel’s review and evaluation of the potential environmental and socio-economic impacts.
The Canadian government announced on June 3 that it will provide C$113,516 to 16 participants to help them take part in the first phase of the environmental review.
It said that up to C$1.38 million will be made available for the second and third phases of the federal funding program.
Separately, a working group is exploring ways to bring the hold-out Deh Cho First Nations into the review panel, while the Deh Cho are still immersed in land claim negotiations with the Canadian government.
The Deh Cho, whose land covers the lower one-third of the Mackenzie pipeline route, have refused to join other Northwest Territories aboriginal communities in the Aboriginal Pipeline Group until their land claim is settled.
More details on the regulatory process are available on www.ceaa.acee.gc.ca.
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