Pipeline route map by CBC.
The Council of Canadians Northwest Territories chapter is disappointed by a recent National Energy Board decision on the Mackenzie Valley Gas Project.
That project proposes to develop three natural gas fields in and near the Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories, and to transport natural gas and natural gas liquids to Alberta via a 1200-kilometre pipeline along the Mackenzie River Valley.
The National Energy Board originally recommended the approval of the project in December 2010 and the Harper government approved it in March 2011. One of the conditions that was set by the government was that construction had to start by the end of 2015. That has not happened.
Now the National Energy Board is recommending that Imperial Oil, the lead shareholder in the pipeline project, be given until the end of 2022 to start building the pipeline. The NEB says, “The project is still in the public interest and that the original conditions attached to the project will require that it be designed, constructed and operated in a way that is safe and protects the environment.”
The NWT chapter says, “We are disappointed that the NEB extended the project time frame and that the Government of the Northwest Territories agreed with this without any discussion in the Legislative Assembly. In our rapidly changing northern world, it is astounding that such blanket approval for the extension would be given.”
CBC reports, “Had the board not granted the extension, the long-delayed pipeline could have faced another environmental assessment, deterring Imperial Oil from moving forward.”
The recommendation now goes to the federal Cabinet for final approval.
Due to the imperative of watershed protection, concerns relating to the pipeline’s impact on the boreal forest, as well as the habitat for species like woodland caribou and grizzly bears, and the carbon pollution that would be generated by the project, the Council of Canadians calls on the Trudeau government to reject the NEB recommendation and stop this pipeline project.
