Column: Ottawa's pet project
Imperial Oil to launch hearings on Mackenzie Valley pipeline
Wed, 23 Nov 2005
CBC News
Months after cancelling initial work on the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline, the $7-billion project took another step forward Wednesday when Imperial Oil said it will hold public meetings.
Imperial said it is proceeding with the expectation that recently negotiated access and benefits agreements with aboriginal groups will be ratified by December 2005.
The announcement comes after Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan sent a letter to Imperial Oil last week in which the federal government said it will consider taking on some of the risk of building the pipeline if Ottawa gets a greater share of the rewards.
"Sufficient progress has been made in all key areas – namely clarity of the regulatory process, the negotiation of benefits and access agreements with northern aboriginal groups, and fiscal framework discussions with governments – for us to proceed to public hearings," said Randy Broiles, a senior vice-president at Imperial Oil.
"But this is not a decision to build the pipeline," Broiles added.
He said a final decision still depends on several factors, including access agreements, final terms on fiscal matters, natural gas markets, project costs, and levels of shipping commitments.
The 1,220-kilometre pipeline was proposed by Imperial, ConocoPhilips Canada, Shell Canada, ExxonMobil Canada and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group.
While three aboriginal groups, the Inuvialuit, the Gwich'in and the Sahtu, are now involved in the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, and reported to be close to reaching an access agreement, the Deh Cho First Nation are holding out. The Deh Cho are in the midst of negotiating a land claim agreement with the federal government.
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Arctic Comment
Wed Nov. 30, 2005
The above announcement -- taken as an indication the pipeline will be built sometime within the next three years -- was met with predictable praise from our Northern leaders. For the benefit of those who aren't watching every move made up here, this is a process which has been going on for more than 30 years involving all of the same parties, including oil companies, aboriginal groups, the territorial and federal governments, and now, independent intervenors.
In the 1970s, Ottawa sent up a judge by the name of Thomas Berger to see if he could sort out exactly what the impacts of such a mega-project would be on the small, primarily aboriginal communities in the NWT. He found that more needed to be done to mitigate the environmental and social damage that this type of project would bring about.
So Imperial Oil, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, laid low for a while. But eventually the
Arctic folder was reopened and when it was, nothing had really changed. Noone has really been able to determine how to deal what have been deemed social problems, ie heavy drinking, drug use, and new industries such as prostitution, expected to be brought about by the influx of thousands of migrant workers during the pipeline's construction phase.
Then in April, after spending time negotiating with aboriginal groups over the price tag to access their traditional terrritory, Imperial announced it was stopping a portion of the work on the pipeline. The company cited, among other issues, an unclear regulatory process, and unconfirmed rumours of what it said were unreasonable demands by aboriginal groups to have the company provide infrastructure such as schools and roads in affected communities.
Shortly after the oil company's April proclamation, the federal government announced a 10-year, $500-million fund to deal with the aforementioned social effects of the pipeline. Since that time, the federal government has made it clear that this project is going to get done at almost any cost. Just prior to last week's announcement, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McClellan, coincidentally hailing from the oil patch better known as Alberta, wrote a letter to Imperial saying the feds would consider taking on some of the risks of the pipeline if Ottawa received a greater share of the rewards.
Risk? What risk? Has anyone in McClellan's or Imperial's office taken a look at the price of natural gas? Or maybe they mean the non-existent risk that the world will have recovered from its addiction to fossil fuels by the time the stuff is actually pulled from the ground. And isn't risk a part of doing business, especially when your business is a commodity?
In the weeks prior to the announcement, a number of politicians and citizens were quoted in local media as saying they were worried there might not be a pipeline. But as journalist Andrew Nikiforuk put it when he spoke in Yellowknife a few weeks ago, at today's prices, "there is no such thing as stranded gas."
As a relative Northern newcomer, I'm not for or against the project, but let's remember that it's Northerners, not oil execs or pushover federal politicians, who should be dictating what's happening here.
Wed, 23 Nov 2005
CBC News
Months after cancelling initial work on the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline, the $7-billion project took another step forward Wednesday when Imperial Oil said it will hold public meetings.
Imperial said it is proceeding with the expectation that recently negotiated access and benefits agreements with aboriginal groups will be ratified by December 2005.
The announcement comes after Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan sent a letter to Imperial Oil last week in which the federal government said it will consider taking on some of the risk of building the pipeline if Ottawa gets a greater share of the rewards.
"Sufficient progress has been made in all key areas – namely clarity of the regulatory process, the negotiation of benefits and access agreements with northern aboriginal groups, and fiscal framework discussions with governments – for us to proceed to public hearings," said Randy Broiles, a senior vice-president at Imperial Oil.
"But this is not a decision to build the pipeline," Broiles added.
He said a final decision still depends on several factors, including access agreements, final terms on fiscal matters, natural gas markets, project costs, and levels of shipping commitments.
The 1,220-kilometre pipeline was proposed by Imperial, ConocoPhilips Canada, Shell Canada, ExxonMobil Canada and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group.
While three aboriginal groups, the Inuvialuit, the Gwich'in and the Sahtu, are now involved in the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, and reported to be close to reaching an access agreement, the Deh Cho First Nation are holding out. The Deh Cho are in the midst of negotiating a land claim agreement with the federal government.
---------------------------------------------------
Arctic Comment
Wed Nov. 30, 2005
The above announcement -- taken as an indication the pipeline will be built sometime within the next three years -- was met with predictable praise from our Northern leaders. For the benefit of those who aren't watching every move made up here, this is a process which has been going on for more than 30 years involving all of the same parties, including oil companies, aboriginal groups, the territorial and federal governments, and now, independent intervenors.
In the 1970s, Ottawa sent up a judge by the name of Thomas Berger to see if he could sort out exactly what the impacts of such a mega-project would be on the small, primarily aboriginal communities in the NWT. He found that more needed to be done to mitigate the environmental and social damage that this type of project would bring about.
So Imperial Oil, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, laid low for a while. But eventually the
Arctic folder was reopened and when it was, nothing had really changed. Noone has really been able to determine how to deal what have been deemed social problems, ie heavy drinking, drug use, and new industries such as prostitution, expected to be brought about by the influx of thousands of migrant workers during the pipeline's construction phase.
Then in April, after spending time negotiating with aboriginal groups over the price tag to access their traditional terrritory, Imperial announced it was stopping a portion of the work on the pipeline. The company cited, among other issues, an unclear regulatory process, and unconfirmed rumours of what it said were unreasonable demands by aboriginal groups to have the company provide infrastructure such as schools and roads in affected communities.
Shortly after the oil company's April proclamation, the federal government announced a 10-year, $500-million fund to deal with the aforementioned social effects of the pipeline. Since that time, the federal government has made it clear that this project is going to get done at almost any cost. Just prior to last week's announcement, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McClellan, coincidentally hailing from the oil patch better known as Alberta, wrote a letter to Imperial saying the feds would consider taking on some of the risks of the pipeline if Ottawa received a greater share of the rewards.
Risk? What risk? Has anyone in McClellan's or Imperial's office taken a look at the price of natural gas? Or maybe they mean the non-existent risk that the world will have recovered from its addiction to fossil fuels by the time the stuff is actually pulled from the ground. And isn't risk a part of doing business, especially when your business is a commodity?
In the weeks prior to the announcement, a number of politicians and citizens were quoted in local media as saying they were worried there might not be a pipeline. But as journalist Andrew Nikiforuk put it when he spoke in Yellowknife a few weeks ago, at today's prices, "there is no such thing as stranded gas."
As a relative Northern newcomer, I'm not for or against the project, but let's remember that it's Northerners, not oil execs or pushover federal politicians, who should be dictating what's happening here.
posted by Brent Reaney at 2:16 PM
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