Yellowknife, January 20, 2009 - The federal government's offer to financially back the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline conflicts with its responsibility to allow for a fair review of the project, according to the Pembina Institute.
Recent media reports indicate that the federal government has made an offer of financial support and risk sharing to the proponents of the $16.2 billion Mackenzie Gas Project. The project is partway through an independent review process, scheduled to wrap up in December 2009, to assess its potential environmental and social impacts.
"The government is undermining the credibility of the project's review process by seeking to conduct backroom deals with the proponents of the project long before the public review delivers its recommendations," says Peggy Holroyd, Director of Arctic Energy Solutions at the Pembina Institute. "The news that the federal government is already working to move this project forward makes it very hard to trust that the final decision on whether the project is in the public interest will be made fairly and objectively."
The Joint Review Panel, a seven-member, independent body, conducted hearings in 2006 and 2007 in the Northwest Territories and Alberta to evaluate the potential environmental and social impacts of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline project. The panel is expected to release a report containing recommendations to governments in December 2009. After the panel makes its recommendations, the federal cabinet is required to issue a response that either accepts or rejects the Joint Review Panel's recommendations, thus determining whether the project goes ahead.
The 1,220 kilometre Mackenzie Valley Pipeline would ship 54 million cubic metres of natural gas per day from the Mackenzie Delta to markets in southern Canada.
-30-
For more information contact:
Peggy Holroyd
Director, Arctic Energy Solutions
The Pembina Institute
867-873-4309
