NEWS RELEASE 30/8/07
http://www.carc.org/pipeline_panel.php
CARC tells Pipeline Developers
“Beef Up Assessment of Pipeline Impacts”
The Canadian Arctic Resources Committee is calling on the proponents of the Mackenzie Valley Gas Project to rework their assessment of the impacts of their proposed pipeline. The almost 1,400 kilometre pipeline would stretch from the Arctic Coast to the Alberta border and would be the biggest industrial development the north has ever seen. The project is in the late stages of a review by the Joint Review Panel that will make recommendations to the federal government on if or how the project should go ahead.
In giving evidence to the panel today in Yellowknife, CARC representatives told the panel that the pipeline developers have done a woeful job of predicting the cumulative effects of the pipeline. “The developers are planning a pipeline that can carry more gas than they have yet discovered,” says Chuck Birchall, chair of CARC. “Despite this fact, they are not making any real attempt at describing the massive effects of exploring for and developing additional gas deposits. If there is to be a hope of adequately planning for those effects, the proponent must do a better job of trying to anticipate them.”
CARC presented its own mapping work to the panel, mapping that shows certain development scenarios will likely have negative impacts on large animals such as caribou. CARC’s work shows that in the Mackenzie delta, the amount of disturbance from development is already approaching the level at which there is concern for the future. The loss of habitat could be catastrophic for northern peoples who traditionally rely heavily on hunting for subsistence.
The panel is set to wrap up its public hearings this fall. “We hope the panel will direct the proponents of this project to go back to the drawing board, and make a much better attempt to describe the cumulative effects of this project,” adds Birchall. “Without that information, we really do not see how the panel can make an informed decision.”
