Since the hearings have successfully carried the lie and the crime against the environment of not being a cumulative impact assessment-- steadfastly ruling that the hearings could not cover the tar sands, and included denials and obfuscations of the final end goal of the natural gas being to help ramp up the ecological, genocidal and grotesquely anti-human tar sands operations north of Fort Muck, it should be VERY CLEAR why the North Central Corridor was officially announced only as the hearings on the MGP are finishing.
From the Dehcho to the Lubicon to Fort Chipewyan and more, the cumulative impacts of the plans are astronomical, and those of us who wish to see the bigger picture need to do two things: Block the North Central Corridor, prevent nukes from being built to do even worse exploration (in limestone) near the traditional territory of the Lubicon, and poison the waterways of the Athabasca, Slave and the Deh Cho.
We also need to start looking ahead, and not be merely reactive to these plans when they are announced officially. The plans for North Central were actually spelled out by TransCanada more than 3 years ago. The same with the nuclear plants. We should stop being surprised when they do exactly what they mumble that they are going to do.
--M
Mackenzie Valley pipeline hearings wrap up in Inuvik
Last Updated: Thursday, November 29, 2007 | 3:31 PM CT
CBC News
Public hearings on the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline in the Northwest Territories ended Thursday, as the panel reviewing the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the project now moves to the task of writing its final report.
Hearings finished Thursday morning in Inuvik with closing comments from Imperial Oil, the lead proponent in the $16.2-billion gas project.
Imperial, as part of a consortium of companies, want to build the 1,200-kilometre pipeline through the Northwest Territories to the Alberta border, where Arctic natural gas would connect to existing pipelines and flow to southern markets.
Joint Review Panel chairman Robert Hornal said the task of writing the report "isn't a small one," but he declined to say when it will be finished. A spokesperson for the panel said it will try to have it finished for the middle of next year.
During the panel's consultation work, which spanned nearly two years, it visited 26 communities, generated more than 11,000 pages of transcripts, and received about 5,000 submissions.
It spent Wednesday and Thursday in Inuvik hearing final comments from aboriginal and municipal leaders, many of whom supported the project, as well as the proponents themselves.
"Based on what we have heard from northerners such as these, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal, we conclude that the North is ready for development and the Mackenzie gas project," Randy Ottenbreit, Imperial's executive in charge of development of the Mackenzie pipeline, told the panel Wednesday.
'Go home,' aboriginal leader tells 'southern' critics
Aboriginal and municipal leaders are particularly looking forward to the economic opportunities they expect from the pipeline, which promises to pump thousands of jobs and billions of dollars into the N.W.T.
Such supporters say they are annoyed with critics who live in southern Canada, particularly the Sierra Club of Canada. The environmental group has argued that the pipeline would boost greenhouse gas emissions and worsen climate change.
Gwich'in Tribal Council president Fred Carmichael told the panel that he has no time for those points of view.
"interveners from southern Canada were trying to dictate what they think is best for our people and our land and our future," he said Wednesday.
"These southern interveners do not live here, for the most part, and probably never will. I say to them, 'go home.'"
Carmichael insisted that his people have taken care of the land for thousands of years, and they will decide whether the pipeline is a good idea.
But other interveners, such as the Inuvialuit Fisheries Joint Management Committee, urged the panel not to readily accept the proponent's assertion that the pipeline will not have any substantial downside.
"If the [Mackenzie gas project] is to proceed, it is critical that your recommendations on environmental protection, science and monitoring be implemented immediately," said Lawrence Amos, a fisheries committee member from Sachs Harbour, N.W.T.
Despite the thousands of pages of evidence and transcripts, the committee and other interveners say the panel does not have enough information about how the project will be monitored and any problems remedied.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/11/29/jrp-hearings.html
