Mackenzie Gas Project / Alaska Highway pipelines [NWT/AK] is a category for articles and stories relating to the proposed Mackenzie Gas Pipeline from the Beaufort Sea to Alberta, or the Alaska Highway pipeline from Alaska's North Slope through Yukon to BC and then Alberta. The MGP would be 1220 km's long and take the largest untapped gas reserve (outside of the Sverdrup Basin in Nunavut) on the planet to the tarsands. The project has been resisted valiantly by many Dene and Inuvialuit peoples, communities and nations along with environmentalist allies throughout the Valley and across the North for over 30 years. Recently the MGP was re-estimated at $16.2 billion to construct. When first conceived, it was the largest proposed industrial project in the history of Canada. Now, it is a mere feeder of energy needs for the colossal "gigaproject" known as the tarsands.
The Alaskan Highway Pipeline would be 2700 km's long and bring natural gas from northern Alaska to northwestern Alberta, cutting across Yukon and BC. Recently, projections from the industry of a north-central corridor pipeline across Alberta have been released, making this mega project connected directly to the tarpit production plants. There are varying projections of capacity, but multiple millions of cubic feet per day of natural gas are all set to go right into the Albertan grid. This would be one of the longest pipeline projects in history, cutting through many "protected areas" across northern Turtle Island.
Protect land ahead of pipeline, review panel told on last days of hearings
November 5, 2007 - 17:53
By: Bob Weber, THE CANADIAN PRESS
In two years of hearings in 26 northern communities, a panel reviewing the potential environmental and social impacts of a $16-billion natural gas pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley took in enough submissions to block a herd of caribou.
Oil and its peaks
Peter Foster, Financial Post
Published: Friday, November 02, 2007
About 25 years ago (my God, I'm old!) I was having dinner in New York with a stockbroker friend who was telling me that oil was headed for US$100 a barrel. I said that I didn't think it would ever see US$40 again in real terms. As of yesterday, I'm still right (and my friend is still rich, which proves that it's better to be a stockbroker than smart, although both is preferable).
INAC “no” to UR-Energy uranium drilling in the Thelon
By LEA STORRY, SRJ Editor 31.OCT.07
The beauty of the NWT’s Upper Thelon is safe...for now. Chuck Strahl, the minister of Indian and northern affairs Canada (INAC), formally accepted the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (Review Board) recommendation that exploration work proposed by UR-Energy be rejected without an environmental impact review.
Quote:
“I think we look forward a little more optimistically because I don’t think anyone would be more aware than us of the challenges of sustaining gas production in Alberta,” he said.
It is arrogant when I see this, and mentally put it along side what MGP proponents in their office in Inuvik explained about the gas going to fuel the tar sands: "It is not up to our control as producers to determine who buys it on a free market".
October 21, 2007
Harper's Index
Stephen Harper introduces the tar sands issue
by Stephen Harper
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
We are currently the fifth largest energy producer in the world. We rank 3rd and 7th in global gas and oil production respectively. We generate more hydro-electric power than any other country on earth. And we are the world’s largest supplier of uranium. But that’s just the beginning.
October 18, 2007
Tar Sands and the American Automobile
Heavy crude largely heads south to fuel American cars
by Yves EnglerBianca Mugyenyi
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
A traffic jam during shift change, near Fort McMurray. The tar sands will primarily fuel North America's vast fleet of cars. Photo: Dru Oja Jay
The following is an edited excerpt from a forthcoming book by Bianca Mugyenyi and Yves Engler, tentatively titled Stop Signs: A road trip through the USA to explore the culture, politics and economics of the car.
Beaufort find is oil, not gas
Devon Canada gas hunt yields oil; company seeks partners; oil poses challenges
By Gary Park
For Petroleum News
Devon Canada has posted the first oil find in the Canadian Beaufort Sea in 25 years — a twist of fortune for the company which had been hoping for trillions of cubic feet of gas to spur progress on the Mackenzie Gas Project.
“We had expected gas, so we are somewhat surprised, but this is a lot better than just water,” Dennis Johnston, Devon Canada’s frontier exploration manager, told Petroleum News.
Published on 10 Oct 2007 by ASPO-USA / Energy Bulletin. Archived on 10 Oct 2007.
An oil & gas Shangri-la in the Arctic?
by Dave Cohen
Scientists say the Arctic contains 25% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. Why not 100%?
— Stephen Colbert, from the Colbert Report
Road to Riches: Pipeline Through Paradise
News: The race to claim Arctic fuel reserves could revive the proposed Mackenzie River Valley pipeline.
By James Ridgeway
October 10, 2007
Everyone’s Downstream: Tar Sands Realities and Resistance
Conference to be held at:
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
November 24-25th, 2007
http://oilsandstruth.org
