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.
[also called: How I learned to wave the flag? Maybe not...]
Polar politics
Sovereignty tussles over Arctic territory threaten to impede oil and gas exploration
Andrea W. Lorenz
This year marks the first International Polar Year since 1958. Far from being a vicarious adventure for wide-eyed audiences listening to crusty geologists talk about hair-raising encounters with polar bears, this event takes place amidst a growing number of potentially serious international disputes.
NEB head pleased with process
DAVID EBNER // October 1, 2007
CALGARY -- The epic regulatory review of the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline has been a success in terms of collecting and assessing the many views on the controversial project, according to the new chairman of the National Energy Board.
"I feel we've done a superb job listening to everybody, carefully," said Gaétan Caron, in his first formal interview. "We haven't cut any corners. We've taken into account all the views people have about the project and we will finish the task of hearing the evidence in October."
This is sadly one of those articles that cannot be published uncommented. The mad rush towards the north for Uranium, oil & gas, coal, Coalbed Methane, diamonds and more-- has already been basically handed to the federal government by those who have advanced much of the protected areas strategy.
Prentice awaits input over aid for Mackenzie
'It's really in the hands of the proponents,' Industry Minister says
DAVID EBNER AND NORVAL SCOTT
September 22, 2007
BANFF AND CALGARY -- Imperial Oil Ltd. still hasn't restarted negotiations with Ottawa over potential federal aid for the beleaguered $16-billion Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline project.
"We are awaiting a response from industry," Jim Prentice, federal Industry Minister, said in an interview in Banff Thursday night before his first major speech in his new job.
Anytime Diane Francis starts her turgid prose, if you instinctively stay on the opposite side of whatever she is saying then you will probably be fairly safe. In this case, the rule holds. Ever more so, however, is a slight admission contained within the article: "There's enough already to produce one billion cubic feet per day and the pipeline needs 1.3 billion a day," why, pray tell, does the pipeline "need" 1 billion point three cubic feet a day?
Canada's Mackenzie Valley pipe project is finally back on track
By Tim Bradner // September 23, 2007
Alaska Journal of Commerce
The Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline in Canada's Northwest Territories may finally be on track after delays in regulatory proceedings, the territory's industry minister told an oil and gas symposium in Anchorage on Sept. 17.
As race for oil-rich Arctic heats up, Inuit stake their claim, too
Indigenous to the region, the Inuit want a 'meaningful voice' in the territory dispute.
By Colin Woodard | The Christian Science Monitor / from the September 25, 2007
Conservation, not pipeline, gaining N.W.T. support: poll
Last Updated: Monday, September 24, 2007 | 5:43 PM CT
CBC News
Support among residents of the Northwest Territories is waning for the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline, while interest in conservation is rising, according to the results of a poll released Monday.
The poll, conducted by McAllister Opinion Research, says backing for the pipeline is at 68 per cent, which is down six per cent from its last poll in 2004.
Tuning in to the North
Review by MARIAN BOTSFORD FRASER
September 22, 2007
"Late Nights on Air"
By Elizabeth Hay // McClelland & Stewart // 364 pages, $32.99
Note that Bill Tilleman, the new chair of the EUB was also involved in brokering the "streamlined" regulatory review of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline as a special advisor to then Indian Affairs Minister Nault
-Petro-Pete
Alberta names new chairman for embattled regulator
Reuters
Monday, September 17, 2007
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Alberta has appointed a prominent lawyer to head the oil-rich province's energy regulator and restore public confidence after a spying scandal sparked calls for resignations at the agency's senior levels.
