Canadian Energy Board Announces Next Steps for Mackenzie Gas Project
The long-delayed Mackenzie Gas Project may finally be nearing an end. The Canadian National Energy Board (NEB) has released its plan for concluding its hearing on the $16 billion Mackenzie Gas Project.
The NEB plans to hear final arguments in April 2010 on the applications to build the 1,220-km natural gas pipeline and related facilities through Canada’s north, the board announced in October. This date is dependent upon the release of the Joint Review Panel report, expected in December 2009.
The panel is examining the potential environmental, socioeconomic and cultural effects of the project. The National Energy Board is looking at all other issues, including engineering, safety and economic matters and will consider the Joint Review Panel’s recommendation and its proposed remedial measures that relate to the NEB’s mandate.
Remedial measures are actions intended to alleviate potentially adverse effects of a new development. Some of these remedial measures could be incorporated into any approvals the NEB may grant for the Mackenzie Gas Project as conditions.
“The Mackenzie Gas Project is one of the largest infrastructure projects to ever be proposed in this country,” says NEB panel chair Ken Vollman. “It has been a long road to get to this point and we are very pleased to be approaching the final stages of our journey.”
Imperial Oil Resources Ventures Ltd. and its partners, the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, Imperial Oil Resources Ltd., ConocoPhillips (North) Ltd., Shell Canada Ltd. and ExxonMobil Canada Properties, filed five applications in 2004. The NEB held the scheduled evidentiary portion of its hearing in 2006.
Once final argument is complete, the NEB will prepare its Reasons for Decision, the document, which will announce the decision and provide the panel’s reasoning.
NEB Reacts to Surge in Pipeline Workers Injuries
The Canadian National Energy Board is also taking steps to address a surge in injuries among Canadian pipeline workers. During 2007, 1.9 of every 100 pipeline workers suffered a serious workplace injury, nearly double the seven-year average for the industry and the highest worker injury rate since the board started reporting on safety performance indicators in 2000. Chairman Gaeton Caron says the NEB has been committed to safety since the day the organization was founded, nearly 50 years ago. “Safety is and always will be our No. 1 goal,” he says. |
