The natural gas is waiting, the communities are willing and theauthorities are prepared to co-operate any time producers andpipelines want to revive development in the Canadian north, theindustry is being told.

Northwest Territories Premier Stephen Kakfwi and Canada’sNational Energy Board are spreading the invitations. Kakfwi, a DeneNation leader from the Mackenzie Valley, delivered his share of theword to the annual meeting of the Canadian Energy PipelinesAssociation. The NEB is delivering the regulatory and geologicalmessage in a paper prepared for the 16th World Petroleum Congress,which will be held in the Canadian gas capital of Calgary June11-15.

Kakfwi’s message was that if the largely native northernpopulation is allowed a fair share in the benefits of developmentand they will do better than tolerate it — they will push italong.The territorial premier said, “Today, in contrast to the1970s, northern Aboriginal leaders favour non-renewable resourcedevelopment. On Jan. 19, the Dene, Metis and Inuvialuit leadersannounced their unanimous support for the construction of aMackenzie Valley gas pipeline, provided that Aboriginal equity inand management of the pipeline can be worked out.”

Kakfwi pledged the territorial government’s backing for anypipeline project that emerges to compete with the early leader indevelopment proposals, a resurrection of the dormant Alaska NaturalGas Transportation System. He acknowledged that the Alaskan andYukon governments support ANGTS and its route along the AlaskaHighway. He insisted “we think the Mackenzie Valley is the superiorroute, not only for our economy and residents but for Canada too,both strategically and economically.”

While ANGTS is supported by a 1978 treaty between Canada and theUnited States, Kakfwi recalled that endorsements for the Mackenzieroute go back still farther to a 1970 Canadian federal pipelinepolicy. Even the northern inquiry by Justice Thomas Bergerpreferred a Mackenzie project over ANGTS, despite his report’s mainrecommendation of a 10-year moratorium on development to give thenorthern population time to settle land claims and prepare toparticipate in industry. Berger’s report said, “The MackenzieValley is a natural transportation route that has already seenseveral decades of industrial development . . . it is feasible,from an environmental point of view, to build a pipeline and toestablish an energy corridor along the Mackenzie Valley.” Kakfwipointed out a successful start has already been made on thecorridor, with the 16-year-old Enbridge oil pipeline running southfrom Imperial Oil Ltd.’s field at Norman Wells.

Gas will be available in the north in spades to fill a newpipeline, suggests a paper submitted to the WPC by Laura Richardsof the NEB. An “abstract” or advance summary of the document saysthe board recognizes that “growing concern about North Americanconventional natural gas supply and the increasing demand forenvironmental reasons is giving rise to renewed interest.”

The NEB paper reveals that the latest estimate of northernCanadian energy-resource potential is 169 Tcf and 12 billionbarrels of liquids, “along with vast quantities of non-conventionalgas hydrates.” The NEB’s staff researchers are also thinking abouta double-barrelled northern pipeline which has often been discussedin industry circles. The idea is to make a northern energy corridorwork by adding deliveries of liquids, especially includingbyproducts of gas such as “condensates” or natural gasoline. TheNEB’s staff, which often does advance work on potential majorprojects to make sure the board is ready when the filings arrive,says it is also reviewing factors that add up to “encouragement fora natural gas and liquid pipeline infrastructure reaching theMackenzie Delta.”

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