Yellowknife (Jan 07/05) - Nesting birds, caribou and other wildlife could suffer from the multi-billion-dollar oil and natural gas pipeline slated to skirt the Mackenzie Valley, says a study released Tuesday.

Nearly 30,000 square kilometres of boreal forest, muskeg and Arctic tundra will feel the effects of the project, including vast tracks of resource-rich land in the Mackenzie Delta and Sahtu, the report said.

Researchers also predict dozens of oil and gas wells and hundreds of kilometres of secondary piping would be required to feed the main pipeline during its estimated 30-year life span.

"People think the pipeline is just a ribbon of steel," said Kevin O'Reilly, director of research for the Canadian Arctic Resource Committee, a Yellowknife-based environmental group that commissioned the project.

"But there are more impacts from this project and Northerners deserve to be shown that plainly and clearly," he said.

Birds nesting along the main pipeline channel -- which extends from Inuvik to Norman Wells to Fort Simpson before heading into Alberta -- would suffer the most from development, the report said.

The pipeline could also affect caribou and bear populations throughout the Delta, O'Reilly said.

The report predicted nearly 150 feeder wells would be brought on line over the next 30 years to help supplement the main conduit.

The project would include nearly 250 test wells and hundreds of kilometres of secondary pipeline, branching off like spiderwebs into the Beaufort Sea and Sahtu.

The oil companies involved in the project -- including Shell, Conoco Phillips and Exxon -- also identified significant oil and gas deposits near Eagle Plains, Yukon. But at nearly 300 kilometres from the main pipeline, they are not considered economically viable.

The number and location of the wells was compiled using a sophisticated modelling technique based on known oil and gas reserves in the Delta, the Beaufort Sea and Colville Hills -- a region of the Sahtu that contains an abundance of natural gas.

The information used in the survey was provided by oil companies in a proposal submitted to the National Energy Board earlier this year.

The scope of the project is much larger than most Northerners realize, O'Reilly said.

He chastised oil companies for not providing enough information to a seven-member territorial panel charged with conducting an environmental assessment of the project.

"We need to mitigate and manage the effects of the pipeline," he said. "It is important for Northerners to understand the size of the project."

In December, the panel asked the oil companies for additional information on the proposed $7 billion project -- including maps similar to those commissioned by CARC. A spokesperson for the companies said the information would be provided to the panel by February.

"This request was anticipated," said Pius Rolheiser. "It is all part of the regular review process."

O'Reilly said his group decided to commission the study to provide Northerners, especially those who live along the pipeline route, a chance to develop informed opinions on the project.

"We are not telling people what to think," he said.

"We are just giving them more information to think about."

Rolheiser said Imperial Oil and the other companies would review the study, but it was "too early" to comment on its conclusion or the methodology.

The 1,220 kilometre pipeline will siphon oil and gas from the Northwest Territories into Northern Alberta.

It is expected to create nearly 7,000 jobs during peak construction, and roughly 50 full-time positions when operational.