Yellowknife (Aug 04/06) - Nineteen people took the stand as intervenors at National Energy Board hearings on the Mackenzie Gas Project Tuesday evening.

While their collective testimony added little in the way of new information to the pipeline debate, there was a fast food metaphor and two people took the opportunity to perform songs for the hearing panel. The following is a selection of comments made by the 19, not one of whom was in favour of the $7.5 billion project going ahead.

Barbara Saunders:

"Please, in your decision about this project, I ask you to place a moratorium on the project until such a time that northerners, and particularly aboriginal people, are prepared for the onslaught of industrialization."

Dana Sipos:

From her song Liidlii Kue.

"Well Imperial Oil was here.

And they reared their ugly heads and said I'm not in a position to answer that question

Our heads are stuck in the tars sands. But don't you worry, have no fear, at the rate of consumption, the oil's gone in a year. And we'll leave your pipeline pretty."

Mary Cox:

"I'm pretty new to the NWT. I moved here in November and since that time I've become pretty passionate about being opposed to the Mackenzie Gas Project."

This before she sang a song that ended with lyrics suggesting everyone's souls would be drained if the pipeline goes ahead.

Ben Nind:

"There's no reason to suspect the future is bleak without this mega-project. In fact, the future is brighter with the mega-project being shelved and smaller, self-sustaining projects that make sense taking their place." Nind also provided the food metaphor, likening the pipeline to a straw, the gas to cola and the oil companies to sugar-starved children.

Martin Dubeau:

"I say use some of the seven-billion plus dollars to research, develop or perfect alternative and sustainable ways to produce energy. Or use a portion of the seven-billion plus dollars to educate youth in our schools about energy sustainability, energy smart consumption and ways to make this planet livable for our kids and grandkids to come."

Exchange between Alex Beaudin and NEB Chairman Ken Vollman:

Beaudin:

"So I agree with pretty much everything that was said here tonight. So if you want to put that in my statement, everything that was said, I would agree with that."

Vollman:

"The singing, too?"

Beaudin:

"Yeah, the singing, the singing. I would sing myself but it might not be as nice."

Deborah Simmons:

"And it's quite clear from previous experiences - BHP being one of them, and there's been studies on this - that indigenous people are not going to benefit significantly from the high-paying jobs that are supposed to come with these developments."

Jim Paulson:

"The devastation of the air, the wildlife, the nature, etcetera by the oil sands, like, just totally makes me sick. And if the Mackenzie pipeline is going to fuel the oil sands, I'm totally against it."