NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

The next steps in the environmental assessment of the proposed Taltson River hydroelectric expansion and a transmission line to the NWT diamond mines were to be revealed today.

Last month, the federal government rejected a report from the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, which recommended approval of the project. The report was deemed to be incomplete and sent back for further consideration.

Richard Edjericon, the board chair, responded to that rejection in a Dec. 22 letter.

"Parties to the environmental assessment will be advised of the process steps to be followed, including a work plan and schedule, by mid-January," Edjericon wrote in the letter to John Duncan, the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

Sunny Munroe, the board's acting communications manager, said board members discussed the next steps on Jan. 5.

She said those steps are expected to be posted Jan. 10 on the board's website - www.reviewboard.ca - under the public registry section.

In August, the board approved the $700-million Taltson project, which includes a 690-km transmission line to the NWT's diamond mines, and sent the report to the federal government for acceptance.

However, Duncan responded in a Dec. 10 letter that the report failed to include a final transmission line route and was therefore incomplete.

The main issue of a transmission line route east of Great Slave Lake involves avoiding impacts on the traditional land of Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation.

The project is being proposed by Deze Energy Corporation, which is a partnership of the NWT Energy Corporation, Akaitcho First Nations and the Northwest Territory Metis Nation.

The Taltson River hydroelectric site, 64 km north of Fort Smith, produces 18 megawatts of electricity. An expansion would add between 36 and 56 megawatts.

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