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Pipeline company rejects Northern route Enbridge won't ship Northern Gateway oil through NWT; chair of Aboriginal Pipeline Group also opposed to premier's idea Thandiwe Vela Northern News Services Published Friday, Aug. 10, 2012
Northern Gateway pipeline proponent Enbridge Inc. is not considering an alternative route through the NWT for its Northern Gateway Pipeline, spokesman Todd Nogier told News/North on Aug. 9. The pipeline is proposed to run from near Edmonton to Kitimat, B.C., but it is the subject of a political squabble in B.C., where Premier Christy Clark is demanding greater benefits for her province. "We're in the midst of that regulatory process at the moment and we're committed to that route," Nogier said of the Alberta to B.C. plan. While the Calgary-based energy company does investigate "various routes to various parts of the country frequently on the merit of the business case," Nogier would not comment on the technical or economic feasibility of a Northern route to Asian markets. The construction of a pipeline moving oil through the NWT and across the Arctic Ocean to Asia may be a reality in the future, but now is not the time to consider such a proposal said Fred Carmichael, the man leading the Aboriginal Pipeline Group. Shifting the focus to an oil pipeline from the Mackenzie Gas Project – which the Aboriginal Pipeline Group holds a 33 per cent stake in – would build distrust within the aboriginal community, Carmichael said. "To me, we're all about trying to bring clean energy south from the North and that's what's important to our people and that's the reason why we wanted to be partners in this project and have a seat at the table," he said. As a glut of shale gas resources in the United States and historically low natural gas prices hold up the proposed $16.2 billion Mackenzie Valley pipeline project, the government is looking at "all options" to get the territory's estimated 92 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and seven billion barrels of oil to new markets, McLeod said. The premier said he would be open to all options for getting the territory's stranded oil and gas resources to new markets, including a route through the NWT. "The Northern Gateway pipeline is probably the easiest way to get NWT oil to market," McLeod said. "If we can't send NWT oil and gas west, south, or east, look at the North as a way to market NWT oil and gas to other markets." McLeod stressed the importance of a national energy strategy to regulate cross-border pipelines. "In Canada, every province and territory should be able to develop and market their natural resources without being held at ransom by any other province or territory," he said. "And I think that in the Northwest Territories, if we are going to produce and market oil and gas to the south, we have to go through one, maybe two provinces. And if the new order of business is that provinces are going to put up trade barriers and make our oil and gas uneconomic then what are our options?" While Carmichael understands it is the premier's job to look at every option to improve the economy of the North, he said the North needs to "stand firm" in its support of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. "I would imagine the time will come when our greedy country will want our oil one way or another and if it means pushing it across the Arctic come hell or high water it will happen," Carmichael said. "But I don't believe now is the time to start trying to look at another option until the Mackenzie Valley pipeline is absolutely off the books – (until) it's dead – and as far as I could see the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline is not dead and it's not dying and it's going to eventually happen."
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