Husky Oil recently pulled its application to conduct exploratory drilling for fracking sand in Whitebeach Point, about 50 kilometres from Yellowknife. - NNSL file photo |
Husky withdraws from Whitebeach Point
Exploration plans halted after board requires environmental assessment NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines executive director calls board's decision 'ludicrous'
Karen K. Ho
Northern News Services
Monday, June 22, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Husky Oil has cancelled exploration plans to drill for fracking sand at Whitebeach Point about 50 km west of Yellowknife, states a June 16 e-mail from Husky Oil spokesperson Mel Duvall.
"We have decided we will not be advancing further exploration work at this time," she said, adding that the company has withdrawn it's land-use application to the Wek'eezhii Land and Water Board.
This followed the board's decision to require an environmental assessment - a move that Tom Hoefer, executive
director of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines, calls "ludicrous" and says would have created unnecessary work for Husky.
In its decision, the board cited public concern about the proposed development that it decided needed to be addressed.
"The public concern is widespread, having been voiced by the Tlicho government, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the North Slave Metis Alliance, as well as non-governmental organizations and individuals from the general public," the board stated in its justification for an environmental assessment.
In its published decision, the board also emphasized "substantial concern" about the potential for impacts on "the cultural, traditional, spiritual, and recreational value of the Whitebeach Point area in and of itself."
About five per cent of applications end up requiring an environmental assessment, the purpose of which is to assess the environmental effects - positive and negative - a given project may have.
But Hoefer said the project was at a "very early stage" and in a category that was considered harmless.
"They have a very tiny footprint and there's no environmental significance," he said. "I'm tremendously disappointed."
Hoefer cited a previous gold exploration project on Great Slave Lake that was also bumped to environmental assessment.
"When that happened, they left," he said, adding that for many companies, having an exploration project pushed to require an environmental assessment results in a bigger cost and bigger complexity of review.
While the NWT has many different kinds of natural resources, Hoefer said the NWT is languishing behind Nunavut and the Yukon for new investment. He said the problem lies in legislation, public concern and inconsistent policies across the territory.
"If you go to the Sahtu region, you could build 19 km of all-weather road, and frack two wells with no environmental assessment," he said, comparing the situation to Whitebeach Point, which he called "a bunch of little wee shallow holes" and a "miniscule sand sample."
According to Hoefer, that kind of difference in policies makes investors nervous about putting their funds into exploration projects located in the territory.
"When there's inconsistency, money runs away," he said.
-With files from Meagan Leonard
