Pipeline hearing now set
National Energy Board to convene in August over pipeline replacement under Mackenzie River
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Monday, May 22, 2017
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
The National Energy Board will hold a hearing in August on a request by Enbridge Pipelines Inc. to replace a 2.5 kilometre segment of its pipeline under the Mackenzie River near Fort Simpson.
Enbridge applied in March to replace a 2.5 kilometre section of the Line 21 pipeline by horizontally drilling under the Mackenzie River about nine kilometres east of the village at an estimated cost of $53 million.
Enbridge also applied to abandon in place a section of pipeline under the river it is replacing.
Line 21 shut down in November after an inspection noted riverbank instability near the pipeline.
The pipeline carried light crude oil 869 kilometres from Norman Wells to Zuma, Alta.
The hearing will start Aug. 8 at the Fort Simpson Recreation Centre and is expected to last up to a week, according to board spokesperson Sarah Kiley. Because of the project is considered small, a hearing is not required.
The board nonetheless decided it would be in the public interest to hold the hearing, Kiley said May 19.
The board, which regulates pipelines and major energy projects, will have until Aug. 18, 2018 to make a decision.
That could delay plans by Enbridge, which in regulatory filings stated it hoped to begin construction this summer and conclude by fall.
Dehcho First Nations, the territorial goverrnment, Imperial Oil, Liidlii Kue First Nation and Sambaa K'e First Nation will be intervenors at the hearing, which means they can submit written evidence, ask questions at the hearing, submit and respond to motions and make final arguments.
Liidlii Kue First Nation Chief Gerry Antoine said the project needs a full environmental assessment and members are concerned.
"One concern is that the land and the water must certainly be protected and that we see this project as not merely a replacement but as a new project that uses new methods and possesses a significant risk to the environment," Antoine told News/North on May 19.
Premier Bob McLeod in a statement May 16, said the GNWT views the replacement as a "maintenance effort" and would not normally refer it for environmental assessment.
"If the project is approved, we expect that it will be done in a way that protects the environment and the economic, social and cultural well-being of residents and communities in the Mackenzie Valley," McLeod stated.
"We certainly differ in that," Antoine said about McLeod's 'maintenance' statement.
"The application is right in the middle of where we live ... We have significant concerns about the likely social, cultural, environmental, and economic impacts."
Enbridge's filing with the National Energy Board states "any potential adverse environmental or socio-economic effects are not likely significant, and are outweighed by the benefits of the project.
These effects will not be a cause for public concern."
Enbridge continues to work with indigenous communities as the Line 21 project goes through the regulatory process, according to a statement from the company on May 19.
"We are supportive of a full and fair hearing of the application and will meet all regulatory requirements," Enbridge stated. "This is an integrity and safety-driven project, designed to resume operation of an existing pipeline that has been in place since 1985."
The pipeline has a capacity to move 50,000 barrels of oil per day. Its shutdown caused Imperial Oil to suspend production in its oil field in Norman Wells earlier this year.
Nathan Watson, mayor of Norman Wells, told a media outlet he hopes for a speedy approval of the pipeline replacement to get the Imperial field operating again.
