Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
NNSL (Dec 13/99) - Regulatory issues are among the biggest road-blocks to natural gas development in the NWT, says Pierre Alvarez.
"There's a tug-of- war between the National Energy Board and the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act putting projects at risk," says Alvarez, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
"It's getting harder to work everywhere. Our guys can't connect the dots (through the regulatory rules). No one can explain which window to go to," he said.
Alvarez, a former NWT resident who heads up 170 natural gas and crude oil companies that produce 95 per cent of the country's natural gas and crude oil, spoke Wednesday at a Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
He said that when the Mackenzie Valley Act was set up, mining was the main concern, not oil and gas.
Now, with discoveries at Fort Liard and talk of a pipeline in the valley, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board is under-resourced. North of 60 gas reserves are estimated at 170 trillion cubic feet, two-thirds of those in Alberta.
"The rumour in Calgary right now is, geez it's hard to do business there (the NWT)."
But pro-development people can respond, he adds.
"Investors are looking to hear another side."
Alvarez pointed to the recent NWT Chamber of Commerce ad supporting the Diavik diamond project as good move.
"You guys did yourselves more good than you can imagine. More people in Calgary read that ad than you might think," he said.
As for a suggestion on what to do to navigate through the federal rules, Alvarez said someone needs to get government to say this is where you start and this is how you get to the end of the approval process.
Because if it's too cumbersome, the resource companies will spend the money somewhere else, he concludes.