Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 15/01) - A group of environmental organizations has outlined what it believes government and industry needs to do before a Mackenzie Valley pipeline is built.

"Take a look at northern Alberta and you'll realize these issues can't be addressed after development takes place," said Bob Carpenter of World Wildlife Fund Canada.

Carpenter, who is spearheading the drive to implement the Protected Areas Strategy, pointed to the network of seismic cut lines that covers the oil rich region of Canada.

Though the six principles outlined were aimed at Northern oil and gas development in general, the main focus was the prospect of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline and the development it would spur.

At press conferences in Ottawa, Yellowknife and Whitehorse Thursday, representatives of six environmental groups outlined what they say needs to be done before a pipeline is built, including:

• concluding regional land use plans
• identifying of a system of ecologically and culturally sensitive areas to be protected from development
• increasing land, oil, water and gas fees and royalties and the north's share of them
• using fees and royalties to explore alternative and renewable energy sources
• making approval of projects aimed at exporting Northern oil and gas to the U.S. conditional on protection of the Arctic Wildlife refuge and the U.S. re-joining international negotiations on reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• establishing a rigorous environmental assessment regime that looks at the development a pipeline would spawn and includes sufficient funding for participation of non-government agencies

"Much of what we're asking for is pointed toward the government, and these are commitments they've already made," said Craig Yeoman of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, NWT chapter.

Environmentalists attending the Yellowknife press conference emphasized they are not opposed to oil and gas development.

"Many of the concerns and issues we've consistently raised about these (regulatory) negotiations going on behind closed doors have not been addressed," said Kevin O'Reilly of the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee.

Chris O'Brien of Ecology North said environmental groups fear a "race for the bottom" by the NWT and Yukon governments as they attempt to support pipeline proposals.